And so we continue our journey through Bob's stay in hospital this time last year. 30th September was, as days go, pretty unpleasant. Here is what I wrote on Facebook with a bit of elaboration underneath in italics: 30 September ... Continue reading →
Theresa May was a strong Home Secretary but is a very weak Prime Minister. Having presided for six years over a department that has wrecked many careers she looked likely to be a safe pair of hands at Number Ten. She inherited a working (if not comfortable) Commons majority from David Cameron. She faced a [...]
Or, as the title suggests, "The Day That The Wheels Fell Off". It was, I'm afraid, not one of the most glorious moments in the eight or so years that I've been intermittently following our local non-league football team. And yet, it had started so promisingly... The sun was shining brightly on a somewhat busier than usual Bloomfields, as Conference South side Dartford were the visitors, with the promise of knockout drama and a possible giant killing. Alright, Dartford are only one division above Needham Market, but it's quite a big step up from the Bostik League to the Conference ...
Non-fiction: 4 (YTD 38) Thinking Fast and Slow, by Daniel Kahneman A Short Guide to Irish Science Fiction, by Jack Fennell Peoplewatching, by Desmond Morris Space Helmet for a Cow, vol 2, by Paul Kirkley [IMG: 588160F5-A3A7-4DE9-AFE3-EAFDB626D071.jpeg] [IMG: 109D4B8C-DF0C-49BA-A7F1-7090809CAF62.jpeg] [IMG: 003288C3-9BA2-4B94-8180-52DF4253F122.jpeg] [IMG: 2F7952BD-C7DE-499B-8BA0-323C0ECA4285.jpeg] sf (non-Who): 4 (YTD 60) Synners, by Pat Cadigan Press Cuttings, by George Bernard Shaw The Red Leaguers, by Shan F. Bullock The Famished Road, by Ben Okri [IMG: IMG_1062.JPG] [IMG: 25D6150C-B598-4A34-A7A2-7DCA754236FC.jpeg] [IMG: 644BA976-61E4-4C82-B672-A837FD736566.jpeg] Doctor Who, etc: 3 (YTD 42) How The Doctor Changed My Life, ed. Simon Guerrier Life During Wartime, ed. Paul Cornell Diamond Dogs, ...
Before the heyday of Rushden & Diamonds the great football hope of the Northamptonshire boot-and-shoe country was Kettering Town. Twice in the 1990s they finished runners up in the Conference. If I recall correctly, both times they were well clear at Christmas and looked set for promotion to the Football League. Since they were relegated at the end of the 2000-1 season the club's story has been one of footballing and financial decline. It was not helped by its appointment of Paul Gascoigne as manager in 2005. He lasted 39 days before being sacked. Kettering Town's home in its glory ...
In June, I received an email from a resident suggesting that too many trees are being felled in central Ludlow. Thinking the resident could be right, I have been reviewing the data. Until now, we have not been able to see the wood for the trees because summary statistics weren't available.[1] Because of my analysis, we now know that in the last three years, 126 trees have been felled in Ludlow's urban conservation areas.[2] At least 34 trees were planted to replace them. A further 163 trees underwent management work such as crowning and pollarding. Ludlow Town Council objected to ...
'Year zero' was declared by a Labour councillor at the Sefton Council meeting last week. Everything 'before JC' , as he put it they did not accept responsibility for. With JC all was made new and the world began again. We had the usual rants about how evil and wicked the Lib Dems were for agreeing to reduce the deficit. I thought it appropriate to point out the 2010 Labour manifesto proposed cuts more swingeing than those actually carried out by the Coalition. The Labour councillor did not dispute that. It simply didn't matter because it was 'before JC ' ...
Even UBER admit that they need to change to meet straightforward and sensible regulatory regimes Frankly there has been a lot of nonsense talked about the decision of Transport for London (TfL) to not renew the licence of UBER in ... Continue reading →
I was a bit surprised by the number of people who pushed back against my plan to watch all the winners of the Oscar for Best Picture from beginning to the present day. Sure, I take the point that the Oscars have not always got it right. I also take the much more serious point that they are heavily slanted towards Hollywood with very little input from the world outside the United States (and certain gaps within it). If I wanted to watch the 90 or 100 best movies ever, there are a large number of potentially better sources to ...
I'll be writing about this again, in more detail, in a few months as I write the book on Nilsson, but I thought I'd talk here briefly about the fact that Nilsson's last real great work has finally been issued ... Continue reading →
A powerful video from Liberal Democrat councillor (and former MP) John Leech and his team which tries to crack the question of how you persuade liberally minded, pro-Europe voters who went for Corbyn in 2017 to vote Lib Dem in future council elections: Hey @jeremycorbyn – I love your ideas (especially the ones from the Lib Dem manifesto) but I was wondering if you could help me get Labour in Manchester to implement them because it's been pretty tough so far... #Lab17 pic.twitter.com/zEYOS5SqYa — John Leech (@johnleechmcr) September 29, 2017
Charles Duhigg's book The Power of Habit: Why we do what we do and how to change is really two books in one.
Fri, 15:29: Warriors, ed. George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois https://t.co/rDkNw14xfR Fri, 16:49: https://t.co/Cnja2CbowO Great @OxfordAnalytica cybersecurity panel (see me @ 1:16 & 1:53, and my question answered @ 2:10.) I learned a lot. Fri, 20:48: I helped create the GOP tax myth. Trump is wrong: Tax cuts don't equal growth. https://t.co/3GxiapRa6p Knows what he's talking about. Sat, 10:32: Thread. https://t.co/93SpSZ0yRM Sat, 10:39: RT @jk_rowling: We bought it without seeing it, we don't know how much it will cost and the renovators have never done this before. What co... Sat, 10:45: Give me an A! Give me a T! ...
There is a lot of coverage today about the potential legal action by the Premier League over the alleged infringement of their copyright by UKIP in their choice of logo. Apparently, the very British pound sign is being ditched for "not resonating with today's voters" and is being replaced with a lion, that is not native to the UK, unless you go to Longleat of course. As one Twitter user joked: 'Bloody Africans coming over here, putting themselves on our political logos!! Putting the English hedgehog out of work!' My favourite is of course Harry Potter related from the irrepressible ...
Theresa May is quick to condemn the internet giants for failing to properly police their domains, but that hasn't stopped her party accepting tens of thousands of pounds off them at their conference next week. The Daily Mirror reports that the Tories have accepted £72,000 from web giants after attacking them for fuelling online terror. Google have paid £32,500 for a six metre-square stand at the Tory Conference which opens on Sunday in Manchester. The Tories also pocketed £36,000 from Microsoft for a stand plus advertising, and £3,500 from Amazon for a full-page ad in the conference handbook. As Lib ...
Writing in the Independent, Vince Cable explains why he'll be marching on the Tory Party Conference in Manchester this weekend. He certainly is bringing the anti Brexit fight directly to them. I believe it would be a healthy exercise in democracy to participate in a peaceful, dignified protest on the big issue of the day by marching. And the issues don't come any bigger than Brexit - which is why I will be addressing marchers protesting at the Conservative conference in Manchester this weekend. Brexit changes most things, not least the quaint notion that governments always seek to increase the ...
The latest news is on the Rimrose Valley Friends Web site – see link above Yes at face value Labour-led Sefton Council is upset over the plan by Highways England to build a new road right through the middle of Rimrose Valley Country Park but just hang on a minute how did we get to this point and what has Sefton Council actually done? Firstly, the cart was put before the horse in that the new River Berth was constructed before the necessary improved freight transport access to it had been in any way determined. Sefton Council knew this ...
This is another in my occasional postings about the demise of local pubs. This time its about the Cockbeck Pub next to Town Green Station in Aughton West Lancashire. I recall going to the old Cockbeck Pub when I was in my teens and twenties but not since then – maybe I contributed to its demise? It also had a short lived period being described as a 'Gastropub' only last year if memory serves but it is no more and a Co Op has been established in the building this past summer
From the Curator of Museum Services at the University of Dundee : Centenary Conference - ON GROWTH AND FORM 10013th -15th October 2017University of Dundee and University of St Andrews 2017 marks 100 years since the publication of D'Arcy Thompson's landmark book On Growth and Form - "the greatest work of prose in twentieth century science" (Stephen Jay Gould), written by the man that Richard Dawkins recently nominated as possibly "the most learned polymath of all time". One of the key works at the intersection of science and the imagination, it is a book that has inspired scientists, artists and ...
After May's Florence speech, some Brexiteers have become a little miffed. Not enough to actually do anything about it like, say, bringing down a lame duck prime minister and installing one of their own in Number 10, but you know, still a wee bit peeved as these things go. For those of you out there confused as to why Brexit is taking so long; why May is pursuing this transitional deal and no longer threatening to walk away with no deal, for instance, I'll break this down in the simplest way I can. For while there are many complexities that ...
Government statistics released last Thursday show the uptake of Forced Marriage Protection Orders and Female Genital Mutilation Protection Orders remains very low, with only 72 and 32 orders made respectively between April - June 2017. Commenting, Lib Dem peer Lynne Featherstone, who brought in Female Genital Mutilation Protection Orders as a minister in the last government, said:"Whilst it is encouraging to see more Forced Marriage Protection Orders and Female Genital Mutilation Protection Orders being made the numbers are still incredibly low."More information and training must be made available to school staff so that they can spot the signs of vulnerability ...
Vince Cable has called for the Bank of England to be given a new mandate allowing it to promote growth and employment. It comes as Mark Carney hinted that the Bank of England will raise interest rates in the coming months, a move the Liberal Democrat Leader warned would risk depriving the UK economy of its "only source of life support." Official figures yesterday showed the UK economy grew at its slowest annual pace since 2013 in the three months to June. Liberal Democrat Leader Vince Cable commented: "These downgraded growth figures are yet another sign of the slowdown our ...