pumpkinstrokemarrow

Another example with which most of us are familiar is the way that help centre operators transfer costs to the general public. So in order that they can sweat their people good and keep their costs down, they have us sitting around on the end of a phone listening to some frightful music or other, interspersed with even more frightful messages. Waiting for their computer to decide that it is our turn, keeping our costs good and up. Once again, market forces do not come up with an obviously great result.

The New Labour (NL) answer would be regulation, perhaps an OffHello, an office for the regulation, legislation and interference with help desk operators. Headed up by some NL stalwart at perhaps £200,000 a year for services rendered to some plant in the NL garden. Which is not too clever but I have not got a better answer.

Yesterday to Vauxhall Bridge Road where we finally gain entrance to the church with the big bell tower, the one vaguely opposite Vincent Square, on the western side of the road. Near the Lord High Admiral. A place which I must have walked past hundreds of times but never managed to get into before. Despite being the church of St. James the Less (whatever that might signify apart from being smaller than something else), it is a Grade 1 listed building from the middle of the 19th century. Very impressive, fancy brick interior, gothic revival, with a lot of vaulting, fancy stone, glass and other ornament. Must have looked quite something when it was new, although quite a lot of the ornament is now looking a bit tired. Painted ceilings faded and patches of stained glass losing their stain. The inhabitants of the surrounding slums were presumably suitably uplifted by this arrival of the lord in their parish - although appearances would suggest that they have not been too keen on subscribing to the maintenance fund.

The amount of money spent on this sort of thing by churches of all denominations during the 19th century must have been prodigious. Presumably what drives RSPCC, RSPB, WWF and so on now.

Took in the Tate Proper on the way, where we had a sight of the husk of some fighting plane hanging upside down from the ceiling of one of the sculpture galleries. Very shabby it looked too. And they couldn't even manage to hang it down right; very badly placed. In case one wondered what on earth the point was, there was a helpful video in a side room with some lady arty - perhaps the author of the work - droning on about significance. Now I dare say that the charter of the Tate Proper includes displaying the work of contemporary arties. But do the trustees have to hang everything that is pushed through their letter box?

Luckily, there is plenty of good stuff there. So, for example, 'Our English Coasts' is back on the wall, having been missing last time we visited. But it seems to have got lighter, much lighter than the reproduction we bought when we last saw it. Has the thing been cleaned? Have they overdone it a bit? Still a great picture but it would be nice to know. Inspection of their elaborate web site did not reveal anything beyond teacher notes on the picture. Nothing about refurbishment. Don't seem to go in for 'contact' buttons. There was also a rather splendid Adam and Eve with exotic livestock from the very end of the 19th century which I had not noticed before and the name of the painter of which did not stick. Lots of good Millais.