COVID-19 We Don’t Want You!

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Listening to state premiers declare to interstate and overseas visitors, “We don’t want you!” I can’t help think that these bold statements ring with a rare truthfulness in the mouths of these politicians. Parochial Australians have had to grow up embracing tourism in order for their nation’s economy to flourish but deep down I suspect they would rather tell all, “to go and fuck off!” COVID-19 the pandemic has given all and sundry a chance to indulge their xenophobia. Donald Trump called this coronavirus the “Chinese virus” and we all know how well such statements play to his supporters in the United States. Closing borders and states of emergency bring out deep rooted racist attitudes in many citizens, as they seek to blame someone for their troubles. Anxiety breeds panic, just, have a look at the supermarket shelves across Australia. The message really is – COVID-19 we don’t want you!

Governments Attempt to Stretch the Safety Net in Response to Coronavirus

Heightened security by state and federal governments in Australia means more restrictions on public behaviour. The need to lock down activities in a bid to prevent community transfer of the infection is the main focus of health policies designed to curb the spread of the virus. Businesses are going bust and workers are losing their jobs. Governments are madly rushing around trying to put their fingers in the holes appearing in the economy and the fabric of society. People who cannot pay the rent and fear being evicted are in fear for their lives. Homes and businesses are threatened with the economic collapse due to the coronavirus. The attempt to stretch the safety net is hampered by decades of sanctioned neglect of the unemployed in Australia. People are hurting and looking for answers and quick action by governments.

Coronavirus Crisis the Economic Calamity

Economies are, basically, structures, which are supposed to enable the passing of goods, services and currency between people. In the present climate of crisis many of the arms of the economy are not working. Tourism and travel have been grounded by border control and quarantine policies. Tens of thousands of people who work in these industries have been stood down without pay. The hospitality industry has been closed down across the nation, with restaurants, cafes, clubs, cinemas, sporting events, festivals and many shops forcibly shut down. The number of people working in these businesses number in the hundreds of thousands, if not millions. Schools and universities are in effective shut down, with states and parents keeping their students and kids at home. Child care facilities have, also, been closed down due to social distancing and quarantine requirements.

The capitalist free enterprise economy is no longer functioning. History tells us that we all turn to socialism during times of real crisis. Think about the world wars of the 20C and the government policies nationalising industries in the face of mass threats to populations. So, when the shit really hits the fan, the powers that be instigate total control of their citizens. You cannot beat a global pandemic with Donald Trump’s form of capitalism – promising that this will all be over in a couple of weeks. Economic managers everywhere are murmuring – COVID-19 we don’t want you! The lock down may last between 6 to 12 months, especially if this coronavirus keeps coming back and infecting sections of the community. It may take years before the global economy returns to good health and it may never bounce back in the same shape. This may be a good thing if some of the concern for the wellbeing of human beings continues to take centre stage at the heart of the economy.

The World Will Turn Online to Escape the Coronavirus

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In the face of the COVID19 pandemic the world will turn online to escape the effects of the coronavirus. Our real world of fleshly pursuits is unsafe, with thousands dying from the virus and hundreds of thousands becoming infected. Digital viruses seem a much less risky possibility in 2020. Social distancing is demanding that people stay at home and those flickering screens have never looked more inviting. Social media beckons as the only safe way to engage with your fellow human being. Even online trolls are, seemingly, more attractive than the looming shadow of the grim reaper in this novel plague year.

The Digital Realm is Our Refuge from Germs

The digital realm has never offered such a clear choice of sanctuary from the potential ravages of this disease to ourselves and our loved ones. Will the world wide web and the ethernet be able to cope with all the constant increased demand? Will our technological refuge from germs stand up, despite the globe being on the verge of social dislocation and potential breakdown? How deep are those massive server bunkers buried beneath the surface of our troubled world? Perhaps all those science fiction scenarios from books and movies are about to come true. Life as we know it has probably changed forever.

A Good Time to Run a Digital Business

It is a good time to be running a digitally based business, especially one that does not require too much input from human beings. There are always winners and losers, even in times of crisis and disaster. Those people and business that do well out of other people’s misfortune. Citizens and denizens of cities are virtual prisoners in their homes. What will they do to pass the time, as the days, weeks and months unfold? Living indoors and confined to small spaces it will be their screens on phones, TVs and computers, which will have to bear the load.

The world will turn online to escape the coronavirus and the demands upon this medium will dramatically increase. I predict we will see a surge in volume from many new demographic groups accessing the internet. I suspect that we will see a spike in inventiveness and creativity from those producing content and transmitting it to the world. New ideas will come to the fore and be met by an insatiable appetite for content. The need for new content will be immense across all platforms. This will not be a time to sit on your hands and do nothing. This enforced absence from the real world will stimulate so much online in every direction.

Your Daily Dose of the Virus

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Coronavirus COVID19

COVID19 continues to roll out and over countries across the globe. The pandemic of this novel coronavirus is affecting human beings everywhere. Older people are in fear for their lives and thousands are dead or dying. Australia is facing the largest levels of unemployment in more than 80 years. Lines of desperate people snake outside the doors of Centrelink offices and down streets, as they wait their turn to get welfare. Businesses have been forced to close their doors, including gyms, pubs, cafes, libraries, cinemas, clubs and restaurants. Tens of thousands of casual staff have been let go with immediate effect. The world is suddenly a very different place. We are all being dispensed with our daily dose of the virus news, which is in fact updating hourly.

The Speed of the Coronavirus Crisis is Dizzying

Australia’s dependence upon tourism has rudely bumped into closed doors and borders, with international and domestic travel effectively curtailed. Airlines like Qantas and Virgin have laid off the majority of their employees. Local tourism operators and businesses are going bust, following a wretched summer of record setting bushfires engulfing parts of this continent. Governments at federal and state levels are rolling out financial rescue packages but things are already behind the eight ball in terms of timing to save these failing entities. The speed of this crisis and its impact upon peoples’ lives is dizzying in its intensity.

Zombies & Viruses

I am reminded of all those movies about zombies and viruses, which have featured prominently at our cinemas over the last decades. I recommend that we all watch these films again to glean ideas for our present situation. Face masks, men and women in white coats, hand sanitiser protocols being spread left, right and centre – these are the new daily trends on display. Stock markets have been stripped of hundreds of billions of dollars across the globe. Nations, like Australia, are being revealed to be extremely economically vulnerable to global shutdowns. Countries that do not manufacture anything and import lots from China are struggling to maintain themselves and their industries.  

Our leaders are putting on brave faces and exhibiting greater levels of caring than I thought previously possible. PM Scott Morrison has called upon the ANZAC spirit to help us cope with the onslaught of this pandemic. They have cancelled the football codes for god’s sake, what will this sport’s mad culture do with itself? Social dislocation is imminent, as jobs disappear and recreational pursuits are banned due to social distancing policies. Australians are being asked to stay at home and not socialise with anyone outside their direct family. I predict that relationships will soon be under strain with increased familiarity breeding contempt.

When schools begin to close, we will really see the signs of intimate relationships buckling under the increased pressure. Luckily the modern generations of children are obsessed with their phones and devices. They will be able to put their heads even further down and immerse themselves in the digital realm upon their screens. The coronavirus pandemic will be a boon for the internet and the world wide web. People looking for distractions will embrace social media and online activities even more. Online learning from schools and universities will go to another level. Gyms will be running fitness classes via things like Skype and the like.

Some commentators have warned of the negative effects of social isolation but I see this coronavirus episode as a consolidation of where we have already been heading. The virtual world and its viruses are much safer than the biological rendition of the same. Your daily dose of the virus is corralling us away from fleshly pursuits and into pixels, bytes and well-lit screens.

Coronavirus Crisis Demands New Copy to Update Websites

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Things are changing hourly in the face of the unfolding COVID19 global pandemic. Businesses are being forced to amend their behaviours in response to new public health policies being instigated by governments around Australia. Corporations and small business operators are challenged by these rapidly evolving circumstances. Agility in the face of containing the spread of coronavirus in Australia.is essential if these businesses are to minimise economic damage. The coronavirus crisis demands new copy to update websites across the digital spectrum and the world wide web. The public are looking for answers and websites and social media platforms must meet the needs of customers and consumers.

Global Pandemic Biggest Health & Financial Threat of the Last 100 Years

In the beginning, governments and businesses were, it is fair to say, sluggishly prudent in their initial responses to the coronavirus crisis. Perhaps, MERS and SARS were in the back of minds when news of the China epidemic started to break. These did not eventuate into global pandemics and remained localised outbreaks. COVID19 has turned out to be a very different microscopic beast and, now, threatens to be the biggest health and financial global crisis of the last hundred years. The coronavirus crisis demands new copy to update websites, so that businesses can correctly communicate with their constituents and customers everywhere.

Clear & Concise Copy is Essential to Communicate the Changes

The hit to the recreational industries around the world has been an eye opener for this correspondent. It brings our dependence upon sporting and entertainment activities into sharp focus when these things are cancelled and restricted due to preventative health policies. Suddenly, our universes are smaller and reduced down to more essential concerns. Governments are having to make decisions, which will have huge impacts upon businesses’ ability to remain economically buoyant and the employability of individuals. The messages delivered by the spokespeople for agencies and businesses are acutely important in this current climate of fear, uncertainty and confusion. Clear and concise copy is essential to communicate the ever-changing landscape of this health crisis.

People everywhere are wondering whether they will still have a job. Tourism is taking a huge hit, which follows the bushfire crisis. Travel bans and 14-day self isolation quarantine policies are putting paid to any possible recoveries. Australia’s economy is dependent upon tourism and international students attending our educational institutions. Export industries to China, such as seafood and agriculture are being massively curtailed to the detriment of our economy. The stock market and the value of the Australian dollar are both being crunched by the coronavirus crisis and its consequences to trade and industry.

Is your website up-to-date and does the content reflect the latest advice affecting your business? If not – we can help.

The Importance of Content Marketing to Your Website

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The digital revolution has thrust the internet and its social media cousins upon us, like an unexpected visit from your in-laws. This visit is now in its third decade and does not look like ending any time soon. It is useful to review our impressions and understanding of what websites are to us. In the beginning, we saw the one-page website as an electronic leaflet or calling card. We thought of our websites in terms of paper, like a full-page ad, and, then, as a brochure when we added more online pages. Many people still think of their website in these terms, perhaps not quite grasping the medium in its entirety. The importance of content marketing to your website has great relevance here, if you are to realise the potential this medium offers.

When Marketing Reaches the Call to Action Climax

Computer screens and mobile phone screens provide a marriage of colourful images and artfully arranged copy to entertain viewers at home, work and on the road. Importantly these electronic pages also, offer connectivity. The viewer can click through via links to pages where they can purchase online, phone or email someone. Alternatively, forums or comment pages can be available for the viewer to have their say. It is the connectivity, which transforms web pages beyond their paper predecessors. When your marketing material reaches its call to action climax, your website can provide a direct portal to facilitate the connection between customer and business.

Think Informative Foreplay & More Informative Foreplay

Marketing can be thought of like love making, in that many participants prefer to get their money’s worth. They enjoy it so much that they want to keep it going for as long as they can. They want plenty of foreplay before they get down to business. Content marketing recognises these strategic moves and ensures that there are plenty of articles, videos, images and podcasts to satisfy these urges and appetites. Multimedia means interactive content and stimulated viewers. 3D graphics are becoming more accessible via new scripts and programs. Apply this to your own online presence, when thinking about your website pages and social media posts. Think foreplay, foreplay, informative foreplay and more informative foreplay.

Websites are becoming more aural in this new decade. Voice operated programs are coming to the fore. The keyboard may soon find itself an obsolete tool in the high-tech communication sphere. The importance of content marketing to your website cannot be underestimated in this day and age. Are you investing enough in your digital footprint in 2020? If your website is integral to your marketing, are you keeping pace with the evolution of the medium? Pertinent questions at the start of a very exciting decade.

My Teeth: Deep Roots into Psyche

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I was originally going to title this piece, “My Bad Teeth”, and then I thought that for half a century my teeth have been hanging in there, literally. Certainly, I was not born with immaculate white teeth, as you see on TV and at the movies. My teeth have always been more of a yellowish white. I must confess that I did not treat my teeth well in my formative years. I ate too many sweets, too often, and did not listen to the sage words of my dear mother. I knew it all from a very early age. Well, I considered that I knew it all at any rate. My hard headed and opinionated self was bullet and dental caries proof. Actually, I wasn’t, but I thought that I was. Isn’t that so stereotypical of youth? We think we know it all and yet… My teeth: Deep roots into psyche, this is it.

My Crowded Mouth

I had to have four teeth pulled out forcibly by a very hairy dentist, whilst I was still a boy. I remember his hairy forearms as his gloved hands gripped the dental pliers inside my mouth. I remember the force with which he ripped those embedded teeth from my oral cavity. ‘A crowded mouth’, is that, perhaps, a metaphor for my life? Maybe, I have been stuffing things in my gob ever since in a desperate bid to replace those missing teeth? Why would God get is so wrong in determining the number of teeth I required?

The Moustachioed Dentist

So many questions and so few answers. Was my jaw too small? I think upon that day in the dental chair, ensconced in an upstairs clinic on Canning Highway just before the bridge. The moustachioed dentist with thick black hairs covering his bare forearms. The antiseptic smell of the gargle in the basin, where blood and saliva are spat out spasmodically by a heavily sedated mouth. The bright dancing light emanating from a small window high upon the wall.

My Dentist Boogying to Aretha Franklin

This may have been in the late 1960s. If this was a movie, the director may, at this point, throw in a snippet of a sound track by some universally acclaimed pop group of the time. However, I do not think that my dentist was boogying to Aretha Franklin or something by Clearance Creedwater Revival. There may have been some elevator music playing via the radio station 6IX, but I cannot truly remember. This was, I feel in my bones, or, in the roots of my missing teeth, a seminal moment in the life of me and my teeth. My teeth: Deep roots into psyche and identity.

Check out this dental clinic, as a fine example of modern dentistry in Australia in 2018. The differences between now and back then are many and profound. Pain was a prosaic part of the dental experience back in the good old days. It was a torture chamber, with those instruments of torture laid out in their gleaming pointedness on trays by my side. The proud dentist and his whining electric drill. Why do dentists, always, start conversation when they have their hands down your throat? I can see that hooked pointy tool and feel its bite inside my mouth, as he scrapped and tugged at my teeth.

I have avoided dentists ever since. I have only attended their clinics under sufferance and duress. I have been forced to seek out their special skills in a bid to end the nerve pain inside my head. I have always been fascinated by the fact that, in Australia, teeth are not considered to be part of the human body. They are not covered by our universal healthcare. Teeth, like dentists, sit outside of the normal universe. The torturous nature of a visit to the dentist is compounded by the fact that you must pay for the privilege. Medicare ducks and weaves away from any responsibility for our teeth.  Strangely, the state of our teeth impacts heavily upon our overall health but is not covered by our socialised health insurance. We must seek out private health insurance, if we wish to offset some of the cost of visiting the dentist. Such a benign phrase, ‘visiting the dentist’, it makes one think of the Nazis and their institutional care of the disabled and the elderly during the 1930s. Obfuscation and deception lie at the heart of these matters. Of course, today the pain relief options are numerous at most modern dental clinics. One can be transported to a state of nerveless nirvana by a cornucopia of drugs. Still, the high-powered scream of the electric drill leaves my sensitive nature full of holes. I open my mouth as widely as I can and try and surrender to the torture going on inside my oral cavity. I think to myself, ‘this too will pass’. I desperately hope that it will, at any rate.

I have had several teeth removed due to decay over the decades that have passed since my quartet of teeth were removed as a boy. I have chosen to have them removed rather than pay the exorbitant cost of caps and bridges outlined by various dentists over the years. I think to myself, as I recline uncomfortably on the dental couch pondering my choices, “am I potentially paying for your children to attend expensive private schools?” I remember Barry Humphries writing about an Australian dentist exorbitantly charging wealthy Africans in London for completely unnecessary dental work on their perfect white teeth during the 1960s. Of course, I am sure that the greater majority of dentists are fine upstanding human beings. Someone always quotes the fact that dentists have one of the highest rates of suicide in our community. Not sure if that is true or an urban myth.

Teeth represent what we bite into things with. Our ability to chomp down on life. Have you ever seen a molar and its root or a photo of one? Mine, when it was extracted in all its decayed glory, reminded me of a Klingon warrior from Star Trek. It was pre-historic, and it gleamed dully with broken embedded old fillings made of metal. Instead of wearing a shark’s tooth around my neck, I could have worn my own tooth. What would that say of me I wonder? Weirdo? Bloke with a problem? Fixated on remnants of his youth? All of the above?

Teeth punch above their weight, in that they are relatively small (on the surface anyway) and yet, when they are missing they feel like they make a big hole in your life. Many of us have had the dreams about all our teeth falling out and how bereft that leaves us. Jungian psychologist identified the symbolic link between the ego and our teeth. Children teethe with their first teeth and it causes much pain and disturbance in their tiny lives. We get two sets of teeth; and how did I squander both lots so readily? Teeth mark our journey from infancy through childhood into early adulthood. Wisdom teeth are an interesting subject, as more people are born today without wisdom teeth than ever before. Natural selection at work? Third molars are on their way out.

Having bad teeth with lots of decay damages the psyche and our own implicit perception of our self. The nerve pain prods us to act and do something about our rotten teeth. The shadow of this pain works upon our self-esteem or lack thereof. I am at an impasse with my bad teeth or, perhaps, they are in remission. I know that the pain will come again, and I will be forced to gather together a large amount of money to visit the dentist once more. Until then my friends…

RIP Anthony Bourdain

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by Robert Hamilton

When I was asked to write something about the recent passing of celebrity chef and raconteur, Anthony Bourdain, I realised that he had been a part of my own culinary journey. His death by suicide, whilst shocking, does fit with the narrative contained within his first book. I received, Kitchen Confidential: Adventures in the Culinary Underbelly, his breakout bestselling memoir as a birthday present from my mother. It was a surprising choice and an equally surprising success. The book lifted the lid on the squalid and steamy underworld of commercial kitchens in the United States. Personally, I had been rattling the pans in restaurant kitchens for nearly 20 years, prior to the publication of Kitchen Confidential in 2000. Commercial kitchens, I suspect, are, and were, similar around the globe, especially in western cities like New York, Sydney and London.

Anthony Bourdain’s First Book an Expose

If you have not spent any serious time behind the closed doors of a commercial kitchen, particularly in the decades before the close of the 20C, then, the content of Bourdain’s first book may be an expose for you. The line cooks who banged out the food under pressure in busy hotels and restaurants were, often, a mix of desperadoes and unsavoury characters. People, usually men, who, perhaps, did not fit in with much of the modern world but found a niche at the range. The conditions inside these kitchens were, often, hot, sweaty, and on a knife’s edge. It takes a special kind of person to be able to bear up under this kind of pressure and in this sort of environment.  There was a camaraderie among the denizens of these culinary stews. There was a macho element, back then, of ribald humour in the face of the daily demands of hungry diners en masse. Surviving a service and successfully manning your station had some of the hallmarks of warriors in battle. Bourdain captured that rich and grimy world and conveyed its essence to a much larger audience.

The Kitchen Realm Studiously Ignored by the Literati

Prior to this, not much had been written about the real workings of commercial kitchens. George Orwell’s Down and Out in Paris and London was one of the few that recorded the reality of the dungeon kitchens in places like The Savoy. There had been little interest shown in the topic by those who decide what gets published, those at the top end of town. I wondered about this myself, as a working cook, why for decades and centuries the kitchen realm had been studiously ignored by the literati? Was it the fact that in ancient Rome most kitchens were manned by slaves? As a western culture, we have derived many of our traditions from the Romans. The Romans enjoyed their food, especially their garum (fish sauce), but if cooking was the pursuit of slaves, it would not be acknowledged as a worthy topic of exploration by those who wrote things down.

Bourdain Shone a Light on the Inner Workings of Kitchens

The New Yorker Bourdain shone a light on the inner workings of the kitchens he was employed to run. He wrote a follow-up to the first book, called Medium Raw: A Bloody Valentine to the World of Food and the people Who Cook. His mother had been a staff editor on The New York Times, so, he, most likely knew his way around the written word. He attended Vassar College for a couple of years before dropping out. In 1978, Bourdain graduated from The Culinary Institute of America, and went on to run a number of restaurant kitchens, including becoming executive chef at the Brasserie Les Halles in Manhattan.

The best-selling books launched Bourdain into the realm of celebrity TV chef, where he starred in A Cook’s Tour; No Reservations; The Layover; Parts Unknown; and The Mind of a Chef. More books, including cook books followed; and he was regarded in the same vein as a rock star in the culinary world of TV and publishing. He was, I suppose, a culinary journalist at heart, combining his two loves and creating a new form from their merging within him. My own brief experience in the media, creating recipe features and cooking magazine supplements jarred with what I intuitively understood hospitality to be about. I felt like a fake during the studio photoshoots, when my dishes were tricked up to look more real than real. I wonder if the glitz and glam of TV land, eventually got to Anthony Bourdain and he lost his way. Of course, one can never know why a person decides to take their own life, we can only speculate. Bourdain was a writer, a chef, a TV show presenter, a father and well-remembered friend to many in the hospitality industry. RIP Anthony Bourdain.

Morocco: A King’s Conscience & the Infinitesimal Trickle Down Effect

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Modern Morocco

“As Morocco’s economy slows, the jobless are getting restive”, The Economist, 1st March 2018.

https://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21737560-protests-north-have-pricked-kings-conscience-moroccos-economy-slows

The article explores recent developments in Morocco and begins by listing statistics meant to describe the economic improvement within this country. It quotes GDP per person increasing by some 70% since 2000 and mentions tax breaks attracting numerous foreign investors to this north African state. Tellingly, the article has an eco-tourism employee stating, “We can’t just build hospitals and schools…We need to lay the foundations for investment and regeneration”. (Sami Bouhmidi, Marchica eco-resort manager) This statement illustrates the awareness of the differing approaches to the idea of development in the modern era. Those onboard the foreign investment trickle down economics approach to development promote the benefits of their way in contrast to The Basic Needs Approach favoured by many NGOs (Spalding, 1990, p. 91).

Youth Unemployment at 40%

The article, by The Economist, does, however, also chart the reality for many Moroccans who are not experiencing the positive effects of this boost to the economy. Youth unemployment is listed at 40% in the north of the country, and poverty is demanding charitable food distribution in Sidi Boulaalam, which is located some 200 miles south of Casablanca. The report acknowledges King Muhammad of Morocco admitting great and growing inequalities within his nation. As in many places, there is a ruling elite, which controls the greater parts of the economy. The indigenous Berbers have been traditionally supressed by the Islamic ruling party and the threat of violent protests are readily imminent. As the economy slows in Morocco, many are demanding the government does more to alleviate poverty. The Capability Approach to development is, according to Sen, “the opportunity to achieve valuable combinations of human functionings”, and as clunky as that sentence sounds, it is an important part of human freedom and our rights as human beings (Sen, 2006, p. 153). The Capability approach empowers individuals through considerate development opportunities.

Doing the Underdeveloped a Huge Favour

Those of us living in wealthy western states have been conditioned to see the world in two different zones, the developed, and the underdeveloped. Numerous commentators, including Gustavo Esteva in The Development Dictionary, have identified American President Truman’s speech in 1949, as the progenitor of this world view. Wealthy superpowers like the United States were, from then on, doing these ‘underdeveloped’ nations a huge favour by exploiting their natural resources for profitable economic development. It was no longer possible to remain a natural oasis living apart from the wheels of progress, countries were duty bound to submit to development. Singh points out that Fukuyama identified the hegemonic influence of multinationals on the lives of peoples around the world (Singh, 2011, p. 811). In the case of Morocco, in the focus of this particular media report, building eco-resorts for wealthy tourists to holiday in is the way forward through foreign investment. Jobs are created via this development and, hopefully, some of the money spent by the tourists will trickle down to the locals, who are living on the poverty line. Unfortunately, many sectors of society are left behind, economically, through this kind of investment, with much of the influx of money going to wealthy Moroccan elites and back overseas to the investors. A high-speed train and new highways transport the tourists around the nation, but locals cannot afford the tolls and tickets to take advantage of these infrastructure improvements.

The Nature of International Development

Democracy is an important component of development, if development is going to serve the needs of the greatest number of human beings living in that nation or community (Donnelly, 1999, p. 609). Since the 1990s, the United Nations has begun to make its voice heard internationally about the nature of development and the human rights of those affected by these developments. Some say about time too, as it remained effectively silent on the topic for some fifty years from the Universal Declaration in 1949 until the emergence of Kofi Anan. The Rights Based Approach to development encapsulates this ‘rights first and above all else’ consideration of development. Development for whole human beings and not just their economic considerations. States must be accountable to the rights of their constituents, no matter their level of economic power (Cornwall, 2004, p. 1417). Under this model of development, vested interests can no longer ignore the human rights of those affected by their developments. Focusing on a few eco-resorts in Morocco is not addressing the economic and human plight of many Moroccans, it is probably going to make a few wealthy Moroccan interests even richer, but it is not addressing the basic needs of the majority of the nation’s population.

Morocco has seen colonisation by Islamic Arabic rulers and by French colonial administrations over the course of its history. Both external powers have left their mark culturally upon this, originally, Berber territory. Development has favoured the ruling elites for much of the nation’s history. Disenfranchised sections of the population continue to be neglected by development sanctioned by the state. Neoliberalism won the cold war, with the demise of the USSR and the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, and multinational corporations have had a hegemonic influence on the lives of human beings across the globe ever since. Communities and ecosystems have been destroyed in the name of progress and economic development. The UN and its various bodies have been a voice for the human rights of people affected by these developments, since the late 1990s, but not the loudest voice in the room. Capitalism and the, ‘so called’ free market economy, remain the loudest voice on this planet.

Social responsibility is still a relatively novel concept for many in the halls of power, be they in Washington, Canberra or Rabat. Self-interest remains a powerful motivator for those who can control the levers of economic development within a city or nation. Private property sits at the heart of our economic systems; and the Marxist model is shunned by neoliberal forces globally. The nub of this dilemma is, to be crude, the question of whether beggars can be choosers. This is how the power elite would see the situation in regard to development in poorer nations. Whether Sen and Nussbaum can invoke Aristotelian ethics to shift the profit motivation as bottom line for corporate multinationals when operating in ‘underdeveloped’ nations is, at this stage, an unresolved question (Crocker, 1992, p. 584).

©Robert Hamilton

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Cornwall, Andrea, “Putting the ‘rights-based approach’ to development into perspective”, Third World Quarterly, Vol. 25, pp. 1415-1437.

Crocker, David, “Functioning and Capability: The Foundations of Sen’s and Nussbaum’s Development Ethic”, Political Theory, Vol. 20, pp. 584-612.

Donnelly, Jack, “Human Rights, Democracy, and Development”, Human Right Quarterly, Vol 21, pp – 608-632.

Sachs, Wolfgang, The Development Dictionary: A Guide to Knowledge as Power, 2nd ed. (2009).

Sen, Amartya, “Human Rights and Capabilities”, Journal of Human Development, Vol. 6, pp. 151-166.

Sikha, Prem, “Accounting for human rights: The challenge of globalization and foreign investment”, Critical Perspectives on Accounting, Vol. 22, pp. 811-827.

Spalding, Nancy, “The Relevance of basic needs for political and economic development”, Studies in Comparative International Development, Vol. 25, pp. 90-115.

The Economist,“ As Morocco’s economy slows, the jobless are getting restive”, , 1st March 2018. Retrieved from https://www.economist.com/news/middle-east-and-africa/21737560-protests-north-have-pricked-kings-conscience-moroccos-economy-slows Viewed 27th March 2018.

Metrics: Measuring Your Marketing

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For much of its life, marketing has been the last mystery left unexplained on the shelf. It has been like the art of alchemy of old, add a pinch of this and a splash of that in the hope that it will all turn to gold. Businesses have employed marketing in the quest for success. B2B and B2C marketing strategies have been utilised to maximise opportunities to sell a hill of beans to whoever might be buying. Advertising in all its forms and via its many mediums has attempted to sell more widgets for its advertisers. Clients have wanted to know how effective their marketing has been beyond the most obvious set of figures, those that tell us how many widgets have been sold.

Metrics Taking the Faith Out of Marketing

These figures are affected by many other variables than, just, the raw effectiveness of the marketing or advertising. Widgets sales may have been hindered by poor admin or logistics within the business, or really crappy sales people. Marketing managers and advertising people have wanted to know how many people have seen the ads and how many have been moved to respond to the message. Enter the internet and metrics, an electronic filing system and measuring device. Metrics have taken the faith aspect out of the art of marketing and attempted to turn it into a quantifiable science.

Examples for Consideration

Here are some stats for those who love the crunch of cold hard numbers:

  • 84% of B2B marketers stated that ‘brand awareness’ was their top goal, according to Content Marketing Institute.
  • 43% of B2C marketers using a documented strategy considered themselves effective vs 33% of those without – same organisation as referenced above.
  • 36% of B2B companies with a documented content marketing strategy declared themselves very effective, three times more than those without said strategy, according to Linked In Technology Marketing Community.

The language used in these three examples, however, still employs expressions like “considered themselves”, which is hardly scientific or objectively definitive. Marketing, it seems, still has that anecdotal air of the snake oil salesman.

  • 70% of B2B organisations & 69% of B2C organisations reported that they increased their content creation from 2013 to 2014 – Content Marketing Institute.
  • 24% of organisations devote 50% of their budgets to content, according to Contently.
  • Facebook drives 25% of all internet traffic – Shareaholic.
  • 63% of B2B marketers rate Linked In as the most effective social media platform.

Measuring stuff and statistics are the new best friends of marketing professionals; just don’t get stuck next to one at your next dinner engagement, unless you want to know how many Pinterest views it takes before someone changes a light bulb.

My Sydney Holiday

by

by Robert Hamilton

I recently returned to Sydney for a month long working holiday. After living in NSW’s capital city for some 15 years through the 1980s and 1990s, I had departed the harbour city just prior to its 2000 Olympic games and had shifted to regional Australia. My time on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast hinterland and, later, a stint on the Fleurieu Peninsula of South Australia, were welcome respite from big city living. A long-time friend invited me to bunker down in Mosman with him for a work experience vacation. The green leafy streets of the northside of Sydney were still there, but these transport veins were clogged with European SUVs. It was bumper to bumper BMWs, Benzes, and Range Rovers. Yummy mummies and working executives squeezed their way down streets not designed for this level of traffic, in a bid to avoid the slow march on Military Road.

Harbourside Living is Bumper to Bumper

It is difficult to find a flat surface anywhere in a harbourside suburb. Looking up and down these winding side roads, I thought to myself, motor vehicle traffic does, at least, look a lot better on tree lined thoroughfares. Crossing the street at roundabouts is something to approach with vigilance; and it is a credit to Sydney drivers that more pedestrians are not knocked down in the process. Cafes dot the corners of many Mosman avenues, and al frescoe tables are filled with locals sipping lattes. Great coffee is accessible in abundance all over Sydney, as I can personally attest to. Café prices are reasonable, when compared with the price of parking and most other things in Australia’s largest city.

Still a Sticky City

The humidity of Sydney was a clammy shock to my skin and body temperature, after living away from the east coast for several years. Playing golf at Northbridge I was drenched in perspiration after climbing my way up the cliffside pathways and fairways on this delightful little course. Adapting to mountain goat conditions is a prerequisite when traversing these northern harbourside suburbs. My body soon grew accustomed to the steep climbs on streets, apartment stairs and other slopes. I used to joke about never being able to stand still in Sydney, without being shunted backward socially and economically, now, I must circumnavigate the inclination geographically. My heart beat faster and my blood pumped more vigorously, I was alive in this city.

Sydney’s Good Fare

Good food is not as easy to access in regional Australia, especially of the takeaway kind. Cheap eats do not exist in little towns. It takes mass to manifest an abundance of commercial culinary options. The ubiquitous Thai restaurant does not deliver affordable and fantastic fare in the impoverished outer zones of the great southern land. Luckily, I am a dab hand in the kitchen myself and do not overly miss the cheap eats available in larger cities. It was great to be back in Sydney for the food alone. Sensational Thai, fabulous phos, superb pizza, really fresh sushi, and a myriad of other cuisines, tantalised my taste buds for the duration of my stay.

Natural Beauty Harbourside

The essential beauty of the harbour itself is breathtaking. I had forgotten just how dramatic and verdant parts of it were. Looking down from the Mosman national parklands was extraordinary and evidence of why people have stuck around and paid handsomely for the privilege of living harbourside. Boats bob about on blue waters, bushland rises to the top of cliffs, and birds screech and wing their way about the ecosystem. Sometimes you can, even, forget about the mass of humanity perambulating around in their shiny new SUVs.

Driving around these streets I felt squashed in from all sides and worried about making contact with the metal skins of other drivers. Parking was a case of sucking in my belly and hoping to fit in, which I invariably did. It was a perceived reduction of room to move, there was enough space, but it felt constrained. I thought about the recent comments of the ex-Premier Bob Carr and Dick Smith in relation to the accelerated population growth in Australia’s two biggest cities. The high levels of migration, in excess of 100 000 every year for years, has marked Sydney and the lifestyle options it affords its residents.

Looking around the streets of Mosman and the northside suburbs of Sydney, you see a proliferation of Chinese faces. I imagine these are some of the wealthy migrants who have moved to Sydney over the last couple of decades. Those I saw looked happy and were engaged in the common pursuits of this harbourside suburb. Young women were jogging and walking, enjoying the warm weather and exercising their lithe bodies. Mothers were escorting children to and from their SUVs. Mosman is a vibrant and health conscious community in the 21C, judged by the behaviour I observed.

You cannot turn the clock back, ala John Howard and his conception of the Australia of the 1950s. You can, however, question the social and economic settings that exist in any nation or state. You can talk about issues and debate whether these settings are correct in the current climate. Do people in Sydney want more and more population growth? Are we spoiling one of the most beautiful cities in the world, through excessive urban development? Is the Mosman lifestyle worth the hundreds of thousands of dollars it costs to reside there?

Human beings are funny things, we love to crowd together in one spot, despite there being an enormous Australian coastline of opportunities. Businesses will not shift to regional locations and assist in the spread of our population. Those who move to the country, often struggle to find employment and to survive away from the major cities. Democratic governments have narrow short-term vision and will not plan for sensible satellite-city growth. The socialist dictatorships, seem, better at making long-range plans, which cater for their population’s tomorrow. Sydney on the current scale of growth, will be a challenge for commuters, and, I imagine, residents will spend more time within their domiciles.

I was impressed with the natural vivaciousness of the all the locals I encountered during my working holiday. Sydney people are out there living their lives, even, if finding a park takes up considerable amounts of time. Get more people using Uber, and other crowd sharing applications, and it could take some heat out of the traffic situation. I am thinking self-driving cars may make some inroads into the bottlenecks and traffic jams in the, hopefully, not too distant future. Sydney drivers are great at letting each other into lanes and making turns. They are far more mature than drivers in smaller cities around Australia. It is like they all share a secret, about how great their city can be, and they act in concert to alleviate gridlocks and make life a little easier for their fellow human beings.

Sydney brings out the best in most locals and visitors, I reckon, with the majority striving to have a good time. Darling Harbour is the mega multicultural melting pot, where the variety of faces and skin tones is wonderful. A brief pit stop at Maccas, saw Islander girls singing hip hop tunes out loud, tables of Asian youth enjoying the vibrant parade of their peers, and families from all over tucking into a fried treat or two. There are concrete ping pong tables to share for free with those who love their table tennis. Parking is cheaper on Sundays to support families partaking of the facilities. We kicked a footy around on a grassy expanse in the middle of it all.

A trip to IKEA was another eye-opening experience. Carparks full of consumer vehicles that had journeyed out to shop in giant warehouses. Whether it be a mega sports mart, a Bunnings, or the Swedish furniture monolith, these folks were here to have a good time. Sausage sizzles fronted one joint and my friend made a beeline for this carpark gourmet snack. Meatballs were, also, on the menu at the IKEA cafeteria, surrounded by families enjoying the budget offerings. The food was unsurprisingly good, this was Sydney after all. I watched an African church congregation exit their temple, which was taking place over the highway. The brightly coloured dresses caught my attention on this Sunday morning. My friend could not decide on the floor lamp he sought from among the many choices within the IKEA display. I purchased a pizza cutter, a desk lamp, a colander, 3 side plates, and a stainless-steel grater. We left deflated after exploring two immense floors of furniture and accessories, which we were forced to traverse like rats in a maze, which appeared to never end.

A night time visit to Marrickville in search of Pho memories (pronounced fer I am assured) was like journeying to another world. A warm world of spicy Asian smells, flying cockroaches and balmy breezes. The Pho was wonderful, served in an extra-large bowl for my reminiscing friend. One could say it was a long way to go for a bowl of soup, but that would be completely missing the point. Sydney is a kaleidoscope of distinctive microcosms, which sit side by side in different directions. Marrickville is quite unlike Mosman, as Manly differs decidedly from Glebe; and higgeldy piggeldy roadways criss cross suburbs like something planned on LSD. The expression, ‘up hill and down dale’, comes to mind, as I reencounter this city from my previous lives.

As you get older, and, if like me, you have lived like a gypsy, moving around ceaselessly, you look back at periods of your like, like some immortal vampire. Times spent in certain locales take on misty past life shades. Did I really live there, with her, all those years ago? It becomes like those places do not exist anymore, which they don’t, really, the past is gone forever after all. Sydney is a patchwork of memories for me, but this time around, those memories do not call to me like sirens in the night. I am thankfully free of the tug of the past. I can enjoy today for what it is and not what it once was.

I am older and the people I meet are older, it seems. My pursuits are not those of a younger man. I diligently labour at my work, and, then, am happy to quaff a glass of wine and enjoy a tasty meal.  I no longer seek extracurricular entertainment in my surrounds. Is this pulsating city wasted on one of my generation? Is the hassle of getting from A to B worth the grind, if the rewards sought are not of the extraordinary kind? We used to call Sydney, Sin City, half-jokingly, of course. My only sin, these days, is occasional gluttony. Too much of a good thing can kill you, or so they say.

Younger people clamour on the busy thoroughfares in this city. They are all hurriedly on their way to somewhere. I see faces from a hundred different cultures, as these people gambol about in search of prosperity. Broadway shopping centre is a hub on the inner west side of this metropolis, and it attracts large numbers of itinerant city dwellers. A coffee seated here by the vast sloping automated walkways, affords the watcher a parade of Sydneysiders going about the business of consuming and living. Apple has a store here that is more like a temple than a mart of any kind. Sleek people fondle sleek machines in search of who knows what. Light reflects from the devices into faces huddled above, as if these were pilgrims seeking holy benediction from godly relics. My god, Steve Jobs.

Parking is an unavoidable chore for the motorist in Sydney. The amount of time, my friend and I spent in search of affordable parking options was considerable. Councils in this city seem to allow developments to be built without the necessary parking facilities to support their functioning. A trip to the Orpheum cinema complex in Cremorne was not complete without the dance of finding street parking. We watched The Shape of Water, which began inside a building, which was the movie’s Orpheum cinema. This was a story within a story, our very own Russian doll experience. Del Toro exquisitely explored the concept of our relationship to the monster, disability, and morphed genres together like an alchemist. This was the old Mike Walsh cinema, but it has grown in size and dimensions.

Hot stifling nights, without a fan, sleeping on my friend’s son’s red racing car, single bed, were not a highlight of my trip. The view out the window was of the tree lined slopes of Mosman, of houses and apartment buildings bunched together up hill and down dale. I could see a designer bathroom, way in the distance, which overlooked a Sydney harbour view, in my estimation of its orientation. The average house price in Mosman last year, was $3 827 000, according to www.realestate.com.au. The median rental price for a house in Mosman is $2 300 per week, and for an apartment $650.

As the days until my departure dwindled, I felt myself constrict somewhat and my appreciation of the city dimmed. It is a natural cycle within a holiday, when the realisation dawns that you are but one tiny part of a giant machine going about its business. Sydney has its daily regimes defined by the usage of its roads and facilities by its population of residents and visitors. The takeaway food did not taste quite so special anymore. The pokiness of the flat was suddenly more apparent. The sounds of the city were intrusive and annoying. Holidays are like honeymoons, familiarity breeds contempt, and what was charming is, now, chaffing.

Getting out of Sydney is no easy thing on a budget. Airfares are much cheaper these days; but you get what you pay for in this life. Uber would not allow me to register online, there were multiple problems with the sign on for rider’s process. I took a taxi from Northbridge to Mosman and it cost around $40 something. I was already up for in excess of $300 for long term parking at the other end of my journey. I tracked down a minibus service to the airport for $52. On the day of my departure it was late because of traffic. As the bus pulled up 30 minutes late I simultaneously was informed by Virgin that my plane was delayed by some 45 minutes, this would stretch to over an hour in actuality at the airport. At the terminal there was one baggage drop receptionist for every hundred, waiting queued up, passengers. Once we had passed through this grim experience, passengers on our flight were wrongly informed of a gate change twice, before we sat on the tarmac, in our stationary aeroplane awaiting a flight plan from those in command at the tower. Onboard we received a tiny packet of crisps, as our allocated snack. This is what airlines now provide in the age of the cheap fare. Our stewardesses were aggressively cheerful throughout the flight.

Upon landing I did not look back, but Sydney was not to blame, it had just been a bad day.

©Robert Hamilton & Midas Word