The Ferrymen's Stories

(1)

Mr A Fährmann is a mechanical engineer from Munich. In 1995, he moved to Swindon for a two-year secondment at the BMW Plant there. He never went back to Germany, because he fell in love with a Spanish woman. They decided to start a new family together in England because they both speak English. 

If you meet him in the pub, he'd proudly tell you he's from Germany. He may also tell you that - as he has been for years - that weißbier is better than anything he could find in Swindon, Germany plays football better, and so on. 

In 2001, the year his son was born, he received the Census form from an enumerator. For the ethnicity question, he ticked the box next to "White - any other White background". 

(2)

Mr A Watanabe is a mechanical engineer from Kobe. In 1995, he moved to Newcastle for a two-year secondment at the Nissan Plant nearby. He never went back to Japan, because he fell in love with a Taiwanese woman. They decided to start a new family together in England because they both speak English. 

If you meet him in the pub, he'd nicely tell you he's from Japan. He may also tell you that - as he has been for years - that Asahi Dry is better than anything he could find in Newcastle, his island nation (Japan) does seafood better than this one, and so on. 

In 2001, the year his son was born, he received the Census form from an enumerator. For the ethnicity question, he ticked the box next to "Asian - any other Asian background". 

(3)

It's now 2021. Mr B Fahrmann is a student in Manchester. He grew up in Swindon, and English is the only language he speaks fluently. He understands a bit of German because his father is from Germany, but don't expect him to read Goethe or the Süddeutsche Zeitung. When the Census letter arrived, he just logged off a Zoom lecture and started blutacking the message "9K 4 WHAT?" on his window. 

For the ethnicity question, he ticked the box next to "White - English". It must be right. Whenever his coursemates ask him where he is from, he always answers Swindon. And Swindon is in England. 

(4) 

It's now 2021. Mr B Watanabe is a student in Nottingham. He grew up in Newcastle, and English is the only language he speaks fluently. He understands a bit of Japanese because his father is from Japan, but don't expect him to read Murakami or the Asahi Shimbun. When the Census letter arrived, he just logged off a Zoom lecture and started blutacking the message "9K 4 WHAT?" on his window. 

For the ethnicity question, he ticked the box next to "Asian - any other Asian background". He does not like being asked where he is from. 

(5) 

"Fährmann" is the German word for "ferryman". "Watanabe" (渡邊) can also mean "ferryman" in Japanese. 

A traghetto crossing the Grand Canal of Venice; taken on 12 April 2012.

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最繽紛的花園遊樂過 但求動心

攝於癸卯年八月十四日亥時，沒有夜繽紛的倫敦。天下着毛毛雨。耳機播出晴天林新改的《遊夜場》——還是謝霆鋒的《遊樂場》？其實也沒所謂。

Instagram, 0.5x Sierra濾鏡及其他修改

最繽紛的花園遊樂過但求動心 / 
最低光的海濱遊藝過為何沒燈

大學一年級時從宿舍來往校園，常常會經過這段Fleet Street。物換星移，去年起又在這一帶上班。15號線上的老式AEC Routemaster紅巴士已經全線退役；取而代之的，是約翰遜任市長時的小白象，Thomas Heatherwick設計的新Routemaster。曾經拿着現金去開戶口的銀行分行，也已關閉。

在很長的一段時間裏面，Fleet Street是報社林立的新聞業中心；後來紙媒式微，便輪到金融業者搬進來。讀書時，美國「佔領華爾街」運動傳到英國，有段時間聖保祿大教堂門外常有左翼活躍分子聚集，卻沒見過有人在照片左邊、現正改建的黑色圓邊玻璃幕牆大廈——當時是高盛在倫敦的寫字樓——外面示威。最近得知，這幢商業大廈起初是Daily Express的編採總部，雖然現在看來尋常不過，1932年落成時卻是引領潮流的摩登建築。

本應如此。化為平凡物事，是浩蕩潮流的最佳歸宿。

你與我仍心跳 一切都不重要 / 
秘製醬油緊要 燒賣都不重要

今晚公司有免費酒菜。意大利同事從「五星運動」、民主黨的頹勢，說到當初搬來這濕冷的島國只為逃兵役。「我正好也是」，俄裔同事半說笑道。我們喝着紐西蘭白葡萄酒、比利時啤酒，半帶抱怨、半認真地談着天南地北的事。

外邦人往往不安於現狀——畢竟，離鄉別井，在別處成為外人，或多或少是個人選擇。而對地鐵罷工沒所謂，對機場因系統故障停擺也沒所謂的倫敦，也同樣沒所謂地，收留了諸色名目的外邦人。

看開了然後承受承受另一種壓力 / 
看開了其實平日平日亦很多怪事

費加羅報的手機通知告訴我，實質獨立三十多年的納戈爾諾-卡拉巴赫共和國在阿塞拜然的攻勢下瓦解，宣布會在年底停止存在。當地大批亞美尼亞裔平民正逃往邊境。

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臉書連結

On Birmingham's "effective bankruptcy"

1) Yesterday, Birmingham issued a "section 114 notice" under the Local Government Finance Act 1988, or "declared effective bankruptcy" as the press describes it. All new expenditure, except to fund services it has to provide by law, are banned. Existing commitments and contracts will remain in place. It follows the footsteps of Northamptonshire (2018), Croydon (2020 and 2022), Slough (2021), Thurrock (2022), and Woking (2023). 

2) Councils have statutory duties to provide adult and children social care, which cost money. Indeed, more and more money is needed as population ages and expectations rise. 

3) Revenue has not risen in line. Since 2012, council tax increases over a certain threshold are banned, unless they are voted for in a local referendum (I have never seen one) or approved by the central government. And grants from the central government have been cut, because, well, austerity. 

4) Remember the eloquent "Barnet Graph of Doom" from around 2012? As statutory activities (ie social care) suck up more and more of the limited incomes, less and less is left over for "non-essentials": parks, libraries, road maintenance, etc. At some point, some councils can no longer meet their statutory duties, and... boom!

One of the many versions of the "Graph of Doom". Source. 

5) Sometimes, the situation is made worse by bad management and/or bad luck. 

6) Some councils are more fortunate. Westminster has licensing and parking incomes from the West End. Newham has been helped by Royal Docks and Stratford's settlement by working-age middle class council taxpayers who demand little social care services. Not all councils are like them. 

7) I suspect the section 114 notice has become an obligatory step to get to a politically feasible solution, because no one wants to be blamed for raising council tax or cutting services. 

In Croydon, the central government waived the local referendum requirement and approved — indeed, imposed — a 15% council tax hike, which it would only do under the political cover of the council's "effective bankruptcy". The local councillors can wash their hands clean, saying (rightly) they have been left with no choice.

It is disruptive, it is inefficient, but it's probably necessary.

8) The Guardian's headline called Northamptonshire a "Tory county council" when it issued a section 114 notice. The Daily Mail's article yesterday starts with the words "Labour-run Birmingham City Council". Neither is helpful. 

9) As the space for discretionary spending narrows, local elections are increasingly inconsequential. Whomever the voters elect, most of council taxes now go towards meeting statutory requirements set by Parliament. As the deputy leader of Croydon council powerfully put it in 2013, “there is a time coming, and it’s not far off, when the costs of dealing with an ageing and increasingly deprived population will mean that there is literally nothing left in many councils’ coffers for anything but social care."

10) I probably did not add anything. I am mostly repeating points that have been made since over ten years ago.  

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