A turn-up for my books
I was looking at my bookshelves recently and wondering what the future might hold for them.
I’ve just had something of a clear-out, which took some courage, but I decided that books that were still packed in boxes 20 years after we moved here were probably surplus to my needs. The internet helped: I was able to sell many of them to a couple of websites (see Webwatch, below). You don’t get much for most of them – typically less than 50 pence each and they won’t take everything – but they make it very easy and will come and collect them.
However, it was the bookshelves with my reference books that I was looking at. It’s a biggish collection built up over many years and, since the invention of Google, almost untouched. With a laptop on the kitchen table and a computer in my study, I simply have not looked anything up in an actual book for ages, so they have been ignored, lonely and unloved.
But then, the other day, the motherboard on my laptop failed. This is the heart of any computer; without it, the thing just won’t work.
Suddenly, my books came back to life. While my laptop was being repaired, I used an encyclopedia, a thesaurus, a dictionary, an atlas, Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable and Fowler’s Modern English Usage. It was a joy; the information was all there, authoritative and reliable, in well-written articles.
The source of any information is a sure guide to its likely accuracy. We assume that what is in the Encyclopaedia
Britannica will be right. We know that what’s on Wikipedia may not be. In fact, Wikipedia itself explicitly warns, ‘Wikipedia is not a reliable source.’
So where are the reliable reference works online? If you know where to look, there are plenty; most of the classic reference works are now online. In some ways this is an improvement on a book, as it can be constantly updated. However, you will usually have to pay to use such sources – and pay plenty.
Encyclopaedia Britannica, for example, offers some content free, but if you want access to it all (and without the irritating adverts), it’ll cost you £54 pa. Crockford’s Clerical Directory is £50 pa;
Who’s Who charges £132 pa. The Oxford English Dictionary ( OED) is an eyewatering £215 pa, as is Grove’s Dictionary of Music and Musicians.
What’s worse is that many online reference works (such as the 400 or so in the Oxford Reference collection, which includes Brewer and Fowler) seem to be available only to institutions.
But do not despair, as help may well be at hand in the form of your local library. Many libraries take out subscriptions to these reference works and make them available online to their users. Mine (in Suffolk) offers access to the Encyclopaedia Britannica and some other resources I would otherwise have to pay for.
What each library offers varies across the country; in North Yorkshire, Norfolk or Bristol, for example, you also get access to the Dictionary of National Biography, Who’s Who and the OED. Obviously, the councils there value this sort of thing more highly than mine does.
This library service is one of the best-kept secrets of the internet. I urge you to use it – if people don’t, such resources will doubtless be dropped in the next round of cost reductions.
In the meantime, I have rediscovered the pleasure of using my own reference library. Just browsing through Fowler, for example, is an education.
Once my laptop was repaired and the siren song of the internet started luring me back, I promised my books that I will look something up the old way at least once a week. It’s the least they deserve.
To help you make an initial broad assessment: does your bank avoid investing in companies that harm people or the planet, such as arms manufacturers and fossil-fuel producers? Or does it go further and positively support those that do good, perhaps by investing in companies that promote solar energy?
For a simple decision, you can choose building society accounts which, because they are mutual, are owned by their members – who have voting rights – rather than by shareholders. Nationwide is the largest with an ethical stance that is audited each year.
Islamic banks, such as Gatehouse Bank, are ethical in being Sharia-compliant and avoiding alcohol or tobacco companies. Anyone can apply for a current account.
The bank that meets the highest ethical standards is Triodos, a Dutch bank with a UK base in Bristol and a UK banking licence which gives UK customer-protection.
The Co-operative Bank is known to be an ethical bank. Unfortunately, after suffering poor management it is now majority-owned by US hedge funds.
A few other ethical financial institutions offer savings and loans accounts but without current accounts.
The Ecology Building Society’s savings products are used to provide mortgages for sustainable properties and projects. Charity Bank offers savings accounts, and loans for charities and social enterprises.
Savers’ consciences can be conflicted if they need to earn maximum interest. There is a general assumption that you pay a price to be ethical. Anna Bowes of the Savings Champion website has compared ethical and non-ethical accounts and found that customers need not sacrifice income for their principles.
Looking for a fixed one-year bond? Triodos and Nationwide pay fractionally higher rates than high-street banks; the Islamic banks Al Rayan and Gatehouse substantially more. Similar differences can be found in easy-access accounts. One more reason for banking ethically.