An American friend who lives in London sent me copy of an email he received about bicycling in the city. The communication was innocuous enough, just an announcement that they had updated their website, along with some information about the upcoming “Mayor of London’s Sky Ride.” What attracted my friend’s attention, and mine, was the chap’s title: “Head of Behaviour Change.”
“Head of Behaviour Change,” Ministry of Transport, Bicycle Division. It would be funny if it were not Orwellian. It is, my friend observed, “very 21st Century Britain.”
Wow. I was massively creeped out by this, but I feel a little better after seeing that it’s for the Ministry of Transportation, Bicycle Division.
Don’t worry. I called my contact at the Ministry of Truth. He said there has always been a Head of Behaviour Change.
But, Adam, he would say that, wouldn’t he??
Speaking of behavior change, the Washington Post owns an online university, Kaplan!! Its 2009 revenue was $2.6 billion.
Hmm. Interesting that the bicycle (penny farthing variety) was the symbol for the Village in “The Prisoner.” Are they TRYING to make us paranoid?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opening_and_closing_sequences_of_The_Prisoner
As I recall, there has been a”Ministry of Silly Walks” for decades.
Did behaviour change for the better?
If you consider “more compliant” an improvement in behavior, then, yes, it is changed for the better, as defined by the state.
A modest suggestion: Start imposing behavioral change requirements on the Head of Behaviour Change. For starters, require that he bicycle to work. Every day. Regardless of the weather. No matter how far away he lives and how much stuff he has to carry.
Orwellian title aside, may I give you one opinion on that bicycle thing?
I write from Barcelona and since we like to be in the silliness avant-garde, this was one of the first places to use those public bicycles.
The result is that, at an enourmous cost, the people using them are those that formerly used to walk, take the public transport or their own bicycle. Almost none switched from car to them, wich was the main idea behind the project.
But they look nice and green, don’t they?