The Queen's Christmas Broadcast

Now another feature of Christmas - and an unmissable one at that is the Queen's Christmas Message to the Commonwealth. This year it can be seen on YouTube as well. The Royal Channel is already up and running and there are some terrific archive footage to be viewed. Here is the link: http://www.youtube.com/theroyalchannel Enjoy!

Tony Blair becomes a Catholic

I suppose it isn't really a surprise to discover that Tony Blair has become a Catholic, but it still seems pretty incongrous considering his record in government. It also makes even more bizarre his current role as Middle East Envoy and negotiator. I wonder if the former Prime Minister will be jostling Ann Widdecombe for a space at the altar rail at Christmas morning mass at Westminster Cathedral?

TV Films for Christmas

Surely this must be the only film that should be watched on Christmas Eve - what do you think?

OK so it's arrived......

And a very Merry Christmas to all my readers! Can I ask anyone who drops by to add a comment PLEASE!!!!

I finally put up a tree in my window - so all the passing traffic on the A13 can see it, and there is a line of lights in the window too, the vast collection of cards are festooning my living room. Looking forward to watching all the Dickens films on TV and tomorrow there MUST be a showing of It's a Wonderful Life.....

DAB Radios

Whilst I was in Manchester last week we went to the wonderful John Lewis

at Cheadle and I was delighted to see how cheap DAB radios have become, so I bought one, and I now carry it around the flat, so I can hear the world service, oneradio and BBC Radio 7 24 hiurs a day. The only problem I have is the enormous number of tapes I have - can you get tape players any longer - what do I do when my current tape decks give up the ghost - and the same applies to VHS video players.

Little Lithuania

Recently it was revealed that my part of East London (Beckton) has the largest Lithuanian community outside of their home country. This afternoon I went to a community forum event, a Christmas fare of stalls and entertainments. Naturally a troupe of Lithuanian dancers performed and the large crowd there got into the swing of the music and clapped along. This is a recently arrived community. Unlike the previous Jewish Lithuanian communities now in Tower Hamlets, the Beckton community was almost entirely male until the accession of the Baltic States to the European Union. Now these young men have been joined by their partners and children who are attending local schools. I wonder if these families will integrate fully into the community? Certainly the local libraries are well used by these newcomers, and the stock of Lithuanian language books are regularly borrowed.

Christmas begins

So I received my first Christmas card today. This is to be expected I suppose it is December after all - but it just seems to sneak up on me every year. Now I need to write my annual Christmas letter and send off my overseas cards as quickly as I can. I also need to hand deliver some cards this week as well. Busy, busy, busy.

Cranford

Lets face it when the BBC takes on the dramatisation of classic novels we know at last what we pay our TV Licence fee for. This adaptation is superb of course - the starring roles and players - the women especially are without equal. Judi Dench is terrific, but Imelda Staunton is as always so good, with Barbara Flynn being her usual impressive self. Julia MacKenzie is terrific too. Quite rightly, and totally in the spirit of Mrs Gaskell the men have only minor impact on the storyline - mere adjuncts to the independent lives of these women of a certain age who can more than hold their own in the supposedly masculine world.

And the good news is Oliver Twist is on the way!

2000 Visitors

So I've now achieved 2000 visitors - welcome to all those people who've dropped by, and to those who have left messages too! On to 3000!

Strange things!

I've started adding some new posts - but things seem to have got stuck in October - how odd - will this appear at the top of my journal I wonder?

PC Problems

So five weeks ago I took my PC into PC World for what I thought would be a job to be done in 24 hours. Five weeks later I now have my PC back but it is performing much worse than it did before I took it in! Worse than that I lost all my adresses and can't access outlook. I am so annoyed!

Millais Exhibition - Tate Gallery

Oh how I love the pre-Raphaelites! When I lived in Manchester one of my favourite things to do was to pop into the Art Gallery, to bask in the prescence of the beautiful examples they hold there. Millais hasn't had a terribly good press in the past century or so - his Pears Soap advertising picture 'Bubbles' was viewed extremely sniffily by the arbiters of taste. Art, like many aspects of life, are subject to fashion - and Millais (along with much of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood) fell out of fashion in the twentieth century. Millais, is in my view a very good artist. His landscapes are a revealation - whether a winter scene of desolation or capturing the essence of a waterfall. He is an outstanding portraitist too - his studies of Disraeli and Gladstone are the best of their kind. Bizarrely some of the figures populating his other large pictures (scenes of the life of Christ for example) often appear badly drawn or jarring. What a wonderful exhibition this was though. 9/10

Michael Parkinson

The end of an era soon for BBC Radio listeners (or perhaps another hiccup towards the end of an era) as the long running series of Parkinson programmes on a Sunday morning will be coming to an end before too long. A while a go Michael announced he was stopping his television programmes, and this morning it emerged on his programme that he will be stopping radio as well. I just hope they get someone equally as good to do that two hour period each Sunday - maybe Clive Anderson.

Alan Coren

It was sad to hear of the death of Alan Coren. Anyone who listens to Radio 4 will remember his contributions - especially on The News Quiz. Always erudite, slightly prejudiced, witty, a bit of a grumpy old man, railing against the ludicrous nature of modern life - but always good value. Coming shortly after the death of another Radio 4 stalwart, Ned Sherrin this is a sad time for the loyal followers of Radio 4.

Gordon Brown

OK so we all got worked up about the possibility of a general election. I personally wasn't enamoured of the idea of voting in November - even fewer people would have voted than usual. But the reality is that he's only been Prime Minister for about three months, and he's done pretty well so far, dealing with a series of crises without them becoming dramas. This Parliament has got nearly three years left before a general election is necessary, the Labour Party has a big majority, and we need to know what Gordon Brown intends to do with his majority. I know excellent poll ratings gave him a rush of blood to the head and a sense of euphoria but lets get a grip here and leave talking about elections for another year at least. Then the voters can really make a judgement. Can someone also tell me why it was so bad to announce the reduction in British troops whilst Gordon was visiting Iraq? A logical setting for this to be done surely. The Iraqi government would have been discontented to discover British intentions without warning. So shut up David Cameron, your opportunity to challenge the Labour Party at the polls will need to wait.
What would really be a good idea is to change to fixed term governments - a general election HAVING to take place at pre-determined intervals.

Inheritance Tax

Why are people so worked up about Inheritance Tax? It affects very few estates, and the estates have to be pretty large before they attract this tax. However, in the south of England (and especially London) the main problem is the cost of properties - so even a modest house will force an estate into attracting tax. Two things that I don't think are said enough: firstly (logically) the tax only applies when the house owner dies - which is often over 80 nowadays. Now the complaint about inheritance tax is that people can't leave money for their children, so this tax is a tax on young people setting out - a bequest helps children onto the property ladder. If someone is over 80 their children are likely to be at least 50. So they would need to be leaving their property to grandchildren or great grandchildren to achieve the aim of financing people as they set out on their careers. The second thing is a great taboo in modern life. Will someone tell me why rocketing house prices are a good thing? If you have a house costing £250,000 to sell this is only good if you can find another house to live in a £200,000. Reducing house prices would have the following bonuses: reduction in debt burden on young people, reducing private rents, less pressure on interest rates, allowing people to move instead of being stuck in houses that are no longer suitable. Lower house prices will avoid inheritance tax, stamp duty, reduce estate agents fees, legal fees, and will probably speed up transactions. So lets get building houses and start to see a stabilisation of house prices.

Diana - can we please let it go!

Now I know it's a tragedy how the former Princess of Wales and her friend/lover/fiance(?) died ten years ago. But for goodness sake it was a decade ago, there have been so many enquiries and investigations why do we have to have a six month inquest costing millions? Well the answer is that Mohammed Al-Fayed is obsessed by the fact that his son was killed on the orders of the Royal Family because he was a Muslim and outside the establishment. The real problem is he can't accept that if Dodi wasn't killed as part of a conspiracy, the alternatives are: driven to death by the paparazzi; killed by a drunken employee of the Ritz; or just a tragic accident. Now what will happen if the inquest verdict is one of those alternatives - will the owner of Harrods ever let it go? Nope - this is going to continue forever (just like the assassination of John F Kennedy).

Jeremy Kyle

In a recent court case this programme was described by the judge as bear baiting and public humiliation. One of the down sides of being retired is that you are exposed to the risk of watching daytime television. I stumbled on the Jeremy Kyle programme this morning - and I have to say the judge is spot on. The host is arrogant, ignorant, angry and aggressive. He's supposed to be helping this people and getting them to solve their problems but he's just concerned about audience reaction - and he achieves this by provoking the participants and goading them into violence. My regret is that he doesn't get hit more often. This might induce both ITV1 and Mr Kyle to exit from our screens. Of course Jennifer Saunders is now playing a Kyleseque presenter in a comedy drama on BBC2 - one of the few good things to come out of this excuse for entertainment.

1900 Visitors

Welcome to all the people who visit my blog -1900 have now clicked on my complete profile - why don't you do that and increase my numbers! Comments are always welcome to - and I like finding out about what other people have in their blogs.
Why don't you join the YouGov Panel too?

YouGov Surveys

I'm recruiting people to join the YouGov Panel. YouGov is a polling organisation used by the national media to assess social trends, brand awareness, and voting intentions. Click on the link
http://www.yougov.com/users/registrationintro_ref.asp?refid=556227&jID=3&sID=1
to join! Oh yes - you get paid for doing the surveys too. You get offered surveys on a regular basis and get paid for each one, or get entered into prize draws. Once your account has £50 they credit it to your bank account. Can't be bad!

40 years

It hardly seems like 40 years since I was writing to Tony Benn as the Postmaster
General to beg him to save

to save the pirate radio
stations that had sprung up
across the North Sea - either

on board ships or perched on top of old World
War II forts stuck on mud
banks off the coast of Essex.
The real problem was that the BBC Light Programme of the 1960s wasn't playing the music that teenagers wanted to listen to. Although there was Radio Luxembourg it was hard to pick up on the transistor portable radios that had just come into vogue, and the big family radiograms were tuned invariably to the Home Service or the joys of Housewife's Choice and Worker's Playtime. There were no real 'disc jockeys' and the playlist was heavily restricted and censored. So, the pirates were closed down (they interfered with emergency and shipping wavelengths in those pre FM/VHF/Digital days of very restricted broadcasting opportunities) and Radios 1, 2, 3 and 4 were created. A very British solution - commercial radio has never really caught on, but listening figures for the BBC seem to ever increase.

Thought I was going deaf!

So I was increasing the volume on the TV and radio and then I started missing parts of people's conversations. Then last Sunday whilst I was performing a ceremony I began to sound as though I was stuck in an echo chamber, and when I was eating food it sounded to me like hearing a road drill! Yesterday, I was so deaf that I booked an appointment to have my ears syringed! After removing a whole container of wax I suddenly felt a pop and I could hear what the nurse was saying! How much better now. I must do this much more often in future I think!

Hill Hall

Today at the monthly meeting of Waltham Forest U3A there was a talk about Hill Hall, an Elizabethan mansion situated at Theydon Mount in Essex. I hadn't realised what a gem this building is, currently managed by English Heritage. It has had a very chequered history - built by a little known courtier of Edward VI and Elizabeth I (rising to be her first Secretary of State), and added to over the following two hundred years. It was sold by the family in the early twentieth century, and unfortunately some of the original features were removed at that time. This building exhibits some of the earliest examples of classical architecture in this country. Inside there are some wonderful wall paintings too. Like many large country houses in World War II it was requisitioned by the War Office, and knocked about quite a bit. In the 1950s and 60s it became a women's open prison (a kind of branch of Holloway) and one of the inmates was Christine Keeler. A fire then gutted the building and for twenty years it was left derelict and many of the features were destroyed as a result of weather and neglect. Now, much restoration has taken place and the unique wall paintings preserved. Although the building has been divided into several family homes, now the house can be viewed on supervised pre-arranged tours, every Wednesday in the summer months. Contact English Heritage for further information.

Reading Group

On my books blog (click on my complete profile, scroll down and click on books) there is an item about one of the reading groups I attend.
I designed a flyer to recruit new members recently. The picture above is the Beckton Globe, one of the libraries in Newham. This reading group meets at Plaistow Library.

Northern Rock - Total Insanity

These queues of people desperately trying to get their money out of Northern Rock is completely insane (the ones shown here are in my old home town, Chelmsford). Remarks heard include 'All these people can't be wrong - something is happening here, I don't want to lose my savings'; and most worrying of all 'There are no guarantees, I don't want to risk my money'. Alastair Darling and the FSA and the head of Northern Rock and the Bank of England have all said very clearly that there is enough money in the Northern Rock to repay all the money invested. Even if the bank goes broke (never going to happen - the government won't allow it) £2,000 is guaranteed, 90% of the next £33,000 is also guaranteed. How many of these people have more than £35,00 in the Bank? How many are going to take vast amounts of cash out and where will they put it? Under the mattress? The Chancellor said so many times that there is enough money in the Bank to cover all the savings. There is some truth in the old saying - AS SAFE AS THE BANK OF ENGLAND!!!
Now how do I invest in Northern Rock?

A trip to Smith Square

I had to attend a meeting at the former Transport House in Smith Square and as I drifted back towards the tube station I worked my way through the gardens by the Thames leading towards the gothic pile that is the Houses of Parliament. I was surprised to see the Buxton Memorial (erected to commemorate the part played by one of the campaigners for the abolition of slavery). It is now looking very sprightly in this year marking the two centuries since the passing of the Act. Further along is Rodin's sculpture of the burghers of Calais - a truly remarkable piece, and how wonderful to see it sitting in a public park where can be enjoyed (or ignored) by thousands of tourists. Then under the huge prescence of the grand Victoria Tower above the sovereign's entrance, in a little nook of its own is a memrial to Emmeline Pankhurst. Now I have a connection with Mrs P and her redoubtable daughters, because I was for a while a Superintendent Registrar in Manchester, and the Suffragette Leader was for a number of years a Registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages for the Chorlton on Medlock sub district. She worked out of her home in Nelson Street (near to the birth place of David Lloyd George). Her daughters were her deputies. So I have issued many certificates from registers bearing their signatures.

Further along my way to the tube station there are two further statues of note: Richard Coeur de Lion and Oliver Cromwell. I can't say the statue of George V on the opposite side of the road is noteworthy though. If I had been feeling better I would have sought out Nelson Mandella. One of those wonderful things about London is finding works of art to look at.

1800 Visitors

Thanks to all those who have visited recently - I hope you have seen all four of my blogs!

A Modern Day Run on the Bank

Decades ago I used to teach commerce and history. Part of the course (both subjects) was a history of banking. I vividly remember seeing a picture of a stage coach loaded with gold being rushed by the Bank of England to save a County Bank in difficulties. In those days (mainly the end of the C18th and early C19th) banks issued their own currency which they backed with gold. Any holder of their banknotes could insist on exchanging these for the face value in gold. If these banks started to lend out too much to the wrong customers rumours would go round that the customers wouldn't be able to cash in their notes and they would end up left with a lot of worthless paper. The Bank of England would be the Lender of Last Resort, propping up these rocky institutions with the gold held in its vaults. In the 1970s when I was teaching this course the textbooks told me that 'runs on the banks' would never happen in modern society in the UK because all banks were so large (through mergers many old banks had disappeared by then - the Nationa & Provincial, the Midland, etc) that they were invulnerable. Since then lots of new banks have appeared (mainly former building societies) and today we are witnessing the old style 'runs' with queues building up outside branches of Northern Rock - customers demanding their deposits back. All just like the scenes in C18th England - and the film 'It's a Wonderful Life'. Trouble is the public aren't rational and despite the assurances of the Bank of England too many people are worried about the lending policies of most major (and all minor) banks in the UK. Alastair Darling (Chancellor of the Exchequer) was right to call for a return to 'old fashioned banking'.

BCCI went under leaving many people ruined. Is Northern Rock going to be allowed to go under. Probably not - but it might not be the best time to buy shares in that Bank - or perhaps it might be a long term investment - 30 years?

Kennet School Thatcham

This week marked the fiftieth anniversary of the opening of Kennet School in Thatcham. I taught at the school in the 1970s for about six years. There was a reunion there last Tuesday. Both the school and the town (little more than a village in 1973) had changed almost out of all recognition. The motto had changed for the school from 'Courtesy Costs Nothing' to the one above - perhaps reflecting changes in education of which I know virtually nothing - or maybe a reflection of changes in society. I still have problems with with Year 10, Year 11 business. When and why did it change from 5th form, 3rd form? Two of the six houses have been abolished - including the ones dedicated to the patron saints of England and Scotland. A vast new building has gone up, mainly paid for out of money provided by the developers of a housing estate nearby. Ironically it was this very housing estate that flooded so disastrously in the recent bad weather. On the other hand the staff gathering - mainly if not exclusively composed of teachers I worked with - showed that people don't change a great deal. The weather was glorious, the pub lunch at the Spotted Dog in Cold Ash was pleasant, and it served to confirm that I was right to leave teaching more than twenty years ago!

Last Night of the Proms

The Proms have been a national institution for many many decades. The Last Night is a bizarre spectacular demonstration of national pride, flag waving and traditional British songs. One might have imagined that it would become stuck in the past, a gradually aging audience of no interest to the young and viewed from abroad as yet another example of eccentric British behaviour. However, ticket sales for the whole Proms Season reached a record high, and the spin off Last Night events - the Proms in the Park attract vast audiences, this year reaching a new venue - Middlesbrough. As these are outside, open air events it surprises me how many people want to attend in view of the unreliable weather. It deters no one. The standard of performances are amazingly high and every year a new range of pieces are added to the hard core of traditional Elgar and Arne, so beloved of Sir Malcolm Sargeant.

Come on in!

Thanks to the 1700 people who have viewed my profile. Do leave a comment please! This is the coat of arms of my home borough - the London Borough of Newham.

Vicky Performs

I was pleased to go to the performance of Vicky Malin in Trafalgar Square yesterday. She was there as part of a festival of disability - one of the many regular festivals held in the wonderful space that now surrounds Nelson's Column. Ken Livingstone certainly provides 'bread and circuses' for the masses - in this case both native Londoners and hordes of tourists. Since Ken has been Mayor this area has changed from being a giant roundabout isolated by the rush of speeding traffic, the domain of crowds of pigeons who seemed intent on whitening everything that doesn't move - and even some that don't! Now pigeons have been shifted to the periphery, much of the area is pedestrianised and the space is used by everybody and anyone.
Back to Vicky - her performances were amazing, slightly terrifying and awe-inspiring. Crowds gathered and applauded warmly and were drawn in by the drama. How wonderful it is to see skill and dedication.

More Anti-Americanism?

Now British generals have started to publicly criticise the way in which the American military and former Secretary for Defence Donald Rumsfelt have handled the war in Iraq - especially the aftermath. Sir Mike Jackson (pictured here) has particularly been critical of the lack of realistic planning on the Americans' part. He especially pointed out that the US government's belief in Iraq changing in an instant from dictatorship and tyranny - a police/military state - into a freedom loving democracy was merely a pipedream.
In response the American government has (through inderict means) been extremely critical of the British behaviour in Basra - effectively claiming we've given up the South of Iraq to warlords and militia, and certain that the British will 'cut and run'. Oh - how different it was when Tony Blair was the only real supporter of George W and the neo cons of the US administration.

Amy Winehouse

Today the troubled singer's father-in-law suggested on Radio 5 Live that her fans should stop buying her tracks as an incentive towards getting her into rehab. I find this totally bizarre and unsupportive. She's never going to say 'yes' if she's pressurised into the decision. What do you all think?
I have to say I wasn't much of a fan but could appreciate her talent. And then her latest song 'Tears Dry On Their Own' began to get regular airings and I'm hooked. She is remarkable - but really does need to get her head together. I could see how troubled she was during an appearance on the terrific TV programme 'Never Mind The Buzzcocks'.

Ladies of Letters

I'm so pleased that a new series of the great comedy 'Ladies of Letters' is featuring on Radio 4 this week. This time the series is called 'Ladies of Letters say NO!' Starring those great treasures Prunella Scales and Patricia Routledge it can be heard at 10.45am and 7.45pm. If you hear just one episode you will become an addict - just as I am! This couple of 'friends' have been through so much together over the years - imprisonment, love affairs, the pain and delights of children, and always falling out and making up throufh correspondence - first by letters, then through the Internet and emails. Go listen!

Mandela Statue

The statue of Nelson Mandela will finally be unveiled on 29th August. There was a great deal of controvery about where this sculpture would be placed. Ken Livingstone (and me too I have to admit) wanted it in Trafalgar Square. The most appropriate place would have been outside South Africa House. Westminster Council disagreed - and they had the final veto. So, it will now be placed in Parliament Square - close to that of another South African leader, Jan Smuts. I suppose there is a logic to this siting and Nelson Mandela will be present at the unveiling.
By the way this is my 240th posting.

Vicky Malin

I'm posting this article from today's 'Guardian'. It is about the stepdaughter of a friend of mine. If you're in London on Saturday - go see the entertainment!!!
A good head for heights
When Vicky Malin decided she wanted to be an acrobat, nothing got in her way - not even her cerebral palsy. Julie Bindel meets her Monday August 27, 2007The Guardian
Vicky Malin's speciality is aerial acrobatics. She begins on a mat and, using a body harness suspended from the ceiling, she emerges cocoon-like into the air, portraying the emotions of being born and "flying" into life, the joys of discovering the world. Her ambition is to be a fully fledged trapeze artist, and she is determined to let nothing stop her - including the fact that she has cerebral palsy.
On Saturday, Malin, 23, will perform in Trafalgar Square as part of Liberty, London's disability rights festival, which gives a platform to artists and entertainers who are often vulnerable to discrimination and prejudice in the mainstream entertainment world. The emphasis is on a high standard of performance. "With my act, people might see things they have never seen before," says Malin. "I want to really test my skills."


Article continues
On stage with Albert & Friends Instant Circus (A&F), Malin will be working alongside people taking part in activities such as unicycling, tightrope walking, juggling, hula-hoop and diabolo (a juggling prop consisting of a spool that is whirled and tossed on a string tied to two sticks, one held in each hand).
Malin's speciality is doing acrobatics with a rope, which supports her. "It's a wonderful feeling," she says. "My mum says to me, 'I always knew you would end up doing something like this,' because when she took me to see Peter Pan as a child, I told her I wanted to fly."
Born in West Sussex, Malin attended an inclusive school, and was encouraged from an early age to join the drama and musical productions. "I was really lucky. I had teachers who pushed me to explore my creativity. For them, my disability was not, nor should have been, an obstacle."
On leaving university, Malin became a learning support assistant in schools before going to Thailand to volunteer in an orphanage. It was there, while working with a nine-year-old girl who also had cerebral palsy, that she realised she was not fulfilling her potential. "I noticed that people were seriously underestimating her abilities, so I began to work with her more intensively, helping her become more mobile, and realised that I had been underestimating my potential, too." While in Thailand, Malin found out about a course in dance for disabled people, run by the CandoCo company, some of whose dancers are disabled. "It was then that I admitted to myself that I really wanted to do dance and performance, and thought, why not?"
Malin decided to pursue the performing arts as a career. She learned to play the guitar to strengthen her arms, and joined a gym. "It was very hard work; I had to achieve peak physical fitness to develop the right-hand side of my body, since my cerebral palsy only affects that side."
As well as performing, Malin is involved in drama, dance and music workshops with children and young adults, and is now planning to learn trapeze. Does she identify herself as a disabled artist? "Yes, but I am far more than that. First and foremost, I want to entertain people with my performance, whether they are disabled or able-bodied."
When she connected with Albert & Friends - a dance group that teaches performance art to young people, no matter what their circumstances or the limits of their physical abilities - Malin learned a whole new set of skills. "The companies I work with focus on what performers can do, rather than what they can't," she says, and the results can be surprising: last year, 55 members of Albert & Friends achieved a Guinness Book of World Records attempt for the most people on stilts in an egg-and-spoon race.
When we met, Malin had just returned from Edinburgh, where Albert & Friends was well received. What did she see at the festival? "I was tempted to go and see the Crippendales," she laughs, referring to the group of toned, young male strippers with various disabilities. Does she ever worry about disabled artists feeding into able-bodied people's prejudices? "Some might assume their act is a bit of a freak show, but I think it can be just good fun."
Any self-consciousness Malin may have had in the past as a result of attitudes to her disability has disappeared, and the Liberty festival is a landmark event for her - one she's very much looking forward to. "This is an unbelievable platform to show off my work," she says. "People will actually be stopping and watching me perform. That is exactly what I want from my work - to entertain."
What ambition does Malin have for the future? Would she like to be talent-spotted at the festival? "Oh yes," she says, without hesitation. "I would love to be up there on a tightrope, and learn juggling. I don't mean to scare my mum, but I can't wait"
· Liberty: London's Disability Rights Festival takes place in Trafalgar Square on Saturday from 1-6pm. No admission charge. Details: london.gov.uk

1600 Visitors

Welcome to the extra 100 visitors to my profile in the past ten days. I'll need to keep posting to keep your interest up!

Best British Views?

Now there is a programme on ITV1 tonight where celebrities pick their favourite views in Britain. I have two contenders. One is Canary Wharf - seen at sunset, preferably in the autumn or winter travelling in a westerly direction from Gallions Reach. The sun hangs behind the highest tower and the sky is a brilliant orange colour. All the skyscrapers are back lit by this enormous disc. It just makes my heart miss a beat. Just by way of contrast my other choice is Blythburgh Church seen from the A12 travelling towards Lowestoft. This is a wonderful, almost mystical view at any time of day - but especially early in the morning with mist drifting from the river, or again at twilight. This has the atmosphere that is medieval and so satisfying.

Tell me your favourite views.

The Breakdown of Society?

David Cameron has recently announced that society is on the point (if not entirely beyond the point) of dissolving in the United Kingdom. My question really is: How do these incredibly young children get hold of the guns that they are using with such impunity at the moment? Is it so easy for someone to text a mate who will rent them an adapted gun to take out an enemy or if they are in need of protection? Where do they get the money from as well? Now as to the manors or zones that these young children are frightened to leave - they can't get on a bus that goes into the 'wrong' area.

Parents need to be providing a much more secure and structured environment for their children - they need to make sure that they know where their children are, who they are with and what they are doing.

I live in London, and so far I've not seen any trouble or evidence of it - but I'm assured it is out there.