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SeeRed covers a
wide range of topics.
It is written by a
retired scientist who finally decided 'enough was enough' when faced with the incompetence
and malevolence of local councils in England. Based in the seaside town of Sidmouth, the
website was first published in February 2003. 'Hits' exceeded 120,000 in the first year
with over 50,000 page views. The current 'hit' level is around 50,000 per month from
around 5000 unique visitors.
The major sections are nowadays not those of the original website over a decade ago. If I
ever get the time (if I should live long enough) I may delete more of the obsolete
material. In the meantime expect many broken links as pages are reordered or renamed. |
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Review of
Towersey Folk Festival 2015 and 2016 - what was good and
what has become appalling!
This is from 2015. I didn't see the same
bird in 2016. |
The folk festival at Towersey began over 50 years
ago as a small village event, and centred upon a normally sleepy village. More recently the festival became a major highlight
of the folk scene, including for ceilidh and other forms of folk dance and entertainment.
I have attended every year since 2007.
In 2015, and because of changes to local farming practices, the festival had to relocate
to the Thame Showground. At about the same time, management control passed more and more
from Steve Heap to his son Joe. Steve Heap is perhaps best known as one of the directors
of the Sidmouth International Festival, in the period
to 2004. (He is mentioned 176 times in 77 pages of my website.)
The new site layout and management at Towersey have changed the 'ambience' of the
festival. It no longer feels as though it has any connection with the village. In both
2015 and 2016 a separate 'fringe' festival
was held in Towersey to raise money for local amenities. This only takes place on one day
and there is no dance element - it would be difficult to compete with the main festival.
Yet the villagers have achieved a great deal - including an impressive website.
Sidmouth also has its 'fringe' events, both
in town as a central (but unofficial) part of the event, and
also as a separate smaller and wholly unconnected festival
outside the town. Again these have no social or ceilidh dance element.
Recent changes to Towersey festival have mirrored those elsewhere, but are maybe more
extreme. The critique given here is centred upon its
recent history, and especially on dance events during 2015 and 2016.
In 2016 the unwelcome or unsatisfactory
aspects included lax site security, poor site design, overly simple ceilidh dances (with
several repeated by other callers), inept dance instruction and grossly excessive sound
levels at both ceilidhs and concerts - even louder than in 2015.
On the positive side, a few of the dance
events and especially that with the relatively new Anglo-French band Topette were very
good indeed. With a few easily implemented changes, other events at Towersey could attain
a similarly high standard.
Ceilidhs at Towersey in 2012/2013 were
enjoyable and featured many interesting dances, a couple of which I still use myself. This page outlines the changes that were imposed in 2012. However,
by 2016 the music for ceilidh dances had become absurdly loud. This is the reason why I
and other dancers may no longer choose to attend or recommend what used to be a highlight
of the folk dance year.
Comments are welcome - these webpages will
be in 'draft' form for some time.
Comments can be sent to: stevewozniak42 (AT) hotmail.com |
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| Online computer
dating is now a multi-million pound industry in the UK and spread over scores of different
websites. World-wide it is claimed to be a billion dollar industry. Many claims are made
for the effectiveness of online dating, yet there seem to have been few objective studies. A basic statistical analysis is presented here
- it is based on the author's intermittent study of two mid-market computer dating
sites in the UK over the period 2008 to 2012. Unfortunately it has not achieved a wide
readership because the internet is so swamped with 'dating' websites and related articles
it simply doesn't get noticed.
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It is argued that the
industry is inefficient in delivering a service to some types of subscribers owing in part
to profiles being spread across a wide range of often unconnected websites. It is shown
that whilst dating websites may claim to have 80,000 to 90,000 members, the number that
are both active and able to contact other members may be less than 10% of the headline
figures.
Some of the problems experienced by users are outlined. New charging structures such as
‘pay-as-you-go’ are proposed which, together with use of simplified but equally
effective matching models, should enable a more cost efficient service to be delivered to
a much increased number of users. It is argued that present day sites are characterised by
dishonest presentation of data, restrictive fee structures and models for matching people
to one another that are both overly complex and largely useless. As of 2016, little has
changed! |
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Despots in local
government: public servants would become our masters.
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ago, local government was an inefficient and overstaffed mess - but at least 'public
servants' knew their place and many tried to do a decent job of work. Nowadays, local
government is characterised by spin, glossy brochures, excessive 'management' salaries and
pay-offs and an increasingly high-handed approach to dealing with the public. Of
particular concern are social services departments who utilise the slightest and often
imagined excuse to take children away from their parents and place them into 'care'.
Kenneth Clarke, the Justice Secretary (as of March 2012) said that 'there are 'far too
many experts' involved in producing expensive reports for low grade and often neurotic and
self-serving council officials - who then use them within the ultra secretive family
courts system to remove children from their families. The parents are forbidden even to
talk to any advisor. It is a huge and (as yet) largely unrecognised problem, addressed
over many years by the campaigning journalist Christopher Booker in The Sunday Telegraph
newspaper and by John
Hemmings MP.
From waste collection, through child protection, car
parking and planning, local officials now see themselves as masters rather than servants.
Misuse of delegated authority is a widespread problem, with lazy elected councillors often
being unaware what officials are doing.
Either local councils need stripping of
many of their powers, or new arrangements are needed to ensure that abuse of
authority is curtailed. One option might be to make local officials responsible for
legal costs - just as they can now be held personally responsible for Health and Safety
breaches. |
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Sidmouth
remains famous for its 'folk festival' - once one of the largest, most colourful and
peaceful music and dance festivals in Europe. What does the future hold? New in 2010/11
and updated for 2016 - a Newcomers' Guide to FolkWeek.
 
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For 50
years Sidmouth hosted its International Festival of Folk Arts amidst the scenery of East
Devon. Families travelled from across the UK for their annual 'spiritual renewal'. 2004
was the last year for this amazing spectacle. Read the full story here of how FolkWeek arose from the ruins of the
International Festival. 2005 was a very small affair yet 2006 was a great success. And so was 2007! For
2008 the organisers cut costs to try to shore up the finances. 2009
was rather wet at times. 2010 was a perfect year for weather -
but not for social dancers. 2011 was a challenging year - the
recession was supposed to be hitting disposable income, yet many
folk festivals were a sell-out. And Sidmouth's 'fringe' event
became more popular. 2015 saw a real revival of social dance with some hugely popular
contra workshops by American caller Tom Hines. 2016 was also an excellent year for social
dance. |
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Many
years ago, after personal experience with modern Sunvic central heating motorised valves,
I took a few to pieces to establish exactly why they had failed prematurely.
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Little did I foresee
that the ensuing webpages would become one of the most widely
read sections of SeeRed. Of course, most
householders are fearful of taking their central heating system to pieces - they rely on
often inexperienced and sometimes useless 'heating engineers'.
It is particularly disappointing that many years after these webpages were first
published, Sunvic were apparently still telling customers that they knew of no failures of
these products - yet because of the inherently questionable design, many or maybe most may
fail within a few years. Some householder experiences are here and including where these actuators are sold as
part of expensive Worcester Bosch space and water heating systems. More recently (2011),
Sunvic appeared to withdrawing these products from the market. Later, new part numbers
appeared - but the internal components seem much the same. |
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Town
Planning and Conservation Areas.
 
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When is
a tree not a tree? When it is both in a supposedly protected Conservation
Area and in the way of proposed development? If you know of similar documented cases, please let me know. Here is an example from Cumbria. The local MP is reported as
having said it is a case of "wanton vandalism" by a property developer. In July
2011 the same developer (now apparently running a different company) applied for
permission to build houses on the site - who says crime doesn't pay? |
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Town
Planning and Flood Plains.
 
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When are
Flood Plain planning policies not applied? When well connected people want to build on the
flood plain? When the wealthy owner
of Sidmouth's Nissan dealership creates a new commercial car park
by dumping hundreds of tons of rubble in a sensitive area and local councils and the
Environment Agency effectively look the other way?
Or indeed when Erewash Borough Council apparently behaved
in an appalling and unprofessional manner? Householders and insurance companies have been
left to deal with the consequences of what appears to be blatant indifference to local
flood risks.
This is all old material but as of 2015 - and after the floods of recent years - how much
has really changed? |
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Are
you still buying lottery tickets? Why is there so little analysis of how all the money is
spent?
 
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An old section of SeeRed analysed how £120
million of lottery money was spent on computers in libraries. Arguably, the project
should have cost far less. The then Minister, Tessa Jowell MP, refused to answer
my questions perhaps because she couldn't think of any plausible answers. After all,
this was the Blair babe who didn't even know about her own mortgage! She was later tasked
with persuading us that the London Olympics were to be competently managed. Since publication of SeeRed the number
of gushing press releases about the P.N. scheme fell markedly. No connection, of course!
In Dec 2004 I was invited to send views to the DCMS
Select Committee
In subsequent years, UK public libraries began a steady decline. Many became more like
noisy 'internet cafes' than places where proper study could be undertaken. In effect,
libraries were dumbed down to incorporate a 'social inclusiveness' agenda. Cutbacks have
now led to reductions in staff - most competent librarians have been replaced by casual
part-time staff - who are paid peanuts. |
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Towards a
surveillance society - the early years.
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Most
people have little idea of the extent to which their privacy has already been compromised.
Governments will soon be able to build a contact profile for every citizen - an appalling
prospect in many countries. The technology is already being developed and tested. The now
obsolete privacy section of this website outlined a few
topics that were of interest in 2003/4. These were smart cards, CCTV,
encrypted emails and rfid tagging of anything from cars to clothes. This section is now
years out of date - it predates the Snowdon era for example. |
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In the new age
of e-government, people who ask awkward questions may simply be deleted!
 
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Details
of a dispute with Devon County Council, as a part of which DCC blocked my e-mail address
for several years. They also prevented staff at DCC HQ and in libraries reading this
website by making links "unavailable". Later, normal service was resumed. It was
all a manifestation of the culture of fear that continues to dominate DCC and many other
public sector bodies, especially the NHS.The dispute itself is in abeyance - I have more
to do at present. |
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The Britain in
Bloom campaign has been criticised for wasting public money on boring displays of garish
flowers. In 2005, it spilled over into abusive comments about the
SeeRed author by Sidmouth Town Council!
 
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For
decades the Britain in Bloom campaign has been synonymous with
garish arrangements of environmentally useless plants. Councillors waste hundreds of
thousands of pounds of public money to create ever more outlandish displays. Few Sidmouth residents take part. Maybe soon we can
put an end to the cult of chequebook gardening? In 2008, Sidmouth in Bloom even had a
competition for the most environmentally friendly garden - and
what a mess they made of the judging criteria!
Serious gardeners (and even one or two
government ministers) recognise we need to divert effort to growing more fruit and
vegetables at home - it may be ten years before the 'bloomers' awake to such a sensible
idea! |
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Internet cafes
in Europe and India.
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In the
UK, libraries have borne the brunt of public internet access. Bureaucracy abounds, and
official policy is to provide little or no privacy despite draft Council of Europe guidelines. Things are
different elsewhere. For example, in India, access is rarely a problem because private
enterprise cafes thrive - as indeed they do in Germany. |
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Camping on a
small site on the outskirts of Sidmouth
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Made
popular during various FolkWeek events, a small
camp site is available for motor-homes or small caravans. Further details on this page. Details are also available via the campinmygarden website. |
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This is a large site with discrete
sections. If you get lost, return here and start again.
Contact email address:
stevewozniak42 (AT) hotmail.com - and remember to replace (AT) by @
Copyright © 2003 - 2016 |
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