William Wilberforce - A 'fanatic' who changed the world for the better

I’m sure the word ‘fanatic’ sparks different emotions for all of us.

‘Fanatic’ can be a description of an extremist, even a dangerous person … or not

William Wilberforce, the famous Member of Parliament (MP) was described recently by the Archbishop of Canterbury as the greatest Englishman of the last millennium.

As a Christian and an MP, William Wilberforce led the battle, for 20 years, to abolish the British Slave Trade. He was hated by many because slavery was big business and people ‘in the business’ were strongly against abolition because their livelihood would be threatened.

Nevertheless Wilberforce remained single minded and determined mainly because of his faith in God. Despite numerous defeats of his Bills to abolish the Slave Trade in the House of Commons he persevered.

Eventually the British Slave Trade was abolished in 1807. Wilberforce carried on for another 27 years leading the battle for slavery itself to be abolished. Three days after the abolition of slavery Wilberforce died.

He had battled for almost 50 years to rid the world of this appalling testimony in the history of mankind.

At the height of his battles Wilberforce was described as a ‘fanatic’ by his many opponents. In a speech to the House of Commons, William Wilberforce said;

“If to be feeling alive to all sufferings of my fellow creatures and to be warmed with the desire of relieving their distress, is to be a fanatic, I am one of the most incurable fanatics ever permitted to be at large.”

What fabulous words from an incredible man.

Don't make promises you don't meet!

An angry rant I’m afraid ….

To run a business is actually very easy. Here is my simple theory:

'If you tell the truth and deliver your promises you won't go far wrong. If you don't do those things your business will fail.'

The reason running a business gets bad press is because some people who run businesses are just hopeless at making sure they do what they say they will do.

Yesterday (Tuesday) I waited all day to receive an important parcel delivery for which a premium was paid to get a guarantee of delivery within 24 hours by one of my clients.

Guess what? – The parcel didn't arrive – no explanation - nothing.

That is not complicated - it is simple.

It is just a total lack of integrity and checking on the part of the business responsible for that promise.

I won’t accept any other explanation – it is that simple for crying out loud!

What is so complicated about checking whether you actually met your promise?

Such laziness and lack of professionalism annoys me intensely and there is just no excuse in my book.

Because this business failed to deliver their promise I am considerably out of pocket, I am considerably inconvenienced and another client of mine will receive a less than perfect service as a result – and none of this is the fault of me or my client.

This is simply and only to do with someone not having the decency, the good manners, the professionalism and the conscientiousness to check on their promises.

Don’t make promises if you don’t have methods of checking you deliver them.

I feel a little bit better having got that off my chest.

Justice Not Charity

*We can all produce facts that can be taken out of context.

*Statistics can be twisted to suit an argument.
*Spin doctors can put a slant on things to create a story.

Having said all that, and allowing for inevitable cynicism about such things, I say it is simply not acceptable in 2007 to just accept the following statement;

‘The amount of money we spend on ice cream in Europe is enough to immunize every child in the world’

Source:
Worldwatch Institute
http://www.worldwatch.org/node/1784

In a world where 20,000 people die every day – mainly children – due to poverty, I have to agree with Bono who says ‘This is not a charity issue – it is a justice issue.’

Does it really have to be this difficult?

Regular Simplicity Blog readers will remember a while ago I wrote a couple of postings about stupid things I simply could not understand. One of the things I mentioned was the ridiculous places that toilet rolls are fixed in public toilets.

I conclude after another week of visiting a few public conveniences on my travels that I was right all along.

In a nutshell designers either have a wicked sense of humour, they are contortionists and assume the rest of us are too, or they are just plain stupid. Who in their right mind would fix a toilet roll holder in the position shown on this photograph? This is at Snow Hill Railway Station, Birmingham. Annie took the photo this evening while we were at Snow Hill simply because readers just would not believe me without the evidence - No planner could be that stupid you would be saying without seeing the evidence!

Earlier in the week I had the dubious pleasure of experiencing another crazy set up in the public toilets in Keele Services on the M6 Motorway.

The large toilet roll holder contained two of those really large rolls and every time I pulled the end of the roll just one piece of tissue came off the roll because of the weight of the roll and the relative weakness of the paper!

Therefore I had to use my imagination and hold my hand up inside the holder itself to manipulate the roll round to allow more than one sheet of tissue to appear out of the base of the holder and then remove my hands from inside the holder to tear off the tissue!!! – Am I exaggerating??? – No - just try it yourself next time you are passing Keele Services!!

It seems impossible to imagine that something so simple as fixing a toilet roll holder in an accessible place and designing a toilet roll holder that allows the customer to tear off tissue easily could be so difficult.

This posting is mildly amusing of course but behind it is a serious message about design and common sense and customer care (yes customer care – I AM DEADLY SERIOUS!)

It has been a long week and I have travelled many miles ….. Interesting that the thing that got me most motivated to write on my Blog was about public toilets!!

Maybe the travelling has finally got to my brain

Customers are not Stupid

Something that irritates me intensely is when I see advertisements for example as ‘Fly to X or Y place for £1’

When you make further enquires it turns out the flight ticket itself may well be £1 but with airport taxes and extras the cost can be anything up to £100 in my experience.

Not only is this a morally wrong 'con' I believe it should be made illegal.

I have had heated rows with representatives and I tell them they are lying to customers.

I usually get some very patronising person telling me it is ‘technically correct’ the flight costs £1 – it is airport taxes etc., that push up the price!

We customers are not stupid so please do not treat us as such.

Tony Blair and Comic Relief

An Audio Blog on whether Tony Blair was right or not to appear on Comic Relief on BBC TV last Friday evening in a comedy sketch given the war in Iraq. This one is a tricky call – I would be interested in comments.

This Audio Blog is 3 minutes and 47 seconds long.



MP3 File

Don Henley rewarded for tireless work

As I have often said on Simplicity Blog I am a 30 year fan of The Eagles.

It was great to read that Don Henley was rewarded last week for his work of a philanthropic nature for the environment for many years in his own quiet way.

Henley was awarded the MusiCares Person of the Year 2007 – click here for more details

If you want to feel the passion Henley has for the environment listen to The Last Resort – a Henley solo classic in which he displays all his emotion about environmental and justice issues.

Here are the lyrics of The Last Resort but believe me you really have to hear Henley sing it to appreciate the passion – but then I am biased of course.

"The Last Resort"

She came from Providence, the one in Rhode Island
Where the old world shadows hang, heavy in the air
She packed her hopes and dreams like a refugee
Just as her father came across the sea

She heard about a place, people were smilin'
They spoke about the red man's way, and how they loved the land
They came from everywhere, to the Great Divide
Seeking a place to stand, or a place to hide

Down in the crowded bars, out for a good time
Can't wait to tell you all, what it's like up there
They called it paradise, I don't know why
Somebody laid the mountains low, while the town got high

Then the chilly winds blew down
Across the desert
Through the canyons of the coast, to the Malibu
Where the pretty people play,
Hungry for power, to light their neon way
And give them things to do
Some rich men came and raped the land,
Nobody caught 'em
Put up a bunch of ugly boxes,
And Jesus, people bought 'em

They called it paradise
The place to be
They watched the hazy sun, sinking in the sea
You can leave it all behind
And sail to Lahaina, just like the missionaries did,
So many years ago
They even brought a neon sign: "Jesus is coming"
Brought the white man's burden down
Brought the white man's reign

Who will provide the grand design?
What is yours and what is mine?
'Cause there is no more new frontier
We have got to make it here
We satisfy our endless needs and justify our bloody deeds,
In the name of destiny and the name of God

And you can see them there,
On Sunday morning
They stand up and sing about what it's like up there
They call it paradise I don't know why
You call someplace paradise, kiss it goodbye

Tony Benn in action - not bad for 81 years of age!

Whether or not people agree with what Tony Benn says, even his most outspoken opponents must surely admit that to have as much passion, energy and enthusiasm for a cause at almost 82 years of age is wonderful to behold.

This U-Tube clip of Tony speaking in September 2006 displays his passion.

As I have said many times on Simplicity Blog, Tony Benn is my greatest political hero and I was honoured to have an e mail from him recently. This is what he said:

"Dear Trevor

Having left Parliament to devote more time to politics I am free: Lots of experience and no personal ambition. Can't wait for April 3 2025 when I shall have completed my first hundred years and a new century of work begins"

Please enjoy the video clip and regardless of your political views just admire his gift of oratory.