Second paragraph of third story ("A Summer Night"):Upon one stage a woman sang.Gosh. I had forgotten quite how good this is. It's not a novel; it's a sequence of linked short stories, with some internal inconsistencies, about the colonisation of Mars in 1999-2005, and then a coda in 2026 after disaster strikes Earth. Of course, the stories are more about Earth (and specifically Midwestern, mid-century America) than about Mars; but they are beautifully formed parables, and often more than that. You must have read it, because it's essential reading for anyone who cares about science fiction, but if you haven't, ...
Second paragraph of Law 3:Over several weeks, Ninon de Lenclos, the most infamous courtesan of seventeenth-century France, listened patiently as the Marquis de Sevigné explained his struggles in pursuing a beautiful but difficult young countess. Ninon was sixty-two at the time, and more than experienced in matters of love; the marquis was a lad of twenty-two, handsome, dashing, but hopelessly inexperienced in romance. At first Ninon was amused to hear the marquis talk about his mistakes, but finally she had had enough. Unable to bear ineptitude in any realm, least of all in seducing a woman, she decided to take ...
The first Lib Dem MP elected to the North Shropshire seat, held by the Conservatives since 1832, has been writing in the Independent today. Helen Morgan says: The result has been described by many as a "shock" and "totally unexpected". Yet when you heard the anger and frustration that I heard on the doorstep each day, the result should have shocked nobody. Helen speaks of her arrival at Westminster expecting to find a prime minister and a government willing to listen to voters in North Shropshire. How wrong I was. The anger at Boris Johnson's Conservative Party was like nothing ...
Thu, 12:56: Tolkien, the Mob, and the Demagogue - Henry T. Edmondson III https://t.co/cvzjUFeLrO Thu, 17:05: Boosted! https://t.co/6UvpdWtHHF Thu, 17:50: RT @davidallengreen: The acquittal of the Colston Four is the sound of a working constitution Me at @prospect_uk https://t.co/BsW7b6C0EJ... Thu, 18:43: A Little Gold Book of Ghastly Stuff, by Neil Gaiman https://t.co/d2JqKKmtKO Thu, 19:08: 660 days of plague: the boosted notes https://t.co/EwqyxRhFoT Thu, 20:48: RT @pmdfoster: It's out!! The first Britain after #Brexit briefing of 2022 - pondering what @trussliz will need to score from Brussels to c... Thu, 21:45: RT @bjhbfs: I love the idea of St Malachy's Old ...
The more information that comes out about the funding of Boris Johnson's flat refurbishment the dodgier it looks. The latest is reported in the Guardian, who say that the latest WhatsApp messages reveal the Prime Minister sought funds for his flat refurbishment from a Conservative donor while promising to consider plans for a mystery "great exhibition". They say Johnson is facing fresh questions after newly published WhatsApp messages with the Tory peer David Brownlow show Johnson called parts of his Downing Street residence a "tip" and asked for "approvals" so his decor designer, Lulu Lytle, could "get on with it" ...
I was moved to tears watching "The Windermere Children" on TV this week. It told the story of how, in 1945, our government took in 700 traumatised children from the camps in Germany and Poland. They had witnessed scenes more harrowing than we can imagine, almost certainly lost all of their family, killed by the Nazis. 300 of them were taken to a place near to Lake Windermere, and I saw how gradually they began to understand that they were free, were not going to be taken away, that they were loved, welcomed and treated with respect. All the way ...
Fri 7th
08:25
Conservatives' broken promise to Afghans leaves women and girls left at "back of the queue"
The Liberal Democrats yesterday slammed the Conservatives' broken promise to Afghans as a "total betrayal". It comes after a statement from Home Office minister Victoria Atkins in Parliament revealed that women, girls, and religious and other minorities in Afghanistan have been put to the back of queue of the Government's resettlement scheme. Commenting on the statement in the House of Commons, Liberal Democrat MP Tim Farron said: "Back in August, this Government made a promise to women, girls, and religious and other minorities in Afghanistan - that they would be a priority under the new Afghan Citizen Resettlement Scheme. That ...
The Conservative government's stealth tax raid will cost the average family in England and Wales £430 a year by 2026, or a total of £10.9 billion, research commissioned by the Liberal Democrats has revealed. The figures reveal the scale of the cost to families of the government's decision to freeze the personal tax allowance and higher rate tax threshold until 2025/26, compounding the growing cost of living crisis. The new analysis by the House of Commons Library has found the freeze will mean an additional 1.5 million people on low pay will be dragged into paying income tax by 2026, ...
What a great start to the year: one by-election, one Liberal Democrat gain.
I have had several complaints recently about the regular extent of flooding on Perth Road outside Harris Academy. I brought this to the attention of the Roads Maintenance Partnership and have had the following helpful feedback : "Perth Road as you are aware is very flat so hard to produce run to get rainfall to the gullies quickly So ponding during rainfall is inevitable and is not helped by the Scottish Water sewer being at capacity. The big problem is we have nowhere to take the surface water to as Scottish Water will not allow any extra flow into their ...
