I'm not very active here now* but am briefly logging on to note that to-day is the third anniversary of my successful transplant.
*Partly because I'm busy at the moment, but also because this place, in my view anyway, has become tedious and unhealthy.
He understood that great artists need (usually!) a hinterland, and his was immense. Listen to his Beethoven (no, seriously, listen to his Beethoven), but also read The Lady from Arezzo, his delightful and beautifully written book about Dada and kitsch.
Trying to explain why the now sadly late Alfred Brendel was one of the very greatest of pianists is a lot harder than simply linking to a recording, but he was good with words as well so it is owed. He had a style that was precise and intelligent, but so very human. There was life and humour there.
Someone has to say it. And I don't live in Northern Ireland. I will note that no one has firebombed Jeffrey Donaldson's house. That's all.
(Yes, Mr Donaldson has not been convicted of anything, but neither have the two young men accused in this case. In neither case do I make comment on guilt).
I would combine this with tighter ballot access restrictions. They're far too lax at the moment.
I hate* to be that guy, but it's often the way over housing that you have to quietly note that a lot of this crowd have various vested interests in the issue.
*A lie and I was never any good at lying.
I mean, I'm biased. I have a huge affection for Edgbaston: Tolkien, Joseph Southall, my successful transplant, etc.
And is easy to get to! The trouble with having anything in Inner West London is that... uh...
(fine with having a tournament there - that's not the issue - but I don't like how it has been done)
Yeah. The internet is a cesspit, but one can use manure to grow roses, right? That's the only way to look at things.
(Edgbaston also has better courts...)
I'm just interested as to how, exactly, this helps the development of the game in this country at a grassroots level, as we are assured it does? I understand why it is preferable for our country's sports journalists and broadcast teams, of course.
I've tried others over the years. Wordpress was good but then got awful and fiddly, Substack has some positive elements but feels like an MLM scam.
For all the triumphalism in certain quarters about there being a women's tournament at Queens this year, I will rather sourly note that this has mostly come at the expense of the Edgbaston tournament, which moved to the last week of RG and was further downgraded. Is this actually progress?
How is medium to use, in practical terms?
The DE Greens (who have a very specific history in any case, quite unusual) are basically a left liberal party. Given the present absolute state of whatever is left of the FDP, you could argue that they are the liberal party of record full stop.
does Wagner count
I have come to the view (which I did not used to hold) that we are, as a People, probably petty enough to make proper STV work.
bsky.app/profile/did:...
He was a notoriously cruel martinet on his estate, harsher than usual. Any points he gains for not being a Fire Eater, he loses for that.
Are we quite sure that Mel Stride is not actually a semi-disgraced National Party MP for somewhere in rural Victoria?
He wasn't an active local MP by current standards, but e.g. Dick Crossman lived near his Coventry constituency, visited pretty often and kept in close touch with CLP figures. This grounded him somewhat, and he was a man who always needed that.
I support PR, but am adamant for this reason that it needs to be a version that maintains some form of that, as it leads to better policy.
That's as his budget has been slashed *so hard* that departmental spending projections have actually increased substantially, due to complex laws of physics understood only by breathless political gossipmongers and beyond the ken of mere mortals.
Peter Bowles was a wonderful actor. Especially recommend his turn as a prosecuting barrister in Pennies From Heaven if you ever get a chance to see it. Really, really, outstandingly hilarious performance.
We all know how this film ends* the question is the runtime and what happens in between.
*Well, all right, actuarial stats mean it's more a case of 'we all know of a range of possible endings'.
(Plus o/c really good things that have been on there for a while, inc. The Singing Detective, Citizen Kane and so on).
Some things presently available on the BBC iPlayer: the peerless 1995 adaptation of Persuasion, Britten conducting his own War Requiem, every episode of 'The Ascent of Man' and 'Civilisation', a lot of Schama art docs, John Freeman interviewing Jung and MLK, and the Agincourt episode of War Walks.
In another life I was a regular bus commuter, and I'd have happily paid quite a bit more for nicer and more reliable journeys.
*Metropolitan Boroughs. But they had the same powers as Municipal Boroughs elsewhere (i.e. very few).
And the boroughs had more clout even on other issues than the old Municipal Boroughs, which were basically glorified parish councils. The old system needed updating but it worked. What followed...
