The bizarre economics of the hotel minibar. – By Tim Harford – Slate Magazine
“I write this from an inexpensive hotel room, but you would not guess that looking at the price list in front of me. Two dollars a minute for phone calls (price on the Planet Earth: 10 cents), $20 for a day’s wireless access (Earth price: $20 a month), $4 for a chocolate bar. It’s like being in some bizarre alternate universe.”
The moral of the story – stay in a cheap hotel and don’t pay for the extras.
It’s been widely reported that this year, The All England Lawn Tennis Club (aka Wimbledon) will pay equal prize money to men and women. The disparity has been the subject of controversy for some years, but there’s a reason for the disparity: men play longer matches. When the women play five sets, they’re earning the same. Until then, they deserve 60% of the men’s winnings for doing 60% of the work.
The Prime Minister’s website has a place for people to create petitions and measure the level of response. This is allegedly to allow public opinion to shape government policy, though it remains to see whether anyone will listen.
The most popular petition to date has over a million signatures protesting against road pricing. There’s a worrying amount of spin coming from the government saying that people don’t understand road pricing, but the fact remains that we, the general public do understand: it’s going to cost more to do the same travelling at a time when public transport prices are increasing ahead of inflation because they can’t cope with peak demand.
There’s a new transport related petition which deserves some attention too: to scrap speed cameras in the UK. If you want to keep your driving licence, I suggest you sign it.
It’s interesting to note that this petition is already number 12 on the list.
I’m a big fan of this; it’s a great official way for people to make their views on a subject. I’d like to see a threshold – perhaps 500,000 signatories, above which it has to be accepted as government policy if at all possible.
I’m sat in the Northwest Lounge at Boston’s Logan Airport and I’m annoyed that I’ve had to pay for the Wi-Fi here despite having paid for the use of the lounge. Stroppy letter time.
I’ve got seven hours of tedium ahead of me as I fly back across the Atlantic. If the in-flight “entertainment” (and I use that word loosely) is as exciting as the way out here, I’ll be buying a second iPod to be sure I always have a spare! There wasn’t a single film I’d heard of, and the other passsengers in my row were either French or uncommunicative.
Of course, there’s always the exciting in-flight menu. It’s a pretty safe choice that there’ll be a choice of a “brunch” or something with pasta in it for the hot meal.
While we’re on the subject, two flying blogs I enjoy reading are Cockpit Conversation and Flight Level 390. Both worth a look if flying interests you, or just if you spend lots of time on planes.
European leaders speak out on Muslim veils (also here).
“LONDON, Oct 17 (Reuters) – Two European leaders separately voiced concern at the Muslim veil on Tuesday, with Britain’s Tony Blair calling it a “mark of separation” and Italy’s Romano Prodi saying it should not be used to hide behind.”
In related news, a check-in attendant is threatening to sue British Airways after being fired for wearing a crucifix.
Let me be clear. Religious paraphernalia have no place in the workplace. I don’t care what your religion tells you you should wear, if you come to work in a modern country wearing a veil, crucifix, turban, or pentacle, I’m going to view you as someone who is clearly not able to think and behave rationally.
Douglas Rushkoff is writing about religion on his blog.
Link at http://www.rushkoff.com/2006/04/faith-illness-why-ive-had-it-with.php
I’m looking forward to his new book, Testament.
Over at the Policeman’s Blog, there’s a post about the difference between where the police can be most effective, and where policy suggests they can spend most effort.
Once again, this is a triumph of policy over common sense. The real viewpoint here is that the police should spend their effort where they can solve most crimes – and by that I mean real crimes with a victim, not nicking safe drivers for driving at a safe speed that happens to exceed some arbitrary limit.
Sorry, I digress. The real problem here is that the police should be responding to burgularies and real crimes, not spending their time resolving domestic squabbles.