Prosopagnosia

 There are a couple of things I'm thinking of these days and one of them is Prosopagnosia (or face blindness).

Oliver's book 

It's all about people not recognising  faces and there are some big names who've suffered it, they include Oliver Sacks (who wrote a book about it)  Stephen Fry, Comedian Paul Foot and seemingly the rather strange  connection of US photo-realist artist  Chuck Close.

I don't know if there are connections between sufferers (drug use?) or if it is more common amongst men or women but I can't help thinking that it tells us something about the human brain's operation.

Let's face it with several billion people in the world most with fairly 'standard' facial features it can seem pretty amazing that we can spot individuals visually - domestic animals often have keener senses of smells that humans but most of us are at least not conscious of detecting people by smell.

I recall about 25 years back on being required to meet a friend at HK Airport after not seeing him for some time anticipating spotting him being a challenge, it proved not to be the case but I do think about this and the point of losing this ability to differentiate as the years go by. 

  

Cord Cutting - Netflix and more as US Media continues to evolve and reconsolidate

 It's some years since I was employed in the broadcast sector and even more since I took a bit of an academic focus but I retain more than a passing interest in what is happening as the big players face changes and new technologies alter viewer behaviour.

My last employer was Discovery Europe  (nearly 9 years ago) and even then thoughts were around how the company could reach their audience without the use of a 'platform' (in the UK Sky), apart from the technology a key challenge was migrating viewers without alienating the present carriers.

The creation of new strategies has meant that the creation of the Discovery/Warner  Media megalith makes a sort of sense to challenge the Disney, Prime Video and of course Netflix offerings, Discovery by itself was tending to be a little 'worthy' and the Warner element means a more rounded destination should emerge, there's even News there with CNN and a part interest in the UK's GB News (which may yet become a viable channel).

One of the things that has remained with me since studying Media is that although various governments choose to proclaim their dedication to Media Freedom and de-regulation what invariably comes to pass is 'Re-Regulation'  and Freedom (as always) remains problematic in terms of how it's defined.

The USA has a longer history of a competitive and commercial market for Broadcasters and although there has been in the past a requirement for 'fairness' in commentary this has largely fallen by the wayside as marginal alternatives have  provided cover for Fox News and others to deliver  a more entertaining style of 'News'  discourse.

While  'Cord Cutting' has been considered by some to be a method of freeing up the market and the viewer it appears now (thanks to Helen Back for signposting this excellent Netflix commentary ) is merely a way of the Media companies having more direct contact with the end viewer as the means of delivery to the home evolves into a 'utility' type business.

I will follow interest how the US market plays out as without a doubt it will impact on the UK business where the state sanctioned  BBC and semi independent Channel 4 are both facing challenges from a Tory Government which appears uncomfortable with Broadcasters' criticism. 

Key to the success of Media strategies is how they capture the eyeballs of Millenniums and Generation Z  -so anything that ignores the likes of YouTube and Tik-Tok  may find they become 'dinosaurs'. 

What do you think ... ?

Flying?

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How is it that 'Staycation" which previously meant staying at home and having days out has come to be holidays anywhere within the UK?

 

Do we actually need (particularly at this time) to get into a cramped polluting metal can to be thrown through the air (after queuing up in a busy airport) to sit under the same sun we left behind? As Alain de Botton said in The Art of Travel (paraphrasing) the problem he had was when he went on holiday he took himself.

How do we measure a Tory politician's success?

 So Matt Hancock is no longer minister for Health in UK government and Sajid Javid is now  the new Health Minister.

The MP for  West Suffolk Mr. Hancock would seem to me (and many others) to have been a disastrous Minister of Health and without the successful vaccine rollout we'd be in a very poor position, this managed by Kate Bingham has gone well.

How much credit is due to Dame Kate Bingham (another member of the Conservative party's inner circle) is not clear but allegations around her behaviour seem to be less than many involved in the ruling party -perhaps she would make a better NHS England boss than  the proven failure Dame Dido Harding? 

 Hancock as well as breaking his own rules has broken ministerial codes and until the affair he was having was revealed was labelled by Tory Chief Johnson as 'F**king Hopeless' - to me it was rather odd to find that as his clinch with adviser he appointed was revealed he finally got the PM's full backing.

What I have wondered since the virus became an issue in the UK is why we've chosen not to see what works in in other countries and how we can learn - anyone know?

As throughout this awful Tory reign (not only under Johnson but far worse with him) Politics has taken precedence over health and the state of the economy - I think Johnson has chose Javid to run the Health portfolio for Political reasons rather than capability - Hunt and Gove both ruled out but he may regret getting  the  ex-chancellor back in the tent - time will tell, my personal thoughts are that the pay and status of Health workers needs to be improved across the board.