The Brown Stuff

They say that when the brown stuff hits the fan, we'll all get covered. Without a doubt, the media each day uncovers more of the mess that the banks and finances are in. We now learn that our prime minister has pledged even more Treasury money to help stimulate the banks into mutual trust and trade - which suggests to me that he and his darling henchman had no idea how much trouble the banks were in when this problem started. Is it that they weren't told? Or was it that the banks painted a false picture of their financial position? Or perhaps it was because the picture has steadily worsened since then? - I don't know, but it's apparent that what started out as a pustule has changed into a boil, which in turn has turned into an abcess. Septicaemia beckons.

But what else could Brown do but mortgage taxpayers' money for years to come? If he were to let the banks rot, the social repercussions would be enormous and far-reaching. The vision of starving and dispossessed pensioners with worthless savings isn't one that any prime minister would welcome. It wouldn't reflect well on him or his reputation if he were to take the Marie Antoinette stance and let them eat cake.  As unemployment and poverty increase, the potential for civil and political unrest lurks like a ruffian on the stair.

So what's likely to happen? Given that this is a global financial crisis (in my view one that has been encouraged, if not engineered) that started over the pond, it is one that will require global solutions. This would be a step in the direction of a centrally-controlled global economic system to be universally imposed as the panacea of all these ills. This may well be Obama's brief; he happens to be the most left-wing president of the United States ever to be elected. This in turn would lead to co-ordinated political control, since politicians always dance to the tune of their financial masters. Orwell wasn't wide of the mark. When the brown stuff hits the fan, we'll all be covered.

Still turning

The wheels are still turning on the jobseeking machine, but there doesn't appear to be any forward (or backward) movement. I responded to an email alert last week; what was significant about this was the fact that it was a job advertised through a local temping agency with which I was already registered! I went in to see them and told them that I would like to be put forward for it. It's for a local company, and it consists of reformatting documentation. It's initially for 2 months. Despite this, you can't take anything for granted in this game, so I've continued to apply for appropriate IT jobs. As for last week's jobs - I haven't heard anything yet. Today I will be going to my Job MAETS course. I've completely redrafted my CV to make it more detailed and yet more terse at the same time.

Sign on Brightly

Today was sign-on day - the first time for a few weeks, since the Christmas period had interrupted the proceedings. On returning home I phoned the agency for the aforementioned job (see the previous blog post); I should hear sometime next week. In view of the fact that there are 300 applicants for this position, I think I stand an excellent chance (of being turned down, that is). I also phoned a recruitment agency who'd called me last week about a Derby support analyst job he thought my CV matched. The fellow who had phoned me has since left the agency! So his successor will be finding out progress on the job application.

I also phoned a company (still Derbyshire - Alfreton) that has been advertising for an analyst programmer for ages. They want someone with AS/400 and RPG skills, but I thought I'd see what they have to say. The lady I spoke to didn't seem to think that my lack of these skills would present an unsurmountable obstacle, so at her suggestion I posted her a copy of my CV with a covering letter. I also applied for a contract helpdesk job - this time in Leicester..

Post-Christmas Normality and other short stories

It's a while since I entered anything in this blog. Since I did, Christmas has come and gone in its customary fashion. It was a great time - our younger daughter and her husband were with us, and we all piled down to Leicester to spend Christmas Day with our elder daughter, her husband and kids. 

Nothing has happened on the job front, but on Friday 2nd January I applied for an IT job in a well-known company situated in the wilds of Derbyshire. I sent the online application off, only to receive an email requesting that I click onto a link and supply more application details. So I did; I spent the best part of an hour carefully thinking about and measuring my responses - only to find in the end that the wretched browser had locked up. (It is Google Chrome, and a Beta version, so I suppose I shouldn't gripe). I sent an email to the recruitment people to let them know what had happened, and they kindly sent me an email containing all the questions I'd either answered or had yet to fill in. So I completed these and sent them off. I'm glad to say that the application has been not only received by the recruitment people, but also sent to the company in question. We'll see of anything materialises in the way of an interview..

Looking at the job pages, it's clear that the market is still in its pre-Christmas stasis. I'm sure that (to continue the metaphor) with the passage of time, everything will loosen up, and with a hard shove the logjam will be cleared.