"A bill for the compulsory sterilisation of certain categories of 'mental patient' was proposed, with the Labour MP Archibald Church wanting to stop the reproduction of those 'who are in every way a burden to their parents, a misery to themselves and in my opinion a menace to the social life of the community'." Stephen Unwin explores how some of our most civilised and intelligent thinkers have supported eugenics. Jennifer Quellette uses insights from folklore to reveal how conspiracy theories emerge. The Antipope of Mar-a-Lago: Michael Kruse on hat a medieval religious schism can teach us about Donald Trump's unprecedented ...
Hello! I'm Mark Pack, author of both 101 Ways To Win An Election and Bad News: what the headlines don't tell us, along with maintaining the largest database of national voting intention polls in the UK, stretching back to 1943. The next general election is most likely several years away, but political polling of voting intentions for a general election is in full swing. Half-a-dozen firms are polling regularly, with a handful of occasional surveys from others too. Below the table, you'll find the option to sign up to email updates about new polls and also a set of answers ...
Charles I was executed on 3o January 1649. His prosecution on charges of tyranny and treason was led by the solicitor general John Cook. Cook was a Leicestershire man. His parents had a farm near Burbage and he was christened at All Saints, Husbands Bosworth. After the restoration, Cook was prosecuted and publicly executed as a regicide. Shortly before his death he wrote to his wife Mary: We fought for the public good and would have enfranchised the people and secured the welfare of the whole groaning creation, if the nation had not more delighted in servitude than in freedom. ...
Oh my, the EU screwed up badly yesterday. There is no doubt about that. Invoking Article 16 of the Northern Ireland protocol, however briefly, to prevent Covid vaccines getting into Northern Ireland via the Irish Border. The Northern Irish and Irish Governments made clear their displeasure and, in very short order, the EU backtracked, as it should have done. It was an example of the appropriate way to behave when you get it wrong. The EU is no more immune to screw-ups than the rest of us. In fact, it was really quite incredible that it got through the Brexit ...
How are your New Year's resolutions going? Mine's going pretty well, thanks for asking. Mostly because, this year, my resolution has been to do less; as little as possible; ideally nothing. It has taken some serious focus and dedication. I have managed do less exercise, socialise less, and I have skilfully avoided taking up a single, life-enhancing, new hobby. I'm probably eating and drinking more, but I've re-branded that as dieting less. It's all suiting me rather nicely. The lockdown has helped of course, but it's more than that. For 53 years, I've had a constant feeling of guilt. I ...
Fresh from his triumph at last week's Edinburgh South Burns Supper, where he wowed the audience with his Toast to the Lassies (none of which is publishable in public), Jamie Stone has released a hilarious video on Twitter.Enjoy! Episode 1: Hen whisperer pic.twitter.com/GQUfDJ3Iqr — Jamie Stone MP (@Jamie4North) January 30, 2021 I can't wait for the sequel. The thing is I know his part of the world really well. I know the ASDA to which he refers so I have in my mind's eye the exact scene he describes. * Caron Lindsay is Editor of Liberal Democrat Voice and blogs ...
The Princess Bride won the 1987 Hugo for Best Dramatic Presentaton. Second place went to Robocop, third to the Star Trek: The Next Generation pilot "Encounter at Farpoint", fourth to Predator and fifth to The Witches of Eastwick. Scandalously, I have seen all four films but not the Trek episode. IMDB users love The Princess Bride, raking it top on one system and second on the other. that year's Oscar winner, The Last Emperor, ranks pretty low, 19th and 38th, but more on that next week. I find no crossovers with Doctor Who or previous Hugo winners, and one returnee ...
With climate change supposedly high on the UK's agenda one would have hoped that they could have gone the extra mile to break some age-old traditions in the pursuit of fewer carbon emissions, however that does not appear to be the case. The Independent reports that ministers have announced the damaging practice of burning grouse moor peatlands will be partially banned in England, but many environmentalists do not believe this measure goes far enough: Some conservationists cautiously welcomed the crackdown, which will mean shoot organisers will no longer be allowed routinely to set fire to heather on ecologically sensitive sites. ...
If you want to understand ME (and I won't blame you if you don't want to), you should read Paul Garner's piece in the BMJ, and then you should read the comments after it. Paul Garner, an experienced and respected professor at the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, specialising in infectious diseases, has written about his recovery from long Covid. He also states that he met the criteria for ME/CFS. He used positive thinking, most likely in the form of the Lightning Process, though he is unspecific about that. He then claims to have "looked down the barrel of the ...
I'm a Kirkby lad although I've not lived there since 1964. I'm talking about Kirkby-In-Ashfield Nottinghamshire by the way. The other day I ordered a booklet titled 'Steaming Back To Kirkby Loco – Poetry & Motion' by Keith Murray and David Amos. To be honest I was not sure what would be mailed back to me but at £3.50 including postage it was worth a punt to try to reconnect myself with my childhood train watching with Grandad Walter Calladine at the Town's former level crossing on Station Street. I've blogged about my memories of this previously and here's a ...
For children in low income families, who normally receive means-tested free school meals, support is provided via cash payments, supermarket vouchers or food parcels, the last being the preferred choice of the Department for Education. H. M. G spends millions on food parcel contracts to private companies. Two such, worth £208 million, awarded without tendering, resulted in parcels which did not meet minimum nutritional standards and had a 69% mark up on what could have have been provided by supermarkets. Welsh Local Authority parcels have been excellent and have included recipes. English children have received paltry amounts of poor food, ...
Fri, 12:56: I watched Star Trek - Lower Decks - Camestros Felapton https://t.co/zD949rtTnh Fri, 15:00: The Sexual Life of Catherine M., by Catherine Millet Catherine Millet has sex a lot, with lots of people, in lots of places and in lots of different positions. She doesn't really appear to be having much fun. #nwbooks https://t.co/Uwsauu9mjm https://t.co/QKVGf4Nyre https://t.co/0IdvvcNviR Fri, 16:00: The Mill on the Floss, by George Eliot On page 355 of our 495-page edition, the author rhetorically asks the reader, "Had anything remarkable happened?" Well, no, it hadn't really. #nwbooks https://t.co/CAjxdfkhDY https://t.co/cwpbxuCy2v https://t.co/mcyZGjlNfw Fri, 16:05: Noli Timere: Blue is the ...
With thanks to John Studholme, here's what one Focus newsletter looked like back in the 1970s.
i) births and deaths 30 January 1966: birth of Daphne Ashbrook, who played Grace Holloway in the TV Movie (1996) 30 January 1997: death of Nicholas Mallet, who directed The Mysterious Planet (1986), Paradise Towers 1987) and The Curse of Fenric (1989). ii) broadcast anniversaries 30 January 1965: broadcast of "Conspiracy", third episode of the story we now call The Romans. The Doctor is made to play the lyre but pulls an 'Emperor's New Clothes'; the empress Poppæa conspires to poison Barbara; and Ian is ordered to fight to the death in the arena. 30 January 1971: broadcast of first ...
Many of us remember the former Tay Valley Coaches in Bellfield Street and I was grateful to receive this update last week from a local resident, together with some great photos of some of the murals from the building. He said, "I was sorting through some old pics and came across these. I was quite upset, when the old Tay Valley Coaches Garage was converted into a car showroom/workshop and some of these lovely tiled murals were removed. I got there almost in time (but not quite) to save the images for posterity." Transport panels were designed for the wall ...
It turns out I'm not the only blogger who retains an affection for Malcolm Saville's Lone Pine stories. But Martin Crookall has been far more systematic about his enthusiasm than I ever have. He has written individual posts about each book in Saville's three main series: not just the Lone Pine Club, but also the Jillies and the Buckinghams. He is never less than interesting on these books: here he is on the penultimate Lone Pine story, Where's My Girl?, and the decline of this flagship series: En route to the station in London, the Mortons are held up by ...
