The hurried nature and poor wording of my previous post; I emphatically was not taking aim at people who have trouble with mooncups in general, but at the original poster of the review, whose tone reminded me so much of so many people I run into on a day to day basis. People who have decided that just because they can't do something, nobody else should be allowed to, and anybody who can, or wants to, is some kind of freak. That I unintentionally fell into a kind of mirror of this myself is an irony that isn't lost on ...
Tonight's West End Community Council saw a very interesting presentation from Grant Simmons, Regional Manager of the Food Train Project about progress with this excellent initiative the City Council is supporting to assist older people in Dundee with their shopping needs. Last month, I updated residents about the project and this evening Grant advised that the first shopping deliveries to local people will take place during the week commencing 23rd January. Grant gave assurances that local shops will be included as well as supermarkets in providing the goods and this was reassuring, given the local shops in the West End ...
[IMG: As I write, voting in the New Hampshire primary is still underway. With hefty leads in the NH polls, Mitt Romney is the frontrunner in the state and for the Republican presidential nomination. But Romney has handed his GOP opponents, and President Obama, a gilt-edged sword with his comment that: "I like being able to fire people who provide services to me." His statement has now been widely translated to read: "I like to be able to fire people." A feeding frenzy has followed. James Fallows explains why this is more than just another political gaffe. He was ...
Day 10 In your own space, talk about a creator. Show us why you think they are amazing. I love [IMG: [personal profile] ] petra's writing. I especially love her Annie (Life on Mars; Annie/Same/Gene), and the way she makes consent negotiations sexy in that story and this White Collar one (Elizabeth/Neal/Peter). This little TARDIS character study also stuck in my mind, especially for the hint of menace as she considers what she could do if she really wanted to. This entry was cross-posted from Dreamwidth, where there are currently [IMG: comment count unavailable] comment(s). View DW comment(s).
Alex Salmond has rejected David Cameron's demand that he set a date for the Scottish referendum within the next 18 months: he has instead insisted on setting the date in 2014. This is to coincide with the 700th anniversary of the Battle of Bannockburn, in which Robert the Bruce won over Edward II when severely out-manned. Aside from exposing the shallow argument in favour of Scottish independence, it also highlights what the SNP believes is a democratic deficit. The Scottish Parliament does not have the legislative ability to hold a legally binding referendum. The 1998 Scotland act reserves that power ...
So, having a rare day out with the wife we returned from Liverpool on the Mersey Ferry (she likes the ferry whereas my taste in music isn't Gerry and the Pacemakers "Ferry Across the Mersey" as loud as possible). We get an Arriva 410 bus from Woodside planning to change on Conway Street on the ...
And so Alex Salmond has announced that Scots will have the chance to vote on independence in Autumn 2014. This shouldn't surprise anyone. What it means in practice is that we will have to wait almost three years which is positive in the sense that it allows more than sufficient time for a reasonable debate, but is an unusually long time in which to plan and fight a campaign. I'm quite enthusiastic about taking the arguments to Scottish voters but even I have to admit that after 3 years I might feel a bit of campaign fatigue. No doubt the ...
This post was going to be something quite different. It was going to be a "What Everyone Has Been Saying About the Independence Referendum" after all there has been a lot of news coverage over the weekend. Cameron stepped in to say that he will put a clause into the Scotland bill going through parliament ...
Despite Michael Moore's (no doubt) best intentions the Lib Dem response to the Scots referendum question just digs a deeper hole for the party whose very existence north of the border is hanging on a shoogly peg. The table on this report from the Beeb shows how the party has allowed itself to be painted into a unionist hole into which Alex Salmond is shovelling JCB loads of seperatist rubble. The Liberal Democrats as a party that has always backed home rule should not be seen to be impeding the properly expressed wish of a democratically mandated Scots government. A ...
"I know that some people who agree with me that Thatcher was a divisive and damaging Prime Minister are boycotting the film. My advice to them is swallow your pride and go and see it." The Liberal Democrat MP Stephen Williams, our man in the front row of the stalls with a bucket of popcorn, has been to see The Iron Lady. If you take Stephen's advice then you will probably want to read a three-part survey of the development of Margaret Thatcher's voice and oratory by Max Atkinson. The Slog casts a scathing eye on the career of shadow ...
Today belongs to Michael Moore. After a torrid few days on the Scottish political scene, he told the House of Commons this afternoon that he was launching a consultation aimed at "empowering the people of Scotland to participate in a legal referendum". In the view of the Westminster Government (and as I wrote earlier the highest echelons of the SNP and proper lawyers), the Scottish Government does not currently have the legal power to hold a referendum. We've been hearing for days that the UK Government was therefore going to take over the whole thing, dictate terms, basically run the ...
The ceremonial Roman helmet found at Hallaton in Leicestershire in 2000 has been restored and was revealed to the press today. BBC News quotes Dr Jeremy Hill from the British Museum explaining its significance: "You can't underestimate the shock and surprise this had when it was first found - Hallaton really transforms our understanding of the Roman conquest of Britain." He added: "Even if it went into the ground in 43, 44, 45AD, that is changing what we normally think is happening in the Roman conquest. "We normally think of the Roman conquest of Britain as Romans versus us. Here ...
A quick post to note that the superfast broadband network has now been extended to the St Stephens area of Launceston. This is part of the gradual roll out across Cornwall and is the second part of Launceston to be hooked up (the first being the top end of Western Road, St Johns Road and part of Pennygillam). If you live in the area and want to check whether you can get superfast broadband, click here. Unfortunately, I still don't know when other areas will be connected, but as soon as I find out, I'll post here. Tweet
'The Long View' on Radio 4 today discussed how different the world is in 2012 to the last time we celebrated the Diamond Jubilee of a monarch, in 1897. Jonathan Freedland pointed out in a tweet that last time, the Queen ruled over 25% of the world's total population. This reminded me of a similar tweet from a couple of weeks ago, which I've copied below. When I followed the link I found a wonderful piece about the number and type of elections going on around the world in 2012 - perhaps best illustrated by the quote below: 59 countries ...
The Guardian Diary used to be one of the best things about the newspaper, breaking and pursuing substantial stories of its own. Those days are a couple of decades past. Even so, an item Hugh Muir gave us today stands out for its vacuity. Here it is in full: Historians, meanwhile, continue to be fascinated by our ruling coalition. And they wonder, what other examples are there of questionable figures going out of their way to propel Tories to power? My man in the archives discovers that in 1899, the aspiring Conservative politician Winston Churchill stood as the Conservative candidate ...
Cameron has been over the newspapers in recent days and was on the Andrew Marr show talking about what he calls "crony capitalism". He also said something that as a free-marketeer must have been very hard for him to say in that there had been a market failure with regard to high pay. As I've ...
I must give credit to Michael Moore where it is due - this afternoon he put in a performance as good as any I've seen from a Lib Dem in recent months. He certainly recovered a bit of credibility for the government following yesterday's attempt to manipulate the date of the referendum and the conditions on which it could be called. Thankfully, Moore distanced himself from the government's previous position that a referendum must be held within 18 months. Fortunately the "sunset clause" was removed and there was no mention of any date or arbitrary timescale. Which is very welcome ...
...going to be as follows, according to According to the RealClearPolitics average poll of polls in the Guardian: Mitt Romney 38% Ron Paul 18% Jon Huntsman 14% Rick Santorum 11% Newt Gingrich 10% Which will be a slightly dull result (and might finish Newt off. Perry by the way is skipping NH).Still - at least we've now got a reference point for when we wake up tomorrow to see if the polls got it right.
Quite amazingly the issue of Scotland's constitutional future has dominated the UK headlines over the last day. As Prime Minister David Cameron and other cabinet colleagues including George Osborne intervened on setting a timescale and the legal remit of a referendum on independence, the political debate erupted into a hostile and undignified confrontation with both sides making predictable comments accusing the other of jeopardising the Scottish economy. For the most part it was tiresome stuff. However, there were some serious questions asked about the SNP and its plans for the holding the referendum and equally vitally the tactics of the ...
Baroness Ros Scott has been away visiting family for the past fortnight, and has let us have some thoughts on what she has found there... As a politician, starting the day with newspapers and coffee is a habit that is hard to break. Indian newspapers are a joy, with their old fashioned use of English - "the altercation ended in fisticuffs", "the ruffians were apprehended" and a diet of celebrity gossip and above all, politics. All Indian media give detailed blow-by-blow accounts of the machinations of politicians in the national and state governments and, although there's a lot going on, ...
I am an admirer of the BBC, believe it to be reasonable, impartial and objective, and that it should be defended at all costs against the assaults of the Murdoch empire. Having said that, I believe that the interview on this morning's "Today" programme between John Humphries and Ed Miliband was grossly unfair. Again and again Humphries attributed our present economic woes to the profligacy of the previous Labour government, and challenged Miliband to accept responsibility. Alas Miliband made no attempt to deny the accusation, but tried to divert the conversation from a discussion of the past to his views ...
I haven't blogged since I stood as a PPC but thought I'd use this space for Janice's excellent motion, supported by the Social Liberal Forum and with Steve Webb's approval Pensions reform in the public and private sectors Conference notes: a) the commitments in the Coalition Agreement to "safeguarding key benefits and pensions" ...
Think of this as an experiment. I've always been intrigued by questions such as, "What does the rest of the world think about what we're up to?". In a surprisingly parochial political culture, where the debate, if there is any, is about what the big countries are up to, what is the view from other places? And, as those nice young people at Liberal Democrat Voice have left me partly in charge on a day release basis, I thought that I should at least make an effort to find out... So, from time to time, I'll be posting pieces written ...
From the Leader of the Liberal Democrat ELDR Council Delegation Nick Clegg hosted a meeting of European Liberal Ministers, Party Leaders and Commissioners in London yesterday at Admiralty House. This was a party political event organised by and held under the aegis of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform party (ELDR). It was entirely funded by ELDR and approved by propriety and ethics in the Cabinet Office. This is the first time in years where this sort of meeting has been held. Netherlands Prime Minister Mark Rutte, has offered to host another such meeting later this year. The two key ...
(Source: Steve's HR Technology)
First off I must say: I supported the coalition in 2010. I remain unconvinced that the arithmetic or politics of working with Labour in May 2010 would have worked. I still support the coalition, for positive (tax changes, actually looking ... Continue reading →
What an awful 48 hours we've had in Scotland. We should really be talking about the heartbreaking and appalling report on child poverty this morning. We should be bringing forth our ideas and listening to people who know what they're talking about on how to give kids a better start in life. These aren't just numbers. For 1 in 5 kids not to have enough food, or warmth, or clothes, or books, or toys, whose lives are so difficult they don't have that freedom, that joy of just being a child, is just awful. Every single politician should write down ...
As much debate about party funding and selection rumbles on, the issue of increasing diversity amongst MPs continues to hover in the background. I would never deny that the under-representation of women or people from BME backgrounds needs to be addressed, however there is a much more pressing diversity issue, that of diversity of social class and occupational background. Parliament is currently overrepresented by those who have been researchers, Special Advisors and lobbyists. To give some context to this statement: the House of Commons research library reported in 2010 that 14% of the current intake of MPs have worked previously ...
I am a Lib Dem but I've always found the partisan nature of UK politics a bit of a turn off. I think most people realise it is largely a facade and that lots of parliamentarians get on very well with their colleagues from other parties. In some cases much better than they do on their own side, after all they are vying with those in their own party for the jobs! So I was pleased to see Labour Political Betting poster Henry Manson's recent post on David Davis and in a similar spirit I would like to pay tribute ...
A recently released report prepared for OfCom – remember, they're the folks who are going to be responsible for setting the rules on policing content on the internet – classes anyone downloading free content as someone they "deduce" to be involved in illegal file sharing. Here's the culprit question: Q4: Which of these have you used in the last three months in order to download or share files through the internet? Multi-code, Do not rotate 1. Peer-to-peer such as BitTorrent, Gnutella, eDonkey, Limewire and Ares 2. Commercial websites such as iTunes, Blinkbox, Amazon, Lovefilm, Movieflix, Napster, Play, or Spotify 3. ...
Just over a month ago I posted my conclusion that the actress originally hired as the Doctor's Companion fopr Season 11, later replaced by Elisabeth Sladen as Sarah Jane Smith, was Fiona Gaunt. I was completely wrong.
I have just spoken to my local police team in Southfield and they report and issue of "Bogus Builders". There have been several incidents on the ward where residents have reported men posing as builders and offering building work. These men are described as white and have south London accents. They claim to work for a company called Howden's Building Services. This company is not registered and is not legitimate. They are using another company's address which is called Howden's Joinery as their apparent office however the company Howden's Joinery deny all knowledge of these men and the services they ...
The Chief Executive of the Lib Dem-controlled London Borough of Sutton, Mr Niall Bolger, has been in the news recently, flying a kite on the possible relaxation in the current statutory limit of 30 on class size for Reception, Year 1 and Year 2, i.e. Key Stage 1 within primary schools. Mr Bolger has subsequently clarified the situation by saying: "Increasing class sizes is not a Sutton Council policy or something that has been discussed at a political level.". However, this recent report has reinforced my own personal doubts about the unintended consequences of the limit of thirty in infant ...
If you are on twitter and aren't following Richard Osman (@richardosman) then you are missing out big time. Best known for being Alexander Armstrong's 'pointless friend' on the BBC day-time quiz show Pointless, Armstrong is just one of those people who is just cool. Recently he came up with the idea for the World Cup of Chocolate and people on twitter are voting for who they think should be crowned the chocolate coupe de monde. Here are how the groups stack up: Group A; TWIX, FRUIT & NUT, WISPA/GOLD, REVELS Group B; TWIRL, DAIRY MILK, PICNIC, ROLO Group C; FLAKE, ...
A Europe for the people by the people Declan Ganley and Brendan Simms call for a fully federal EU. (I'm surprised; I had pigeon-holed them both as Eurosceptics, but obviously was wrong.) (tags: ireland eu )
Just. Chomping through lunch, taking a quick gander at my paper (the i) and I see once again, Labour top bods are having one of their periodic moments of contrition, in which they fess up to past crimes. David Milliband has spoken of his frustration, long may it continue, their even admitting that cuts are necessary, whatever next.
The Court of Appeal Judgement in Cheshire West and Chester v P appears to redefine the concept of deprivation of liberty to exclude disabled people, in effect depriving anyone locked up by social services on the basis of an *alleged* disability of safeguards and appeal rights.This judgment has been criticised in this excellent article by Sam Smith - along with many others including Community Care
This weekend I was working on the launch of Responsible Reform, a report into the government's changes to Disability Living Allowance by replacing it with PIP and cutting it 20% in the process. The report has found that the DWP has misled the public and parliament over the changes, using incorrect statistics and claiming support for the changes where there was none and pushing forward with proposals that were almost unanimously opposed by respondents to a government consultation on the changes. The consultation, incidentally, breached the government's own deadlines by being two weeks short, poorly advertised and finishing two days ...
There's a 'debate' going on today over immigration and the effect on jobs for young people in Britain. I use the inverted commas because one side of the debate is being led by Migration Watch, a right wing group which is viscerally opposed to any immigration. On the other side is a proper report based on, er, research, from the National Institute for Economic and Social Research (NIESR) which demonstrates that the rise in the number of immigrants from eastern European - measured by NI Number registrations in local areas - did not correlate with levels of youth unemployment at ...
The Liberal Democrat Voice team have received a press release from John Pugh MP, which may be of interest to those in the Party keen to engage in debate on policy and philosophy. With an eye to the new parliamentary year and forthcoming legislation, the Beveridge Group has reformed and a new updated website is already up and running. The initiative follows widespread concern inside and outside parliament as to where Coalition policy on public services may be going. We want to prompt a proper debate as to where the Liberal Democrats stand and importantly what we will stand for ...
Very light blogging at the moment as i've started some new work so happy new year and enjoy some satire ( I think) at its very best :)
You may have heard of "Range Anxiety". It's the worry that your car will run out of petrol before you have a chance to find a filling station. I have "power anxiety" – the crushing realisation that my smartphone's battery will be dead by lunchtime if I use it for more than five minutes. Over to Ben Smith: ... a frequent complaint is that we don't want thinner phones. We'd rather manufacturers used space savings to provide larger batteries. You know... ones that last more than a day like they used to. Wireless Worker Damn straight! Do I care if ...
One of the many frustrations with our dysfunctional banking system is that we have nowhere else to go unless we want to keep our money under our mattresses. Yes, there are the ethical alternatives, like Co-op or Triodos. Yes, there are a handful of surviving building societies. But we don't have what other countries have: an effective banking and lending infrastructure at local level. So when World Development Movement nominates Barclays for the Public Eye awards for the worst corporation for speculating in basic food commodities - artificially pushing the price beyond what the world's poor can afford - what ...
I can't remember ever seeing an American Presidential contest, or any political contest for that matter, where one of the messages is love. Whatever your view of Ron Paul this is a fascinating political advert.
Westminster needs to be careful with its statement to change the legal status of a referendum. It is important and right that Scotland has the legal issues resolved in time for a referendum. But this should not be used to rush a vote through on Westminster terms.This could fall into the SNP's hands and could be seen as London dictating to Scotland if the rules are decided at Westminster and not at Holyrood.This move could cause a backlash and mean that Scotland breaks away from the union on a temporary upsurge in strong feelings over London pressure spurred on by ...
A United Nations official, on December last year, estimated that 5,000 civilians and defectors have been killed in Syria. Assad and the ba'athist regime brutal crackdown maintains a vicious streak, brutally executing any dissent; including air-strikes and mass shootings in the presence of Arab League monitors. The Arab League do not deny the war crimes ...
Picture from CBS The first vote in the New Hapmshire Primary is in. The small villgae of Dixville Notch right up against the Canadian border traditionally votes at midnight. It's 9 voters have made it a tie in the Republican nomination between Mitt Romney and Jon Huntsman with 2 votes each. Ron Paul and Newt Gingrich picked up a vote each. The other three votes went to President Obama. The village has 2 registered Democrats and 3 registered Republics with 4 who do not declare a party.
Tue 10th
10:23
Julian Huppert MP writes... Liberal Democrats have convinced other parties about High Speed Rail
Today's announcement that the Government will go ahead with HS2 is a huge win for the Liberal Democrats, the first UK party to commit itself to a national high speed railway. Back in 2004 we announced ambitious plans for the UK's first high speed network. We argued that faster train lines would reduce carbon emissions in the long-term and ensure a reliable train service available to all. In contrast it took Labour 13 years of Government to announce their commitment to a high speed network, conveniently not in time to actually start doing anything about it. And while the Conservative ...
David Cameron has been taking the fight to Alex Salmond this week. It is a smart move in more ways than one. By starting the debate now Cameron is trying to force the vote early, choosing his metaphorical battleground. Cameron also wants to make sure that there is a straight yes or no question. All of this has been observed by others. There is another political advantage for Cameron. The policy appeals to Tory backbenchers and even the Liberal Democrats.
Signs that the Plaid Cymru leadership contest might be getting personal have emerged in a letter sent by environmentalist George Monbiot to his friends. In it he says that the contest might come down to a choice between Elin Jones and Leanne Wood, which he describes as a straight fight between old and new, brown and green, conservative and radical. He continues: "I interviewed Elin Jones at length when she was minister for rural affairs. Though I quite liked her, I was utterly dismayed by her unthinking acceptance of the claims of farmers and fishing interests, her preparedness to trample ...
Welcome to the latest in our occasional series highlighting interesting findings from academic research. Today it is a study into how good, or not, the betting markets are at predicting the results of elections. A few years ago, when spread betting on election results first became popular, there was a brief period when the state of betting markets was touted as a good guide to election results. The theory was that when people decide whether or not to stake their money on a bet they are revealing what they really think, in the way that public comments often do not. ...
Tue 10th
09:54
Obama doesn't have to attack Romney. The Republicans are doing that brilliantly for him
Newt Gingrich is out for vengeance, after he was hobbled by attack ads financed by Mitt Romney's friends. Friends of Gingrich (aka a SuperPac called "Winning our Future") is spending an eye-watering $3.4million on ads attacking Mitt Romney in just one primary state – South Carolina. And here's a sample. It's very powerful and, indeed, is exactly the type of attack which Ted Kennedy used successfully against Romney during a Massachusetts senatorial battle in 1994. [IMG: Post to Twitter] Tweet This Post
Tue 10th
09:50
Lord Smith of Clifton writes: trends and tendencies in contemporary UK politics and the future of th...
(Preamble: Trevor Smith joined the Liberal Party in 1955 when it had five MPs; he fears he may die with the LibDems having the same number!) The Lib Dems are in a very serious state, possibly facing meltdown of the ... Continue reading →
Maurice Glasman has gone on record saying that Labour is adrift and has no narrative. The truth is that Ed Miliband has developed a narrative. He has spoken at length about the 'squeezed middle' and a more responsible capitalism. Not everyone will agree about his view of there being two types of capitalism: producing and predator. That though isn't the point. There are three problems for the leader of the Labour party. The first is that he isn't a natural communicator. Next there is the challenge of convincing voters that a party that has been rejected at the polling booths ...
I knocked this up in about ten minutes in between getting the kids' breakfast yesterday morning and taking them to school. I am writing as a Liberal Democrat member to ask you to vote against the Government's proposal to impose a one year time limit for contributory ESA for people in the Work Related Activity Group when it comes up in the House, currently planned for Wednesday of this week. I believe that this is wrong for a number of reasons. I spoke at a fringe meeting on this issue, run by RNIB Scotland, at Scottish Conference last November. Their ...
Two interesting things seem to have happened in that distant galaxy, light years away from ours, known as Reading Civic Offices. The Council's propaganda department seem to be reporting as an 'increase in funding' the settlement to voluntary groups. Not if you factor in inflation, it's not! A £40,000 increase on a budget of £12 million is a decrease in real terms. Maybe they could cover the costs of inflation by making 'efficiency savings' in the spin doctor department? (But of course that's not Labour's way.) The Conservatives, meanwhile, have elected the surprise choice – to the outside world if ...
Stockport's economic strategy for the next five years seeks to build on our success as a borough in having a high-skilled population with lower unemployment than the Greater Manchester or UK averages. 34.7% of working age residents have a degree or higher qualification, well above the national average. Our residents are highly productive and have higher than average salaries (£25,973 per annum). We have 12,100 businesses resident in Stockport Borough, the second highest number in Greater Manchester and 13% of the total. This strategy aims to build on those assets in these difficult times. Stockport Economic Development Strategy
Stockport Council works with many partners to reduce crime. This report is about young people, where we work to stop youngsters committing crimes in the first place and, for those who do, work hard to move them off the path of criminality. The number of young people entering the criminal justice system for the first time has fallen from a high of 642 to 201 in the year ending March 2011. The re-offending rate amongst young people has dropped by over 54% since 2005. 67% of young people never go on to reoffend once they have entered the system. The ...
Leading Government Ministers, Party Leaders and European Commissioners from Liberal Democratic parties across Europe, meeting in London at the invitation of Deputy Prime Minister and Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg, and under the aegis of the European Liberal Democrat and Reform party (ELDR), yesterday made the following declaration. Jobs, Growth & Reform Europe is at a dangerous crossroads. Without decisive and concrete action, we risk recession, rising unemployment and falling living standards. There is a real risk of Europe turning inwards, with a return to the protectionist policies of the past. Our ability to prevent this now depends on our ...
Alex Salmond may be a very successful politician. He may be an astute leader. He is also, however, wrong. Despite the recent failures of administration by London, Salmond's vision of Scotland is one that reduces Scotland's vision and diminishes its opportunities. The policy of the Scottish National Party is to separate Scotland from the rest of the United Kingdom. In this way, the SNP contends, the Scottish people can achieve more prosperity and have a louder global voice than Scotland has as a full part of the United Kingdom. It is a view routed in the world that has emerged ...
A multi-million pound investment in Cambridge to secure and improve services for years to come has been unveiled by the Liberal Democrats as part of the Cambridge City Council's budget. They have set aside £3.4 million to carry out crucial work at the city's Park Street car park. A study in the new year will look at how the council can be smarter in the way it uses the car park while still retaining much needed spaces for shops and businesses. Work refurbishing the city's Lion Yard toilets is included in the budget at a cost of £300,000. The toilets ...
I have today launched my update to the January meeting of West End Community Council that takes place tonight at 7pm at Logie St John's (Cross) Chruch Hall in Shaftesbury Terrace - all residents welcome. The update covers the following issues : Kite Flying Concern near Dundee Airport Walkway on Riverside Drive Former McCheyne Memorial Church Park and Ride Proposals - an update On the kite flying concern, the Dundee Airport Manager has contacted me recently about his concerns regarding the flying of kites in the flight path near to the airport. The number of incidents is low but there ...
So it appears that the Lib Dem controlled council in Bristol have put together plans to borrow an extra £50m to ensure funding and investment in education, transport and various other projects can be met. Barbara Janke's excuses as to why borrowing is the right course has been pinned down to the fact there are ...
