Two more of the collection of short Neil Gaiman books which I picked up years ago in a Humble Bundle. Though in fact one of them is mainly by his daughter. Second para of third lecture in Gods and Tulips:And while events unfortunately proved me right, I really didn't think that I'd get away with repeating that speech today.A collection of three speeches given by Gaiman in the early 1990s, expressing his concern that the then boom in the comics industry (to which of course he had contributed via Sandman) would ultimately prove bad for the genre. I guess the ...
Second paragraph of third section (a quotation from the artist Winnifred J. Bastian) and one of her paintings (of the New Church in The Hague):'One could philosophise about a common cause between these two apparently independent developments, but I prefer to take them at face value and create the provocative pictorials their combination evokes. For me, the subject is a gratuitous one; above all, I am a painter of the sea, but I have always had a thing with buildings. The sea has so many appearances and moods. It never stops changing in colour and mood, that and the way ...
Current Splinters and the Impolite President, by William Whyte Blake's 7 Annual 1982 Silver in the Wood, by Emily Tesh Last books finished The Crimson Horror, by Mark Gatiss Little Free Library, by Naomi Kritzer Groetjes uit Vlaanderen, by Mohamed Ouaamari Doctor Who: The Ambassadors of Death, by Terrance Dicks The Ambassadors of Death, by L.M. Myles The Empire of Time, by David Wingrove - did not finish Crashland, by Sean Williams - did not finish City of Miracles, by Robert Jackson Bennett Dark Water / Death in Heaven, by Philip Purser-Hallard Britain and the Puzzle of European Union, by ...
David Amess (Photo: BBC) I am deeply shocked to hear about the death of Southend West MP David Amess. Attending an advice surgery in a Methodist Church within his constituency, Mr Amess was stabbed several times and later died of his injuries. I don't have the words to express how appalling this murderous act is. It's not the first time something like this has happened - we only have to cast our minds back five years to the equally horrific murder of Jo Cox. Stephen Timms was stabbed twice in 2010, while in 2000 Lib Dem MP Nigel Jones was ...
Sir David Amess, Conservative MP for Southend West, was stabbed as he met constituents at a regular surgery this lunchtime. Sir Ed Davey said: "A truly terrible day for British politics but most importantly of all our prayers are with all the people who loved David." Sending my thoughts and prayers to David Amess, his family and friends. Such shocking and terrible news. — Ed Davey MP [IMG: 🔶] [IMG: 🇪🇺] (@EdwardJDavey) October 15, 2021
Thanks to Christchurch city council, the Guardian wins Headline of the Day and puts me in mind of the Monty Python sketch about about the pantomime horse employed in a merchant bank. I can't find that online, so instead here's Wizzard.
Thu, 12:56: RT @ProfKAArmstrong: My simple challenge to @DavidGHFrost is to provide a list of judgments of the CJEU that relate to provisions of EU law... Thu, 16:05: RT @mxSophieH: Such a classic movie https://t.co/StjGCTTAsw Thu, 17:11: Criticism engulfs paper claiming an asteroid destroyed Biblical Sodom and Gomorrah - Retraction Watch https://t.co/nqHXqr0dKo Not very surprising, it seemed rather too good to be true! Thu, 18:39: 2021 Hugo novellas https://t.co/ihTAjF0SdR Fri, 10:45: Boris Johnson doesn't know if he wants a fight or a deal - POLITICO https://t.co/u6gZBGtX2Q Fri, 11:08: RT @D0Sullivan: Excellent assessment of UK NIP politics around NIP row from ...
In the light of recent developments one moght be forgiven for thinking that Boris Johnson's commitment to the levelling up agenda was fairly superficial. After all, how many people living in red wall areas have the opportunity to borrow a Spanish villa for a mid-autumn holiday? The incongruity between the prime minister's words and his actions grows when reading in yesterday's Guardian that Johnson's enjoyment of his pal's two swimming pools, organic farm and private woodland in the Spanish sunshine has even moe controversy attached to it. The paper says that the sprawling Marbella estate where Boris Johnson has been ...
Four principal authority council by-elections this week, with three having a Liberal Democrat candidate. The fourth, in Scotland, is a ward that the party didn't stand in last time out either. The four also saw a rare Liberal Democrat loss to the Conservatives after a recount and helped by the absence of Ukip this time: Frimley Green (Surrey Heath) by-election result: CON: 48.5% (+19.6) LDEM: 47.4% (-1.6) LAB: 4.1% (+4.1) Conservative GAIN from Liberal Democrat. No UKIP (-12.9) and Pirate (-9.1) as prev. Chgs. w/ 2019 — Britain Elects (@BritainElects) October 15, 2021
The paper on the crisis facing the party, linked to by my LDV article on 30 September, sparked a great many pages of debate, for which I am grateful. However, much of that debate was centred around policies and their varying relevance to the current Liberal Democrat identity and programme. Normally I would have been delighted to have catalysed such a debate but the paper was intended to confront the party, and particularly in this context, LDV readers, with the nature of the acute crisis that challenges the future of the party itself. The argument in the paper is that ...
Reacting to the Government giving overseas butchers a six month temporary visa, Liberal Democrat Spokesperson for Food and Rural Affairs Tim Farron MP said: "It is groundhog day again as Ministers scramble to rush out another half-baked and inadequate visa scheme. "If Ministers think the answer to the shortages we face is a handful of temporary visas for one sector after another, they are badly mistaken. They just can't seem to learn from their mistakes. "Businesses across the UK are suffering because of the Conservatives' damaging new immigration rules, imposed in the midst of a pandemic. The answer must be ...
I have received residents' complaints that the pathway at the south end of Seymour Street (section from Shaftesbury Road to Perth Road) is overgrown. The section north of the car park is council maintained and I raised this with our local environment manager who has asked a supervisor to get the foliage cut back.
A brief sketch of the rise and fall of London's lost railway terminus. I have some photos of Broad Street which I took on a sunny Saturday afternoon in 1983 when I was the only passenger to alight from a train that arrived there. I shall share them here one day. And as I blogged long ago, I wss once a regular user of Broad Street:: I used the line late at night. I played chess for Richmond & Twickenham in the London League, and the matches took place at the Bishopsgate Institute. I used to get the last train ...
