Robert Jenrick's assertion that the countries Britain colonised should be grateful to us, reminds me of a comment by the historian and first prime minister of Trinidad and Tobago, Eric Williams. Wikipedia says: He has been described as the "Father of the Nation", having led the then British Colony of Trinidad and Tobago to majority rule on 28 October 1956, to independence on 31 August 1962, and republic status on 1 August 1976, leading an unbroken string of general elections victories with his political party, the People's National Movement, until his death in 1981. As a historian, he was best ...
Gabrielle Darke and her raisins have inevitably put me in mind of her brother Nick. In the video above, you can Nick Drake's biographer Richard Morton Jack talking to Mark Ellen and David Hepworth on their Word in Your Ear podcast. It's an interview that offers a different perspective on Nick Drake's life and career, and on the late Sixties music scene in general. Gabrielle Drake can be heard talking about her reasons for agreeing to cooperate with the biography on an edition of BBC Radio Four's Front Row from last year.
A reader has kindly directed me to a document on the neighbourhood plan review for East Langton parish, which mentions the monument to J.W. Logan MP's favourite hunter Lottery. (It's hard to link to, so I have pasted the relevant extract above). As I blogged a couple of days ago, this is widely claimed to be the grave of Lottery, the winner of the first Grand National in 1839, or at least a monument to him. But my discovery that Logan had a horse called Lottery makes that beast a much better candidate for the dedicatee. Because the story about ...
Well, thank goodness that's over. In the unlikely event of my ever having dictatorial powers I would take the highly illiberal step of banning media outlets bearing the title of "News" (that is, NEW events that have actually happened) from filling their pages, airwaves or whatever with what might happen rather that what actually has happened. Yet for the past three months - three months - we have been bombarded with speculation about what might be in the budget (a very overblown event in the UK's political calendar, anyway,) every possibility put forward as a probability, and endless discussion of ...
Wed 30th
14:05
Biohacking to Improve Everyone's Health Reaches Top Ten in 2nd Round of Biomarkers of Aging Competit...
Biohacking to Improve Everyone's Health, the team of Biohackers intending to compete in XPRIZE Healthspan, have reached the top ten in prediction of mortality using methylation data in the second round of the Biomarkers of Aging competition. The contest aims to use data on methylation of DNA sites and other biomarkers to determine the biological age of individuals and predict outcomes such as
Bridges ward was the Green Party's only target seat in Gateshead. In the local elections in May they abandoned their previous target (Crawcrook and Greenside) to pour their resources into Bridges. They didn't win (Labour held on in what is normally a stronghold for them) but the Greens narrowed the gap. So when a vacancy occurred in the ward in the summer, the Greens were rubbing their
Liberal Democrat Newswire #189 came out last week and you can now read it in full below. But if you'd like the convenience of getting it direct by email in future just sign up now: Welcome to the October Lib Dem Newswire, now being sent from its new home and hence from a new email address. If you have not yet done so, please do add this new address to your contacts/address book as that helps tell the spam filter gods that you want to see these emails. I have taken the opportunity to tweak the layout and although I've ...
We are grateful to the Friends of Magdalen Green who altered us recently to the fact that some individual had drawn over the Magdalen Green bandstand floor - really unfortunate. We took this up with the council's local environment manager and are grateful for the action taken and this helpful response : "Our operative attended the bandstand and we have managed to remove what appears to be crayon drawn on the floor of the bandstand." Obviously most residents treat the bandstand and the green with respect and it is hoped that there will be no repetition of this damage to ...
The Guardian reports on claims by fresh produce sellers and plant growers that new Brexit border checks are reducing consumer choice and compromising Britain's food security. The paper says that a joint letter from the Fresh Produce Consortium (FPC) and the Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) has called for an urgent meeting with the government over the continued problems their members face when importing plants and cut flowers under the current border system: The letter, from the HTA, which represents garden retailers and growers, and the FPC, which represents 700 fresh produce suppliers and distributors, comes six months after new post-Brexit ...
