I believe that Britain wants a party with rightwing policies but it wants a rightwing party that demonstrates a deep concern for the ordinary voter. In other words, we are talking about a party that occupies the common ground rather than some milk-and-water centre ground. A party of the common ground takes a tough approach to immigration, crime and welfare, but also wants to protect the NHS and look after the poor. Cameron should have aimed to turn the Conservatives into a rightwing party with a heart; instead he turned it into a leftwing party with cuts.
So a bit more like the UKIP or the BNP and a bit less like the LibDems then Tim?
*Excessive reading of this blog may cause an uncontrollable increase in blood pressure and a reduction in IQ
An international study has linked an industrial solvent to Parkinson’s disease.
Researchers found a six-fold increase in the risk of developing Parkinson’s in individuals exposed in the workplace to trichloroethylene (TCE).
Although many uses for TCE have been banned around the world, the chemical is still used as a degreasing agent. Continue reading Study links Parkinson’s disease to industrial solvent→
This is an absolutely amazing video. It is several series of time-lapse photographs taken from the International Space Station, spliced together to make a video. Be ready to be amazed as the illuminated cities of the world come into view then spin away under your eyes, as Aurora play in front of your eyes and lightning strikes light up the clouds below you.
See if you can guess where over the Earth you are. Answers below the fold.
Oh, it looks even more spectacular in full screen mode.
A year ago today I posted my first ever blog post. Since then I have subjected you to another 90 of the things, 91 if you count this one.
The original purpose of the blog was to rally support for Voting Reform at the referendum back in May. Come on you must remember, it was only six months ago and the good guys lost. But somehow or other, even before the referendum was lost, the blog meandered, cycled, off into the random thoughts, ramblings and occasional rants, of the tag line. It will probably stay there. I enjoy writing it. I hope that those of you who read the thing enjoy reading it as well. Now I look on it as a sort of public journal or diary, and a place to think out loud, and not something that has any specific purpose, though that might change if I find another high horse to ride.
The last time I checked my stats (five minutes ago) someone somewhere has looked at my blog nearly 3,700 times 3,600 of the were probably Mrs Johnm55, the other 100 were probably someone looking on Google for the John Lewis website and making a typing error.
My best day for hits was May 5, referendum day when the world came beating a path to my blog looking for guidance on which way to vote. It’s a pity that you didn’t follow my advice.
My top post of the year with about 300 views is this one, Dark Skies. closely followed by my review of Joan Miró at the Tate Modern I’m not sure why but they seem to get a lot of referrals from search engines. If I knew what I did with them to make them relatively search engine friendly I would do it with all my posts.
The post that I like best of all the ones I have written this year is this one
To everyone who has accidentally clicked through to my blog while searching for John Lewis or Johnny Depp and to those who read it deliberately, thanks for reading, please keep reading, and I’ll update you again next year.
Today as those of you who have a calendar may have noticed, is the Eleventh of November. Or 11/11/11.
So obviously something significant will happen at eleven minutes and eleven seconds past eleven today. So at 11:11:11 on 11/11/2011, where did that 20 come from? Blast that’s spoiled the perfect symmetry a bit. Possibly something happened 900 years ago on the real 11:11:11 on 11/11/1111? According to History Orb nothing happened. Possibly due to no-one actually using the Gregorian calendar, because it hadn’t been invented. Even its predecessor the Julian calendar was only used by a small proportion of the world’s population most of whom probably didn’t what day it was anyway.
My best guess is that today may well turn out to be the same; see you tomorrow.
I don’t usually post anything about rugby, but as the World Cup has just finished I will make an exception. As someone brought up in the Scottish Borders, rugby is part of my DNA. Obviously any direct interest I had in its outcome ended at the group stage when Scotland lost to England.
The final was a compelling game of rugby. From the moment that the French lined up in a ‘V’ to advance on the All Black Haka to the last, very relieved, kick to touch, the game had me gripped. At no point was either team on top. I think that The All Blacks just about deserved to win. They were the best team in the tournament. The best player both in the final and in the tournament overall was Thierry Dusautoir. He was named Man of the Match in the final and today was justly named the IRB Player of the Year.
Some would argue that low scoring and only two tries makes for an uninteresting game, I would argue that a seventy point try feast may be entertaining but has more to do with basketball than rugby. Some of the best games of rugby that I have seen were low scoring forward dominated games, usually played out in the mud at Mansfield Park between Hawick and Gala.
What Else did I learn from the World Cup?
ITV are keener to cut to an advert than to stay with the event.
Israel Dagg reminds me of Andy Irvine, without the worry about what is going to happen under a high ball.
Before he was crocked Dan Carter did enough to convince me, and possibly other Borderers of my generation, that he could be a better No 10 even than ‘Rud’.
Seventy odd years ago my mother was born at a place in the middle of nowhere called Pennymuir.
The view from the middle of nowhere.
Apart from my mum being born there, its main claim to fame is that it is the site of some of the best preserved Roman Marching Camps in the United Kingdom. It is also where, what were in the past, two important drove roads met. One of them is the old Roman Road Dere Street.
The show
Every year on the first Saturday in September the Upper Kale Water Agricultural Society holds its Annual Show and Sports Day. A day for the people who live at the top end of the Kale Water to get together and celebrate who they are. I’m not sure how long they have held it, My Aunty Bet has some photos that seem to have been taken at the show in 1906.
Aunty Bet with a cup (for baking) in 1959. Back in the day she would probably have won Great British Bake off. Even in her eighties she could still give them a run for their money. The building is the drovers inn/ house where mum grew up
In the past (17th 18th & 19 centuries probably even earlier) Pennymuir Fair took place on the field beside the inn. The drovers bought and sold their sheep and cattle. They drank whisky and they made their deals. My grandmother had a theory that some of the drovers probably hid their money in the rushes, or buried it, to keep it safe and then, due to the whisky, forgot where they had hidden it.. She thought that there could be a small fortune buried in the field. As far as I know, she never found anything. It might be worth going back with a modern metal detector though.
Pennymuir Show is a sort of second cousin twice removed of the fair. While the buying and selling may have disappeared (although if you offered the right price to the owner of one of the exhibits, I’m sure a deal could be done), a fair amount of whisky is still consumed.
When we were kids growing up on a farm in the Scottish Borders, we went along to Pennymuir most years. The night before this years show all four of us and my mother got together for a meal. It was the first time in a quite a few years that we had all been together in the same place. We decided that it would be a good idea to go along.
By the time we arrived the show was well under way. The judging of the sheep, the Industrial classes (cakes, crafts, fruit, vegetables and flowers) was over and the prizes awarded. They were in the middle of judging the dog classes. (Border Collies, Terriers and Foxhounds).
Sheep
Not being that interested in dogs, I had a look round the sheep. Forty years ago I had a bit of an idea about what a good specimen of a particular breed should look like, but I don’t have a clue these days. My brother couldn’t make it so I have no idea if the right sheep won or not, but there were some quite impressive animals on show.
Some of them had some quite unusual coloured fleeces as well.
For young Black-faced females Yellow Ochre is the trend-setting colour this year
The Hall
The Industrial, Vegetable, Flowers, Shepherds Crooks, Photography and children’s classes were on display in the hall. Pennymuir Hall is a village hall without a village. It is a functional wood and corrugated iron structure that does not seem to have changed much since we held my grandparent’s Golden Wedding party there nearly fifty years ago.
The cakes, scones and the like were suitably mouth-watering.The shepherds crooks are works of art.
The flower and vegetable classes are more limited than those you would find in a southern horticultural society show. This is hardly surprising. Exotic vegetables like butter-nut squash and sweet corn just don’t work in the Upper Kale Water. What they do show is that quality produce can be grown in a fairly harsh environment.
Also on display in the hall were the trophies. The collection has built up over the years and there is now a cup for almost everything
The show is a day out for everyone. There was a beer tent and a better than average food van. There were races for the kids. My niece was quite enthusiastic about taking part, especially when she discovered that every competitor got a sweet at the finishing line. There were also races for terriers. If you have never seen terrier racing before, think of it as freestyle greyhound racing. A bunch of unruly Jack Russells chasing after a stuffed bunny rabbit, over a fifty yard course, with the occasional punch-up along the way. The terrier racing unfortunately, seems to have replaced the Hound Trail.
Slight digression: Hound Trailing is really a sport from the other side of the border, Cumberland and Westmorland to be precise. The dogs look like foxhounds, but are in fact bred specifically for racing. They follow an aniseed trail laid over the hills around the show ground. The trail is usually around ten miles long and the first dog back and under the control of its owner is the winner.
We didn’t stay for it, but after the show there is a hog and lamb roast and to end the night a dance in the hall which goes on until the early hours of the morning
The local newspaper’s (The Southern Reporter) report on the show gives you some of the winners and a picture of a boy with his collie pup.
I can’t really end without a picture of the men’s toilet facilities.
Portaloos and the hall facilities are available for the women.
If I was a fully professional blogger I would have had a range of posts lined up ready for release to the blogosphere on a regular basis while I was on holiday. But as most of you have probably worked, out my blog posts usually consist of what ever random thought is rumbling through my brain at any given moment in time.
I am now back from holiday and once I get my life back into its normal groove I should get back to producing something worth ignoring on a reasonably regular basis
I have just experienced my quarterly trip to see the dental hygienist. Now if she used the techniques shown in the video instead of her pointy metallic instruments of torture…..
A Scotsman in Suburbia 