tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34284772009-11-24T10:00:53.432Z.. Current events from a British domestic perspective by an escapee from Room 101 ..Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10393265755614039206noreply@blogger.comBlogger2875125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428477.post-84220169655234678612009-11-22T13:12:00.008Z2009-11-22T19:20:26.668Z

I must confess to being startled when I first heard that Gordon Brown and David Cameron had felt it necessary to apologise for visiting the Field of Remembrance on Armistice Day. What exactly has either man done that is wrong?It all seems to boil down to the fact that a) they didn't ask prior permission of the Westminster Abbey authorities (although David Cameron said this morning on the Andrew

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10393265755614039206noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428477.post-69042708410768879152009-11-21T15:53:00.005Z2009-11-21T16:35:55.786Z

Thanks to GuidoFawkes and his 'video production team' we have an excellent dissection of the eliding of truth and fiction that the Labour Party habitually tries to pass off as history, focussing on their 'Budget Day' party political broadcast earlier this week:- as one of the first commenters in Guido's article, someone who styles him-/her-self 'jgm2', observes correctly: "It really is pure

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10393265755614039206noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428477.post-4980997815599129192009-11-21T00:33:00.012Z2009-11-22T21:43:45.839Z

(Please see UPDATE at end)I just read an article in the Wardog blog tonight in which he indicates that he is hanging up his 'blogging clogs'. Unfortunately I haven't been reading his, or any other, blog much in the past few days because I have my own family concerns right now and besides been very busy with setting up a new website and these matters have been consuming more or less all of my

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10393265755614039206noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428477.post-39890574919500218832009-11-15T23:15:00.018Z2009-11-16T04:04:30.992Z

I've known about the programme to transfer 'British stock' from the UK to Australia, at least partly in support of Australia's 'White Australia' policy at the time, for quite a few years. It always seemed to me to be, when I first heard with incredulity what had been done and made an effort to find out a little more about it, a discreditable period in the history of both the UK and Australia. As

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10393265755614039206noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428477.post-19547575647966846672009-11-14T21:24:00.006Z2009-11-15T22:54:51.089Z

(Please see UPDATE at end)Most amusing remark this evening in CoffeeHouse about the likely change in the BNP's constitution to allow non-white Britons in addition to those indigenous to these islands to join the Party: "The Spectator has maintained that the party’s domestic policies are inspired by racial supremacist ideology and that its economic policies are like Dagenham – that is, three

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10393265755614039206noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428477.post-57450248485651479732009-11-12T11:05:00.005Z2009-11-12T11:28:49.645Z

A couple in Washington on Wearside (near Newcastle-upon-Tyne) have been making a nuisance of themselves with the VERY LOUD noises they make when having sex on a very regular basis and for hours on end. Caroline and Steve Cartwright are obviously a very 'compatible' couple, with voracious sexual appetites - but Newcastle Crown Court is not impressed, any more than are the postman, neighbours or a

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10393265755614039206noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428477.post-29282832379324989772009-11-11T11:00:00.011Z2009-11-11T11:00:01.452Z

Today is the 91st anniversary of the Armistice which took effect on the "eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month" of 1918 and which brought to an end four years of bloody conflict in what has become known to history as the 'Great War', or 'World War I' - or more optimistically the 'war to end all wars'. Unfortunately the last was a forlorn hope, for just over twenty years later

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10393265755614039206noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428477.post-72987588531100385352009-11-10T01:53:00.016Z2009-11-10T03:29:37.735Z

I like to watch the British version of this show, with Sir Alan Sugar in charge, but the original show from the US, with Donald Trump, is I think marginally better. There's a ruthlessness and a can-do spirit in American business which is starker than even Sir Alan and his potential candidates often manage to achieve.What we're watching in the UK just now is actually the 4th series of the US

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10393265755614039206noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428477.post-26087841218766687372009-11-09T17:00:00.014Z2009-11-09T17:47:36.352Z

Twenty years ago today the Berlin Wall was opened and East and West Berliners could mingle with each other freely for the first time in very many years. Although most people in the capital of the now-defunct East Germany welcomed the new freedom it gave them, not everyone there was so sanguine, as the linked article mentions; whether that nostalgia for a failed systen is simply viewing history

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10393265755614039206noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428477.post-65083814749261808122009-11-08T11:25:00.004Z2009-11-08T11:33:06.151Z

The British boxer has triumphed in Germany in the WBA heavyweight boxing championship against his Russian opponent and title-holder.I can't say I'm particularly interested in boxing (the sight of two grown men pummelling each other doesn't appeal to me), but I have to confess to some surprise - I had been doubtful that Haye would survive, never mind win, when I saw their pre-match 'spar' a few

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10393265755614039206noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428477.post-25816802368999328852009-11-08T09:00:00.001Z2009-11-08T09:00:02.190Z

("For the Fallen", Verse 4, by Lawrence Binyon)They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old;Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.At the going down of the sun and in the morningWe will remember them.Rest in Peace- and British casualties of war are still occurring today, with all the personal tragedies that result:

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10393265755614039206noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428477.post-75761479639690292502009-11-06T10:33:00.002Z2009-11-06T10:44:23.110Z

The BBC has a 'news story' to announce its revamped Highlands and Islands micro-website.It seems nice enough and prettily laid out - but you will look in vain for any mention of Nairn in it. By the way, if you want to find the weather in Nairn, your best bet is to choose 'Cromarty' from the drop-down weather location menu.

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10393265755614039206noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428477.post-79210383234968769322009-11-05T10:54:00.011Z2009-11-13T02:26:56.476Z

(Please see UPDATES at end.)I decided to call up Highland Council's 'Nairn Service Point' at the telephone number given in the telephone book (01667 458500) to ask for a couple of pieces of information and spoke to a lady who, it transpired during the conversation, is not actually in Nairn - I assume she was speaking from the Council's HQ in Glenurquhart Road in Inverness, but I'm not absolutely

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10393265755614039206noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428477.post-69940606647300113932009-11-05T09:00:00.003Z2009-11-05T09:00:02.149Z

Twenty years ago today Vladimir Horowitz passed away; luckily we still have many recordings available to us of his superb and sometimes idiosyncratic piano performances. Vladimir Samoylovich Horowitz1 October 1903 - 5 November 1989~ Rest in Peace ~Vladimir Horowitz plays "Träumerei" (Robert Schumann)Moscow - April 1986

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10393265755614039206noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428477.post-13343461760367089952009-11-04T18:23:00.003Z2009-11-04T19:48:52.456Z

Some months ago I signed a petition at "number10.gov.uk" for the Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, to resign. This evening I received an email with his 'response'; just as with Prime Minister's Questions on a Wednnesday at midday, Brown almost never answers the questions he has been asked and he doesn't do any better with his response to the online petition, which has been signed by 72,234 people:

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10393265755614039206noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428477.post-14772374640945681962009-11-03T21:05:00.013Z2009-11-04T02:34:13.946Z

The UK was promised a referendum on the now-defunct "EU Constitutional Treaty" at the 2005 General Election by all the major UK political parties. Since then the "EU Constitutional Treaty" has been rejected by both France and the Netherlands in referenda and superseded by the "Lisbon Treaty" which is said by its fervent supporters to be something very different from the rejected constitutional

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10393265755614039206noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428477.post-79100840989562936662009-11-03T20:50:00.005Z2009-11-03T20:57:24.422Z

Some people find it easy to mock the 'faux-oaf' Boris Johnson (although in reality he is the very antithesis of what it is to be a fool), but the present London Mayor is probably a good man to have around in a crisis, as one Londoner found (who as it so happens says she did not vote for him, but no matter). Naturally Boris is refusing further comment on the matter, as in my experience is often

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10393265755614039206noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428477.post-23092201940895617532009-10-31T08:59:00.003Z2009-10-31T09:56:05.383Z

From a British perspective it sometimes seems that we have the most complete 'nanny-state' in the world (why, there's even a blog dedicated to the premise), but we have a close rival in the Netherlands, whose government apparatus has stepped in to prevent a 13 (going on 14) year old girl from launching her attempt to sail solo around the world. Here are a few excerpts from the BBC report which

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10393265755614039206noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428477.post-39295617063170439792009-10-30T09:18:00.005Z2009-10-30T09:49:49.245Z

Look, no-one who has read much of my blog-musings can be in any doubt that my views on our former Prime Minister are overwhelmingly negative. So it will come as no surprise that my first reaction, when I first heard that Tony Blair might become the first President of the Council of the EU, was to check my calendar - could it really be the 1st of April already? Or as Victor Meldrew (amusingly, the

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10393265755614039206noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428477.post-2360116316393022432009-10-29T20:59:00.010Z2009-10-30T12:08:24.752Z

If you are in Central London tomorrow evening, please consider going along to Trafalgar Square to support a candle-lit vigil against homophobia. The information in the box below is an extract from an email I received earlier this evening which will explain what this event is all about: Silent Candle-lit Vigil against Hate Crimein the Heart of LondonFriday 30th October 8pm - 10pmTrafalgar

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10393265755614039206noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428477.post-18556729462010342662009-10-28T22:26:00.022Z2009-10-29T01:13:30.272Z

The title above summarises briefly the findings of Charles Haddon-Cave QC in his report on the crash in Afghanistan in September 2006 of a Nimrod reconnaissance aircraft, with the loss of 14 lives.Mr Haddon-Cave, speaking of Air Commodore Baber, who led the MoD integrated project team responsible for a safety review of the RAF's Nimrods, which took place between 2001 and 2005, said: "He

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10393265755614039206noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428477.post-69544665156349552052009-10-25T17:41:00.014Z2009-10-25T21:23:27.551Z

Unfortunately I didn't see the first series of "Engrenages" a couple of years ago, but the second series of this gritty French TV cop series is currently showing on BBC4 television. The English title of the show isn't particularly good, although it does try and encompass the different themes of the story, I suppose. In any case, I have to say I have become addicted to the second series - I

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10393265755614039206noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428477.post-1009268900905618802009-10-24T23:21:00.000+01:002009-10-25T01:24:59.605+01:00

As I pop off to bed tonight I leave you with this delightful message:

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10393265755614039206noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428477.post-35435812285802810012009-10-24T01:34:00.009+01:002009-10-24T02:12:27.130+01:00

I've just come across this report on the NEO website, indicating that a small meteorite (estimated at about 10 metres diameter) exploded in the atmosphere over south-Sulawesi in Indonesia a couple of weeks ago, equivalent to about 50 kilotons of TNT. Local news reports from Indonesia in English are here and here. A local televised news report is here:- although this happened in the early hours of

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10393265755614039206noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3428477.post-22118447651757522152009-10-24T01:06:00.003+01:002009-10-24T01:16:54.241+01:00

The archive of 'Article Headings' for the latest 6-month period is now available - click here for the period April 2009 to September 2009.There are permanent links in the right bar to this and earlier 6-month 'Article Heading' indices, immediately below the standard 'Blogger' monthly archive links.PS/ I must apologise for the tardiness of this aticle - I normally get it online within one day of

Billhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10393265755614039206noreply@blogger.com0