I have long suspected I shall live to see the fall of Western civilisation - possibly by next Thursday. Two Christmases ago, Liberal England linked to an article on the sinister side of the sudden rise of the Elf on the Shelf - or Santa's Nark, as I prefer to call it: Through play, children become aware about others' perspectives: in other words, they cultivate understandings about social relationships. The Elf on the Shelf essentially teaches the child to accept an external form of non-familial surveillance in the home when the elf becomes the source of power and judgment, based ...
The latest edition of my weekly political polling round-up, The Week in Polls, is out. As it says: Long-term readers will be familiar with the picture painted by previous polling reported in The Week in Polls: There is a long-term trend towards more liberal attitudes in Britain, including on immigration; People's views on immigration depend a lot on the question: they'll say levels overall are too high but then also be against cuts in nearly every category they're asked about; Immigration, even when added to asylum seekers, is relatively low down the public's list of priorities; The public views the ...
Autumn Conference made one thing very clear - the Liberal Democrats stand with Ukraine and welcome the support that the UK has provided in their fight against Russian aggression. But the fight for freedom doesn't come cheap, nor we can assume it will always be fought far away. With an assertive China, and considerable uncertainty as to the future political direction of the USA, we are arguably facing the most dangerous period since the height of the Cold War. The largest donor of military aid to Ukraine is the USA and the flow of American equipment and ammunition has been ...
Be Bop Deluxe were formed in 1972 by Bill Nelson from Wakefield. Discogs says of them: Musically restless Be Bop Deluxe never actually played Be-Bop music, and dabbled instead with genres that ranged from prog rock to proto-punk and new wave. Ships in the Night, their only UK hit (it reached no. 23 in 1976), displays some of that restlessness. It starts off as though it is trying to turn into Mama Mia by Abba, and goes through other twists after that. It seemed this song was never off the radio in 1976, so I was surprised to find it ...
Ukraine Remember Ukraine? A reminder: It is the East European country sandwiched between Russia and Poland which Russia invaded in February 2022. You would be forgiven for letting it slip from your political consciousness. Six months ago it and its president Volodomyr Zelensky were being hailed as the "democratic shield" protecting the West from land-hungry autocratic Russia. Now it has been pushed out of the headlines the corridors of concern by the war in Gaza and whichever crisis comes next. The problem is that Ukraine cannot afford to slip off the front pages. It needs a successful PR campaign to ...
When I hear the term 'Highland Tigers' the last thing I think about is the Scottish economy, which is just as well as it has nothing to do with prosperity (or the lack of it) north of the border. The Observer reports that scientists are preparing plans to restore the fortunes of Scotland's threatened Highland wildcats - by identifying and removing DNA they have acquired from domestic cats. The paper says that researchers have warned that the Highland tiger, as the wildcat is also known, is critically endangered because it has bred so much with domestic moggies. All animals now ...
With thanks to Margaret Speed and Dundonian History for all, a great photograph of a confectioner and fruiterer shop was located on Blackness Road, between Blackness Primary School (now Blackness Road Home Group amenity housing) and Logie Secondary School (now the West End Campus). It closed during the 1950s.
