JAN 2015: FROM ONE ULTRACREPIDARIAN TO ANOTHER

I wonder how many of my followers subscribe to the free website www.wordsmith.org. This site emails subscribers every day with the Word of the Day. Every so often a gem of a word livens up an otherwise dreary day. This week the theme is “Insults”. The word ULTRACREPIDARIAN has the following meaning; “one who gives opinions beyond one’s area of expertise”.

Every morning on the Today programme, the BBC’s reality chat show, several people are wheeled out to give us pearls of wisdom concerning their field of expertise. The pursuit of diversity and equality at the BBC has resulted in a shocking downgrading of the quality of such persons as for the most part they are anything but experts. Often they have scant knowledge of the subject they are paid to talk about and very often they are promoting vested interest. This morning, on the eve of that utterly useless self-congratulatory bun fight in Davos, an “expert” on the world financial system was wheeled out to explain the consequences of the Masters of the Euro initiating a programme of Quantitative Easing, QE. As always, the expert failed totally to explain what QE is and why it is needed (or not as the case may be). I have an idea of what QE is but as an ultracrepidarian I would not deign to make a fool of myself unless the BBC wants to pay me as an expert.

And another thing! The general election is on the 7^th May. If you have not noticed, then let me alert you to the BBC’s facilitation every morning of appellants to the electorate being given a platform requesting us to feel sorry for them as after the election they are going to need more of our money to survive in the world of “cuts”. David Starkey on Question Time said there have been no cuts. He is nearly correct. The cuts have been to capital spending with current expenditure having reduced by about 1%p.a.. Hence, the halving of the deficit has by and large not happened by cuts to operating expenditure and meanwhile the country’s debt has grown by over £500 billion in this parliament, and is now well over a trillion pounds. I look forward to someone at the BBC being brought on to the morning show in the pursuit of balance to explain to the appellants that “there is no money”. However, according to certain political experts things are booming with the strongest economy in Europe; go figure!

What about the world of antiques and closer to home clocks? Not a lot to report, especially as no decent tavern clock has appeared since early last year. In fact, 2014 produced one really top quality clock and much mediocrity; I live in hope but for quality to come out of the cupboard and into the auction rooms sellers need to see rising values. There is no evidence of that except amongst the Golden Age makers. A situation where restoration costs exceed the value of a clock or other antique is not helpful.

So, what will 2015 bring? If things do not change they will stay the same.