utils/generic.py: confusing mix of functionality

[seanpearsonuk]

• contains unrelated functionalities
• each group of functionality should be in a separate module with a relevant name
• loop is a shared object instantiated at module scope, only relevant to some functions
• utils namespace name is not helpful. Are all these things meant to be public?

[hpohekar]

@seanpearsonuk

Regarding Are all these things meant to be public? - We are not including these modules in rst. Therefore they are not available in public documentation. If we want, we can make them private explicitly.

[hpohekar]

@seanpearsonuk

Regarding utils namespace name is not helpful. - Do we want to rename it to something like utilities ?