Sat, 10:45: Thread. (This does not violate my boycott of this year's #WorldCup because it is about previous World Cups.) https://t.co/ZBQS9rBw0T Sat, 12:56: RT @FinnClodagh: #ThroughHerEyes Here's my first Irishwoman's Diary recounting, in more detail, how the real singing von Trapps had an Iris... Sat, 14:48: Sam McBride: What #Unionist chiefs can learn from Gareth Southgate's leadership https://t.co/dBD7jouIP9 One of the best commentators on #NorthernIreland draws a wider analogy for #Unionism. Sat, 16:05: RT @WeiPoints: This is a trilobite eye. Every facet—or little nub—of the eye is a single crystal of calcite. But if trilobites' eyes were p... Sat, 16:16: ...
Writing in the latest issue of the London Review of Books, Peter Howarth reviews a book on G.K Chesterton by the former Private Eye editor Richard Ingrams. Chesterton, who died 1936, was a journalist, controversialist, theologian and literary critic - his book on Charles Dickens is well worth seeking out for observations like this: In such a sacred cloud the tale called The Christmas Carol begins, the first and most typical of all his Christmas tales. It is not irrelevant to dilate upon the geniality of this darkness, because it is characteristic of Dickens that his atmospheres are more important ...
I think that I've remarked before that I'm not always good at conferences. I'm a bit shy, not necessarily the best at small talk with people that I don't know and tend to be a bit aimless unless I actually have something to do. Yes, it's nice to catch up with old friends, and conferences do offer that opportunity, but I can find them a little daunting. Bratislava, however, went better than I might have feared. It helped that the relatively intimate gathering that is Council allows more time to catch up with old friends and colleagues and that the ...
I was more surprised than I should have been when I watched the first episode of Harry and Meghan's eponymous Netflix documentary. I jumped (and cheered a bit, not going to lie) when I saw someone I know being interviewed. James Holt is now the Executive Director of Harry and Meghan's Archewell Foundation, which aims to "unleash the power of compassion to drive systemic cultural change." Liberal Democrats may remember him as the party's former Head of Media and as a special adviser during the coalition years. He was always one of the most positive and hilarious people to work ...
I once saw Count Arthur Strong at the Leicester Comedy Festival. He spent his first few minutes at the back of the stage, facing away from the audience and trying to part the curtains there. When he finally noticed us, he complained bitterly to his offstage manager that he had been booked in a theatre that was "the wrong way round". He wanted all the stages on his tour to face the same way. The Count, incidentally, is funnier live than on radio or television because you get more of the garbled theatrical memories that are his strongest point. Reader's ...
Nuclear arms negotiators talk wistfully about the happy bilateral nuclear arms talks of the Cold War era. They were a dream compared to the multilateral nightmare that confronts today's diplomats. Putin is moving the nuclear goalposts with his threats of tactical nukes. The Ukraine War threatens to escalate. The ABM and INF Treaties are no more. Renewed START talks have failed to start. Rogue North Korea has joined the nuclear club. Iran is on the cusp of following suit. And finally, China is threatening to become a strategic nuclear power to rival Russia and the US. The Chinese dimension of ...
The Guardian reports that Rishi Sunak's government is expected to accept most of a proposed new code of conduct for MPs after the Owen Paterson scandal but has rejected the idea that ministers should declare more details about free hospitality from lobbyists and companies. The paper says that key measures in the code include tightening the rules on lobbying to stop MPs providing paid parliamentary advice, consultancy or strategy, but, in a move that could trigger another standards row, the government is holding out against a proposal to ask ministers to register with parliament any hospitality provided by third parties ...
Honestly, you have to be 15 to think this is a good record. My only defence is that I was 15 when it got to number 2 in the chart, prevented from being the Christmas number one only by the behemoth that was Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody. Come to think of it, that's another record that sounds really meaningful when you are 15.
A West End resident - along with Dundee Cycle Hub - has set up a survey to gauge the interest in a pump track facility in Dundee. This is a facility he has been keen to get in Dundee. It is basically a looped track and consists of a series of rollers and corners (berms) primarily made with asphalt they can be ridden by many different types of wheeled equipment such as bikes, skateboards, scooters etc. They offer a low barrier to entry and can be used by both beginner and experienced users. Whilst this is similar in some ways ...
