It's 1978 and my favourite LPs, along with Kate Bush's The Kick Inside, are Songs from the Wood and Heavy Horses. So when I see Repeat: The Best of Jethro Tull Vol. II in a record shop, I naturally buy it. I was expecting more songs about ley lines, poaching and outdated modes of agriculture, but what I got was the late British blues. I wanted to like it, and soon I did.
Venezuela Venezuela is not—repeat, NOT—a major drug producing country. That is according to the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). It is not even a major transit country. That honour is reserved for Mexico and Central America which provide the major transport routes from production centres in Colombia, Bolivia and Peru. Some cocaine is transited to the US through Venezuela but most of the drugs that passing through the South American country are bound for Europe, according to the DEA and UNDOC. Then why, you may ask, has President Trump and his ...
A great historic photograph of the old Tay Ferries Terminal on Riverside Drive
It's official, Nigel Farage has finally lost it. The Guardian reports that the Reform leader has turned on broadcasters for questioning him about his alleged teenage racism and antisemitism as the number of school contemporaries who recalled such behaviour to the paper reached twenty-eight: In an angry performance at a press conference in London, the Reform leader suggested he would boycott the BBC and said ITV had its own case to answer, as he repeatedly shouted "Bernard Manning". Manning, a comedian from Manchester who died in 2007, was a regular face on British television in the 1970s but he drifted ...
Another Saturday and another Gateshead Lib Dem action day. Today we were in Birtley North and Lamesley to deliver the latest Focus. Deliveries will continue over the next few days.
Embed from Getty ImagesI watched the 1945 Ealing period drama Pink String and Sealing Wax the other day. In it, the always-wonderful Googie Withers entangles a young Gordon Jackson in her wiles, only to be defeated by his father Mervyn Johns. It's a striking film in that the major characters are all unsympathetic, and an unusual one for Ealing in that the Jackson and his siblings' dreams of escape to a better life come to something. Usually at Ealing such escapes were strictly temporary, whether they were Alec Guinness's technological breakthrough in The Man in the White Suit or the ...
Sat 6th
16:42
Like Mr Bumble, one master of Brixworth Workhouse ended as an inmate of his own establishment
Replying to a comment on my post on Brixworth, I referred a the writer to a page on Brixworth Workhouse. Having done a little more research on the place, I have found a story with strong Dickensian echoes. In the final chapter of Oliver Twist, Dickens tells us what becomes of his characters in later life. Charley Bates, for instance, seeing what has befallen his criminal associates, resolves to mend his ways and, after toiling as a farmer's drudge and a carrier's lad, finds himself "the merriest young grazier in all Northamptonshire". Others are not so lucky: Mr. and Mrs. ...
MAGA is waking up to the fact that it has been conned. Almost everyone else knew years ago that Donal J. Tump is a con artist whose talent lies in feeding prejudices with lies that people want to believe. But in America—as in most countries—there is a socially conservative and fiscally liberal base of voters who are frightened of change while anxious about their bank balances. The Democrats and old school Republicans had failed them. Trump convinced them that he had the answer with his "Make America Great Again" campaign. Proof of the MAGA's disillusionment came this week in the ...
Welcome to my summary of the latest national voting intention polls for the next general election, along with the latest MRP projections and party leadership ratings. If you'd like to find out more about how polls work, how reliable they are and how to make sense of them, check out my book, Polling UnPacked: the History, Uses and Abuses of Political Opinion Polls, or sign up for my weekly email, The Week in Polls: General election voting intention polls PollsterConLabLDGrnRefLab leadFieldwork Find Out Now 20% (+2) 14% (-1) 11% (-1) 18% (+1) 31% (nc) -17% (4th, vs Ref) 3/12 GB ...
Sat 6th
08:27
Professor Thomas Seyfried and the question as to whether cancer is primarily nucDNA or mtDNA
Professor Thomas Seyfried and the Question: Is Cancer Primarily Nuclear DNA or Mitochondrial DNA? Professor Thomas Seyfried argues that cancer is mainly mitochondrial rather than purely nuclear/genetic. Below are the key experiments supporting the view that cytoplasmic/mitochondrial factors, rather than nuclear mutations alone, drive the malignant phenotype. Nuclear Transfer Experiments (Cancer
Dundee Libraries' At Home Library Service is designed for people living in Dundee in their own home, sheltered housing or care home. If you or someone you care for is convalescing, have difficulty getting out independently, or would simply benefit from getting library resources delivered to your door please contact the service - find contact details using the link at www.leisureandculturedundee.com/library/athome Resources include ordinary and large print books, talking books and large piece jigsaws. Library staff will call you initially to discuss your interests and let you know when your first delivery will be.
Swansea's Brangwyn Hall is a major venue in the city, but it is mostly known for the artwork that adorns its walls. The Brangwyn Panels (also known as the British Empire Panels), comprising 16 monumental paintings, are popularly considered Sir Frank Brnagwyn's most significant achievement. They were initially commissioned for the Royal Gallery in the House of Lords and were hotly pursued by both Cardiff and Swansea. As the Glyn Vivian website records the ensuing battle ended with Swansea winning the bid: The building of the new Guildhall was underway and the city council proposed raising the Assembly Hall ceiling ...