February 1, 2013
Probably the best gig in beer garden ever.
In the back garden of my local - and it's on again this year.
Tickets available online:
http://www.concertatthekings.co.uk/
Posted by The Englishman at 6:38 PM
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January 23, 2013
Not Hunting in 2013
We were yet again not hunting at the Castle, just like previous years, except it was snowy so all the horses stayed at home and the followers ran around the countryside, whilst I stayed indoors clearing up the mulled wine and nibbles.
Posted by The Englishman at 6:56 AM
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January 11, 2013
Le French Bashing
'French bashing' should stop , says MEP - Telegraph
A senior politician on Thursday issued a desperate plea for an end to "French bashing" around the world – insisting France is "blessed by the gods" and one of the best places to live on Earth.
Corinne Lepage, a MEP and former French presidential candidate, demanded that other countries, as well as fellow countrymen, stop treating her nation like a "the scum of the earth" and a planetary "laughing stock".
Such insults, she claimed, were a major stumbling block to economic recovery for the already notoriously demoralised and pessimistic French.
Ha ha ha, flicks two fingers at the frogs and carries on laughing.
Posted by The Englishman at 6:49 AM
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October 22, 2012
Poppy Sellers In A Multicultural City
Royal British Legion minders for young poppy sellers - Telegraph
The unprecedented security will be provided for young Army cadets in Bradford, West Yorks, after the attacks on teenage collectors.
The security chaperones will accompany the volunteers, aged between 10 and 17, amid concerns many are now too frightened to participate in fund-raising efforts.
From this week they will be shadowed by motor enthusiasts from the Legion’s Riders branch, many of whom are former members of the Armed Forces, following the series of incidents last year.
Those attacks left the local Legion branch horrified and forced Army officials to visit schools to stress the need to honour the fallen and overcome cultural barriers.
In one incident, a 13 year-old Army cadet, Bethany Holmes, was spat at three times by a group of younger Asian boys while collecting for the first time.....
Certain words will not be used in reports of this outrage, let us just say that one of the cultures that predominates in Bradford doesn't commemorate the sacrifice of our armed forces. Which opens the door the the odious Nick Griffin to make political capital.
Posted by The Englishman at 7:07 AM
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July 3, 2012
Not Pro Bono
The Bono (prize git) Rule - TomWinnifrith.com
To be fair to Bono he is not wrong about everything.
Tom's blog is excellent - do bookmark it but this statement confuses me.
I no more study Mr Bono's pronouncement than I do the random dog turds I pass in the street but I can't recall anything he has even been near to being correct on, and as for saying he has written some excellent music when the turgid effluvium from his band of beat musicians manages to be uniquely the one Irish band without merit is beyond me.
Posted by The Englishman at 6:36 AM
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June 15, 2012
Friday Night is Music Night (Date For Your Diary Edition)
Concert at The Kings will be back next year - Late May Bank Holiday weekend.
This was one of the best songs played in the beer garden of my local.
And the Woodstockian finale featuring
THE SWEET
SAS BAND + SPECIAL GUESTS
BRIAN MAY & KERRY ELLIS
MIKE & THE MECHANICS
MADELINE BELL, MIDGE URE, TOM ROBINSON
CHRIS THOMPSON, PATTI RUSSO
& THE FABBAGIRLS
(Can you spot the non playing drummer?)
Posted by The Englishman at 7:10 PM
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June 9, 2012
Aftershave For Men
I chose from the bottom shelf.
Posted by The Englishman at 8:45 AM
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May 18, 2012
Friday Night is Music Night (One Week To Go Edition)
"I was devastated to hear the news that my good friend and esteemed monitor engineer John 'Grubby' Callis had been diagnosed with prostate cancer, but relieved that it was discovered relatively early and that he had received fantastic treatment from all concerned. I immediately agreed to support him and perform at 'Concert at the Kings' on Saturday 26th May which Grubby has organised 'with a little help from his friends'. He has pulled out all the stops for what I know will be a fantastic show; after about 30 years in the music business he certainly knows what that demands, and has the expertise to put it together. If all goes well we hope to raise up to £50,000 for cancer charities.
I will be playing some songs with the fabulous Kerry Ellis, and I'm looking forward to meeting some old friends with the SAS band including Midge Ure, Madeleine Belle, Chris Thompson, Tom Robinson, Patti Russo and the fantastic Fabba Girls. Plus a strong possibility of some other great and very well known artists who may surprise you all on the night, but you'll have to be there to see for yourselves!
Cheers
Bri"
Secret special guests? I'm not allowed to say any names but next week The Voice isn't on as Eurovision takes over BBC1, and you don't want to watch that so trust me and buy a ticket....
Posted by The Englishman at 6:26 AM
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May 11, 2012
Friday Night is Music Night (A Message From Brian May Edition)
"I was devastated to hear the news that my good friend and esteemed monitor engineer John 'Grubby' Callis had been diagnosed with prostate cancer, but relieved that it was discovered relatively early and that he had received fantastic treatment from all concerned. I immediately agreed to support him and perform at 'Concert at the Kings' on Saturday 26th May which Grubby has organised 'with a little help from his friends'. He has pulled out all the stops for what I know will be a fantastic show; after about 30 years in the music business he certainly knows what that demands, and has the expertise to put it together. If all goes well we hope to raise up to £50,000 for cancer charities.
I will be playing some songs with the fabulous Kerry Ellis, and I'm looking forward to meeting some old friends with the SAS band including Midge Ure, Madeleine Belle, Chris Thompson, Tom Robinson, Patti Russo and the fantastic Fabba Girls. Plus a strong possibility of some other great and very well known artists who may surprise you all on the night, but you'll have to be there to see for yourselves!
Cheers
Bri"
Secret special guests? I'm not allowed to say any names but trust me and buy a ticket....
Posted by The Englishman at 5:14 PM
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May 4, 2012
Us And Them In Engerland
Joyce McMillan: Rulers ill at ease with Engerland - News - Scotsman.com
RULING metropolitan elite are not only out of touch with the ‘provinces’, but find Englishness alarming too
IT HAPPENED again, one evening last week. I’m in a bar in Edinburgh, chatting to a high-powered, Left-leaning woman from London about life and politics; the conversation turns towards Scotland’s independence referendum, and she begins to tell me that she is “not really English”.
That she is English doesn’t seem in much doubt, to me; she was born there, she lives there, she has an English accent. Yet among the English people I meet – mostly, I suppose, creative or academic types on the centre-left of the political spectrum – this denial of the word “English” is so common as to be almost universal. As soon as the issue of identity comes up, they start talking about the Scottish granny, the Welsh roots, the Irish or Caribbean migrants a few generations back; it seems they have lived all their lives in England, without ever acknowledging to themselves that they belong there.
So it’s hardly surprising that when they hear talk of the break-up of Britain, they experience it as a huge existential threat; it’s as if they were suddenly being forced to take up residence not in the vague borderless Britain of their minds, but in some “Engerland” that they would rather not think about, full of face-painted football fans with dodgy views on race.
“Don’t leave us,” pleaded the woman in the bar, towards the end of the conversation. “We’ll be governed by the Tories for ever!” And when I protested that the English people, given their history, would hardly put up with an eternity of one-party rule, she shook her head sadly, as if my confidence was woefully misplaced....
...Yet in the end, the cultural deafness of Britain’s metropolitan elites – their assumption that their identity is “normal”, and that all others are in some way irritating or suspect – is part of a much bigger picture of contempt for ordinary people in all their local diversity, and of sheer presumption that Westminster and Whitehall know best. It’s against that culture of contempt, and of arrogant government collusion with the self-interest of an overweening economic elite, that all the peoples of Britain now need to begin a long, democratic rebellion.
And along with the continuing debate on Scottish independence, the redefinition of England as the rich, beautiful and infinitely diverse modern nation it now is will be an inevitable part of that process; not to be avoided or denied, but to be lived through, struggled with, and enjoyed.
Posted by The Englishman at 8:54 AM
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April 27, 2012
Friday Night is Music Night (Reminder To Buy Your Tickets Edition)
Saturday, 26th May 2012
The Kings Arms, Pub Lane
All Cannings, Wiltshire SN10 3PA
CONFIRMED TO APPEAR
BRIAN MAY
&
KERRY ELLIS
** COMPERE - BOB HARRIS **
THE DAVE KELLY BLUES BAND
THE WURZELS
THE STRAWBS
THE SWEET
SAS BAND + SPECIAL GUESTS
Brian May, Kerry Ellis, Madeline Bell, Midge Ure, Tom Robinson, Chris Thompson, Patti Russo, & The Fabba Girls
DAN CHISHOLM
BBC Radio presenter & DJ
Certain artist's contractual obligations with other events in the South West means we are not allowed to announce that they WILL be performing at this concert.
Posted by The Englishman at 5:01 PM
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April 20, 2012
Friday Night is Music Night (Mr Guitar Edition)
Posted by The Englishman at 5:29 PM
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April 18, 2012
Bees, try taking more water with it.
BBC Nature - Gravity disturbs bees' dancing
Honey bees that dance to give directions to flowers make more errors when performing horizontally due to gravity, say researchers.
Saturday night, haven't we all made a few more errors due to "gravity" when we try to dance horizontally....
Posted by The Englishman at 8:43 AM
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April 6, 2012
Friday Night is Music Night (On The Run Edition)
One you have never heard before and one you have..
OK - once more, it was a joy to be young those days.
Posted by The Englishman at 7:41 PM
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Gone Beyond 11
Posted by The Englishman at 9:29 AM
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April 5, 2012
Stand Your Ground
Rising numbers of civilian justifiable homicides across the US are closely linked to states with both weak gun controls and stand-your-ground laws, according to a Guardian analysis of FBI and other data, which show a 25% increase in such killings since the controversial self-defence laws started being introduced around 2005....
Dan Gross, president of the Brady Campaign, said: "This research demonstrates a fundamental point. Stand-your-ground laws are dangerous on their own as a mentality. But when combined with weak gun laws they become a recipe for tragedy."..
But Gary Kleck, a criminologist at Florida State University,...said that one desired effect of SYG and the right to carry (RTC) laws was to deter violent criminals and reduce violent crime. In an email response to the Guardian's data, he pointed out that violent crimes had fallen.
"In 2006, the rate of murders and non-negligent homicides (all the criminal homicides that the FBI counts) was 5.8 per 100,000 population; in 2010 (the most recent year for which data are available), the rate was 4.8 – a 17% decline in four years. The robbery rate also declined by an identical 17% over the same period, from 31.6 to 27.5."
Kleck said: "The decline in crime that paralleled the enactment RTC and SYG laws cannot be considered proof of the effect of these laws. Indeed, I think RTC have no net effect on crime rates. My point, rather, is that these are the same kinds of correlations concerning CJH increases and enactment of these laws that your analysis has produced, and are equally ambiguous in their meaning, and equally relevant to a consideration of the effects of these types of laws."
So crime down, murders down, and justifiable homicides up as citizens get armed but don't draw any conclusions. But I might unscientifically privately.
Posted by The Englishman at 11:00 PM
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April 4, 2012
Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now
UK is 18th happiest state in the world, report for UN says | The Times
Britain is the 18th happiest nation in the world, coming below Israel, Costa Rica and the United Arab Emirates, according to a new World Happiness Report by the UN.
First World Happiness Report (download PDF), commissioned for the April 2nd United Nations Conference on Happiness (mandated by the UN General Assembly). The report, published by the Earth Institute and co-edited by the institute’s director, Jeffrey Sachs, reflects a new worldwide demand for more attention to happiness and absence of misery as criteria for government policy. It reviews the state of happiness in the world today and shows how the new science of happiness explains personal and national variations in happiness.
Let's look at the actual report - available here:
The realities of poverty, anxiety, environmental degradation, and unhappiness in the midst of great plenty
should not be regarded as mere curiosities. They require our urgent attention, and especially so at this
juncture in human history. For we have entered a new phase of the world, termed the Anthropocene by the
world’s Earth system scientists. The Anthropocene is a newly invented term that combines two Greek roots:
“anthropo,” for human; and “cene,” for new, as in a new geological epoch. The Anthropocene is the
new epoch in which humanity, through its technological prowess and population of 7 billion, has become
the major driver of changes of the Earth’s physical systems, including the climate, the carbon cycle, the water
cycle, the nitrogen cycle, and biodiversity.
The Anthropocene will necessarily reshape our societies. If we continue mindlessly along the current
economic trajectory, we risk undermining the Earth’s life support systems – food supplies, clean water, and
stable climate – necessary for human health and even survival in some places. In years or decades, conditions
of life may become dire in several fragile regions of the world. We are already experiencing that deterioration
of life support systems in the drylands of the Horn of Africa and parts of Central Asia.
On the other hand, if we act wisely, we can protect the Earth while raising quality of life broadly around the
world. We can do this by adopting lifestyles and technologies that improve happiness (or life satisfaction)
while reducing human damage to the environment. “Sustainable Development” is the term given to the
combination of human well-being, social inclusion, and environmental sustainability. We can say that the
quest for happiness is intimately linked to the quest for sustainable development.
Do you need to read any more?
The Happiness Index is published by the Earth Institute and declares that "happiness is intimately linked to the quest for sustainable development. "....
I guess that why I'm so miserable. Let's look at a random video of miserable people having a miserable time:
And we haven't even mentioned beer...
Posted by The Englishman at 7:00 AM
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March 20, 2012
Guardian Fails A Google Search
Spring equinox Google doodle heralds change of season | Technology | The Guardian
Google marked the vernal equinox, or the first day of Spring, using a doodle based on a design by Marimekko, the the Finnish textile company famous for its bright, bold prints.
Spring has historically started on the day of the vernal equinox, which occurs on the night of 20/21 March.
- Umm, the reason why Google is celebrating the first day of spring today, the 20th, is that the equinox occurred during the night of the 19th/20th March. As some of us are celebrating at this early hour....
Posted by The Englishman at 5:44 AM
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March 9, 2012
Friday Night is Music Night (Drinking Edition)
Posted by The Englishman at 6:22 PM
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March 6, 2012
Panorama and Farm Subsidies
BBC iPlayer - Panorama: The Money Farmers
Samantha Poling reveals how millions of pounds of public money are being paid out to businessmen and millionaire farmers in an abuse of the farming subsidy system. Investors tell us how they have been paid without having to do any farming at all. And Samantha also sets out to see if she can take advantage of the subsidy system and become rich from the loophole.
The programme also examines the rest of the subsidy system and hears criticism of large payments to wealthy individuals like the Queen and the Duke of Westminster simply on the basis of owning large amounts of land.
I managed to watch about two minutes of this before getting bored, but the what I saw and the synopsis seems to suggest it was a lazy ill-informed programme.
Put to one side what we think about farm subsidies. Let us just take them as a fact.
They are an entitlement to an annual payment with certain terms and conditions which was set up to last until 2013, and may continue longer. The main condition is that the land the subsidy is ensuring stays in a good agricultural and environmental condition stays so for each year. These entitlements are tradeable.
Some farmers have wanted to cash in their entitlement for a lump sum, they may be retiring, moving, divorcing or just want the cash. So a business man can buy the entitlement, giving the actual farmer what he values the future value of payments at. The businessman then receives the annual payment as long as the land is maintained.
Is that so hard to understand? The businessman isn't milking the system. The system had provided the subsidy for the farmer and the farmer has cashed it in with the businessman.
The fact the businessman is making a large return on the lump sum invested is a reflection on that setting up these deals isn't that easy. A couple of years ago I spent some time looking at them for a city contact and the difficulties and risk meant he walked away from the potential return.
And as to large landowners receiving large returns. If you pay people by the acre to manage land and reward them by the mile for planting hedges then those who have more will get more. Because they do more.
Posted by The Englishman at 7:22 AM
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March 2, 2012
Friday Night is Music Night (Wandle Delta Edition)
The Wandle Delta is here:
Posted by The Englishman at 6:51 PM
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February 26, 2012
For The Reader Who Refuses To Pay The TV Licence And Missed This
It was a close call to make a seat in the Pool Room at the King's Arms but it was worthwhile.
Posted by The Englishman at 6:41 AM
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February 24, 2012
Friday Night is Music Night (Dead Lefties Edition)
Posted by The Englishman at 5:07 PM
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February 19, 2012
Monkey Business
Being drunk at home can prove to be a costly business - Health - Scotsman.com
Drunken Britons typically cause nearly £500 of damage to their homes after mishaps.
Middle-class professionals in the 35-54 age group with homes worth an average of £242,673 were the worst offenders.
£500 - you call that a mishap? That is a mere scratch in the rosewood, a chip off the vase, to the damage a decent evening with a couple of chums at home costs. Have you tried to get a mounted set of boars tusks out of the door of a SMEG fridge, I knew the steel was flimsy enough for them to penetrate it if one took a decent run up...
Posted by The Englishman at 6:55 AM
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February 16, 2012
Comments Are Back
Sorry technical problems for the last few days - now sorted hopefully. Please tell me if you encounter any.
Posted by The Englishman at 6:33 AM
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February 13, 2012
Taxman To Tax The Pink In My Gin
HMRC Angostura Bitters: Repeal of Relief
The relief exempts from excise duty the importation of Angostura Bitters into the UK. ...
Legislation will be introduced in Finance Bill 2012 to repeal sections 1(7) and 6 of ALDA to take effect on and after 1 April 2013. Angostura Bitters will then become subject to duty under section 1 of ALDA
This measure is expected to have a negligible impact on the Exchequer.
This measure has no significant economic impact.
There will be a small negative impact on individuals and households who consume Angostura Bitters. If changes to the duty treatment of Angostura Bitters were passed on in the price of the product, then a 200ml bottle may increase in price by between £2-£3, although the product is typically consumed as a ‘dash’ (a few drops only) at a time.
Equalities impacts: Potential impacts have been considered and no different impact has been identified on people with protected characteristics.
Old sea dogs obviously aren't a protected race.
My advice is to take advantage of this relief whilst it lasts to buy a lifetime's supply of duty free Angostura Bitters - one bottle.
Posted by The Englishman at 4:26 PM
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February 12, 2012
Whitney
The cassette in the car of her provided the soundtrack to many a great night for my generation.
Another bit of my youth dies, wasted by drugs.
Posted by The Englishman at 6:38 AM
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February 10, 2012
Friday Night is Music Night (Tommy Gun Edition)
Posted by The Englishman at 8:44 PM
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February 9, 2012
Economics Made Simple
Stanislaw Ulam once challenged Paul Samuelson to name one theory in all of the social sciences which is both true and nontrivial. Several years later, Samuelson responded with David Ricardo's theory of comparative advantage: That it is logically true need not be argued before a mathematician; that is not trivial is attested by the thousands of important and intelligent men who have never been able to grasp the doctrine for themselves or to believe it after it was explained to them
Economics Made Simple: How money, trade and markets really work by Dr Madsen Pirie
He combines his story telling craft with his deep understanding of economic basics to produce a very readable and enjoyable short book on a subject most people would run screaming from. It's brevity and simplicity might annoy the expert, and the purveyors of economic insights who are paid by the word and maintain their mystique with obscurity, but that is its real value.
I wish for instance that Ricardo's theory of comparative advantage was dealt with a bit more deeply as everyday we see politicians ans campaigners clamouring for some protectionist measure without anyone pointing a finger at them and laughing at their ignorance.
He has released a series of videos http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL06A6035D1EAF3D0E which are based on chapters of the book. Watch them and share them and then I recommend you buy the book.
Put aside any preconceived thoughts you have on the subject and enjoy the helicopter view of the whole subject. It may just surprise and educate you, it certainly will be enjoyable. And for anyone who is starting any course at any level on economics this is the key book they must have. It provides a backbone onto which deeper analysis can be hung, and if they don't fit onto it maybe they are better being discarded.
Essential enjoyable comprehensive simple guide.
Posted by The Englishman at 6:25 AM
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February 3, 2012
Friday Night is Music Night (Happy Days Edition)
No politics on this blog, but a bottle of high carbon footprint fizz is being opened.
Posted by The Englishman at 5:31 PM
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Rabbits, Toads and Pachyderms
Elephants and rhinoceros should be introduced to the Australian outback to control the impact of damaging wild grasses, according to an Australian professor of environmental change biology
I believe it was a distant ancestor of mine who won the gold prize for successfully transporting a pair of breeding rabbits to Australia, that worked out well....
Posted by The Englishman at 6:21 AM
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February 2, 2012
Economics is Fun, Part 3: Specialization
Posted by The Englishman at 12:05 PM
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February 1, 2012
Questions In The Guardian We Can Answer Yes To
Are you a 'hate reader'? | Open thread | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk
Tell us if you deliberately read articles you know you'll dislike, just so you can take issue with them
Posted by The Englishman at 12:35 PM
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January 27, 2012
Friday Night is Music Night (Drums Edition)
I have now got a drum set, the youngest Englishette is taking lessons - I would just love to be able to do the intro...
Posted by The Englishman at 8:55 PM
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January 20, 2012
Friday Night is Music Night (RIP Etta Edition)
Etta James: Soul legend dies in California - Telegraph
Posted by The Englishman at 6:14 PM
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January 16, 2012
Jury Trial Attack
Right to jury trial faces axe in post-riot reforms | The Times
The right to trial by jury for thousands of offences would be scrapped under plans being considered by ministers, The Times has learnt.
The measure is being examined for inclusion in a White Paper next month aimed at learning the lessons of the riots last year. It would mean up to 70,000 cases a year, most of them for minor theft, being heard by magistrates rather than by a judge and jury in Crown Court. Eighty per cent of theft trials involve values of less than £200.
The saving would be huge, with a hearing before magistrates costing an average of £900 a day compared with £3,000 a day in Crown Court. But more crucially, supporters say it would relieve the workload on the overstretched Crown Court, freeing it to deal more swiftly with murders, rapes and serious assaults....
John Fassenfelt, JP, chairman of the Magistrates’ Association, said that it was increasingly hard to justify trial by jury for offences such as the “theft of a bottle of Coca-Cola” when cases are now talking an average of 22 weeks to come to Crown Court trial and up to a year for some of the most serious cases.....
It might only be the “theft of a bottle of Coca-Cola” to him but it is my reputation, my work, my volunteer duties, my self-worth and my whole identity if I am branded a thief. It is also my Rights, but then they come cheap these days.
Posted by The Englishman at 6:49 AM
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January 13, 2012
HMRC - Unfair And Unlawful
Exposed: Taxman's 'illegal' war against Britain's small businesses - Tax - Money - The Independent
The Government is unlawfully using late-payment penalty fines against tens of thousands of small firms who do not file their tax returns on time as a "cash-generating scheme" for the Exchequer.
In a damning judgment, the Tax Tribunal has ruled that Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs is operating a policy of "deliberately" waiting months before alerting businesses that have not filed their tax returns so that late- payment fines stack up.
If upheld on appeal, the judgment could result in between 50,000 and 100,000 firms being able to claim refunds on tens of millions paid in fines.
"It is no function of the state to use the penalty system as a cash-generating scheme," said the judge, Geraint Jones, QC. "We have no doubt that any right-thinking member of society would consider that to be unfair and falling very far below the standard of fair dealing expected of an organ of the state."
A couple of months ago HMRC suddenly "remembered" that I had filed late in 2004, 2006 and 2007 - They couldn't provide any details but demanded I sent them several thousand pounds. They claimed there was a CCJ against my firm even though a search through the official records fails to find one. Obviously the court records must be wrong because they "know" there is one.
I haven't paid them anything yet...
Posted by The Englishman at 6:22 AM
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January 6, 2012
Friday Night is Music Night (Etta Edition)
Etta James released from hospital - latimes.com
Blues singer Etta James, who is terminally ill and battling leukemia, was resting at her Riverside home Friday, a day after being released from a Southern California hospital,..
Singer Etta James is "nearing the ends of her time," but her health has improved in recent days allowing doctors to remove the respirator that was helping her breathe, according to her sons' lawyer.
Posted by The Englishman at 6:13 PM
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December 29, 2011
A Man Of The Left, Not Of The People
Professor Sir Michael Dummett | The Times
Throughout his adult life Dummett was a man of the Left. However, he resisted the tendency, oddly prevalent among well-born academic leftists in Britain, to display his adherence to the cause by aping demotic manners and tastes. His cultivated appreciation of fine wine, for example, lasted until the end. His heroic smoking was also pursued with a cavalier disregard for petty regulation.
Of course one wouldn't want to ape the lifestyle of common people when one is a leader of leftist thought.
Posted by The Englishman at 7:42 AM
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December 24, 2011
My Christmas Tree Is Up!
The seeds of a sunflower, the spines of a cactus, and the bracts of a pine cone all grow in whirling spiral patterns. Remarkable for their complexity and beauty, they also show consistent mathematical patterns that scientists have been striving to understand.
A surprising number of plants have spiral patterns in which each leaf, seed, or other structure follows the next at a particular angle called the golden angle. The golden angle is about 137.5. Two radii of a circle C form the golden angle if they divide the circle into two areas A and B so that A/B = B/C.
The golden angle is closely related to the golden ratio, which the ancient Greeks studied extensively and some have believed to have divine, aesthetic or mystical properties.
Plants with spiral patterns related to the golden angle also display another curious mathematical property. The seeds of a flower head form interlocking spirals in both clockwise and counterclockwise directions. The number of clockwise spirals differs from the number of counterclockwise spirals, and these two numbers are called the plant's parastichy numbers (pronounced pi-RAS-tik-ee or PEHR-us-tik-ee).
These numbers have a remarkable consistency. They are almost always two consecutive Fibonacci numbers, which are another one of nature's mathematical favorites. The Fibonacci numbers form the sequence 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21 . . . , in which each number is the sum of the previous two.
The Fibonacci numbers tend to crop up wherever the golden ratio appears, because the ratio between two consecutive Fibonacci numbers happens to be close to the golden ratio. The larger the two Fibonacci numbers, the closer their ratio to the golden ratio. But this relationship doesn't fully explain why parastichy numbers end up being consecutive Fibonacci numbers.
Scientists have puzzled over this pattern of plant growth for hundreds of years....
Posted by The Englishman at 12:22 PM
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December 23, 2011
Friday Night is Music Night (Sweet Kim Edition)
Posted by The Englishman at 8:29 AM
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December 16, 2011
Friday Night is Music Night (Meri Kurisumasu Edition)
I don't think the restraining order prevents me posting this, does it?
OK - That one is probably a bit much...
Posted by The Englishman at 7:00 AM
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December 9, 2011
Know Your Baud Rate?
Older Britons 'know web jargon better than youngsters' - Telegraph
Some 72 per cent of over-55s are familiar with basic internet terminology such as "Wifi", "router", "cursor" and "bandwidth", compared to only 61 per cent of 16 to 24-year-olds.
“Although youngsters have greater exposure to the internet through their communication habits and means of education, it is the older segment of the audience who are making the effort to get to grips with the net, and therefore learning more about how it all works," said Mr Ford.
A bit like cars - carburettors, chokes, tweaking the timing - why should young people learn about it? It now just works. It shows the maturing of the technology when it becomes part of the wallpaper and what it delivers rather than how it delivers it is what is important.
Posted by The Englishman at 6:43 AM
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December 6, 2011
Tis The Season To Celebrate Salty Nigella
NIGELLA: "MY LOVE AFFAIR WITH SALTED CARAMEL"- Stylist Magazine
Posted by The Englishman at 9:14 PM
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December 2, 2011
Friday Night is Music Night (Military Wives Edition)
The official video released today.
Posted by The Englishman at 4:59 PM
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Friday Morning Wake Up Tune Request
Posted by The Englishman at 6:53 AM
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December 1, 2011
Too Bleeding Right
Swearing can help to relieve pain - Health - Scotsman.com
SWEARING can provide effective relief from pain – but not if people swear many times a day, according to research.
Keep those words for special occasions for real impact. I could have told you that but then I didn't get a fucking grant.
Posted by The Englishman at 6:30 AM
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November 25, 2011
Friday Night is Music Night (Military Charity Edition)
Royal Wootton Bassett's Single - a great video
And to come The Military Wives Choir which will be released on 19th Dec:
Posted by The Englishman at 4:06 PM
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November 18, 2011
Friday Night is Music Night (Dream Edition)
Posted by The Englishman at 5:15 PM
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November 10, 2011
A Proud Parent Post
That's my girls.
Posted by The Englishman at 6:53 AM
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November 5, 2011
Remember, Remember...
You can never tire of that can you?
And for me it is a wedding anniversary, I must remember to stop at the petrol station on the way back from work for some flowers and chocolates.
Posted by The Englishman at 7:26 AM
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November 4, 2011
Friday Night is Music Night (Stonehenge Edition)
Posted by The Englishman at 8:21 AM
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November 3, 2011
Unsettling The Science On The Stonehenge Sarsens
Living between Avebury and Stonehenge I have always been interested in how the massive Sarsen stones, weighing up to 45 Tons, were moved from near the former to the latter.
There is a consensus answer which has been told to millions of people over the last fifty years. It involves a large detour to the west and then across the Pewsey Vale near Etchilhampton.
But that means the sarsens were dragged across fields where I have stood knee deep in the slime waiting for snipe to fly. I could barely drag my cartridge bag so forget dragging massive blocks of stone.
The science was obviously wrong, so I'm glad to see a new route proposed which seems to make more sense. See what you think.
Posted by The Englishman at 7:11 AM
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October 28, 2011
Friday Night is Music Night (Proof That Lasting Two Minutes Is Long Enough Edition)
Posted by The Englishman at 5:47 PM
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October 21, 2011
The Immortal Memory
Naval Traditions: The Trafalgar Night Dinner
The Immortal Memory toast: A Trafalgar Night speech is usually made by a guest of honour. If a speaker has not been arranged, the proposer of the toast will precede it with some Nelsonian comments, and can vary in length according to the custom of the diners. The toast itself is "The Immortal Memory" and is drunk standing in total silence. This is customary out of respect of the memory of the Admiral.
For the 200th anniversary, the original toast was reinstated and used by HM The Queen which is as follows:
"The Immortal Memory of Lord Nelson and those who fell with him"
Off to the pub - I'm not sure why my invitation has the post script - "It's your turn in the barrel". I'm sure I will enjoy it anyway....
Posted by The Englishman at 12:05 PM
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October 16, 2011
Local Hunt News
Hunting: who let the dogs out? | UK news | The Observer
Six years after foxhunting was banned, the bugle still sounds across the shires. Robert McCrum goes in pursuit of the hunters, and finds a world lustily disdainful of urban opinion
Good article about people I know well.
Posted by The Englishman at 6:44 AM
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October 13, 2011
Skinny Bird With Gravy
Kate Moss: I’m amazing with gravy - Telegraph
Spread her with chocolate maybe, but Bisto's Best, now that is getting pervy.
Posted by The Englishman at 6:38 AM
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October 8, 2011
Evening Constable
+ sizeThe view from my office last night reminded me of Constable's famous daub.
(You may notice since Constable's times some stones have been re-erected and straightened, but don't tell anyone.)
Posted by The Englishman at 6:46 AM
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October 7, 2011
Friday Night is Music Night (Big in France Edition)
Vince Taylor
(14 July 1939 — 28 August 1991)[1] was a British rock and roll singer. As the frontman for The Playboys, Taylor was successful primarily in France and the Continent during the late 1950s and early 1960s, afterwards falling into obscurity amidst personal problems and drug abuse.
Posted by The Englishman at 7:41 PM
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October 5, 2011
Reasons for a Land Value Tax No.1 of 1
Houses for sale in Royal Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire
4 bedroom detached house for sale in Royal Wootton Basset
And so on - the Estate Agents have been marketing the Royal bit for some time now, even though it isn't yet so named.
Wootton Bassett seeks cash to pay for Royal honour ceremony - mirror.co.ukWOOTTON Bassett is struggling to raise the £65,000 cost of winning royal status and is appealing for help from the public.
Princess Anne will visit the town on October 16 for a ceremony that will see it renamed Royal Wootton Bassett, but the council has been given no extra money to pay for road closures and security.
My pointy headed friend bangs on about Land Value Tax, which of course as a old fashioned chap I am against. (I'm against anything with the word tax in it and against anything that encourages a new tax and against anything that is a tax on any sort of wealth rather than consumption, and especially against anything that combines all of these features).
But I have to say the old wonk has a point here with regards the costs of slapping the Regal Moniker on the Urbs. Obviously it adds a bit of desirability and hence some wonga into the badly cut pockets of the cheap suited agents so would it be unreasonable for Sir Frank Rutley et al to chip in a bit?
Posted by The Englishman at 6:18 PM
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September 30, 2011
Friday Night is Music Night (Grain Dryer Edition)
Back in t'70s I used to be on night shift on the dryer. The grain was moved with a sucker/blower which was powered by a large three phase motor. Starting it up always aurally pleasured me like the start of this track. Which explains why "Hawkwind" was spray painted on the side of the grain bins.
Posted by The Englishman at 11:54 PM
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Cooking With Nigella
Posted by The Englishman at 8:05 AM
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September 23, 2011
Friday Night is Music Night (MotorCity Mashup Edition)
Posted by The Englishman at 7:51 PM
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September 18, 2011
Touching The Flesh
Martin McGuinness willing to meet the Queen if elected Irish president | Politics | guardian.co.uk
Noblesse oblige and all that, how jolly decent of him. I'm not sure if anyone has asked Her Maj if she is willing to meet him, Uncle Dicky and all her loyal subjects are such old history aren't they?
Of course she is a professional so she would, but some wet wipes in the handbag to clean one's hands would not be inappropriate.
Posted by The Englishman at 6:17 AM
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September 16, 2011
Friday Night is Music Night (Working This Weekend Edition)
Posted by The Englishman at 8:02 PM
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September 9, 2011
Friday Night is Music Night (Cross Cultural Edition)
Posted by The Englishman at 7:45 AM
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September 2, 2011
Friday Night is Music Night (RIP Blues Edition)
David Honeyboy Edwards, the “Last of the Great Mississippi Delta Bluesmen” has died.
Posted by The Englishman at 4:38 PM
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August 19, 2011
Friday Night Is Music Night (Peaches Edition)
Posted by The Englishman at 2:54 PM
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August 17, 2011
Going Gentle Into That Good Night
I voluntarily went into a National Trust tearoom this afternoon and enjoyed a cream tea.
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
What was I thinking? It's the end, get me some tartan slippers and wish me well as soup dribbles down my cardy...
Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Posted by The Englishman at 7:02 PM
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August 12, 2011
Friday Night is Music Night (Summer Holiday Edition)
Posted by The Englishman at 6:58 PM
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August 5, 2011
Doing Bird
Man give caution for shooting rooks for human consumption - Telegraph
The 45 year-old, who has not been named, was arrested after the Taverner's restaurant in Godshill, Isle of Wight, was discovered to have started serving rook salad.
Yesterday, officials confirmed the man, from Ryde, Isle of Wight, had been issued with a caution following a joint investigation Natural England and Hampshire Police.
The man was arrested in June on suspicion of committing a number of offences under the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
Rooks and other wild birds, except wood pigeons, are legally protected and their sale for human consumption is illegal.
It wasn't many years ago since I was served rook salad at a resturant, the owner had shot the rooks himself and gave away the amuse-gueule so maybe it was legal.
Of course in last European unpleasantness they reached the dizzy price of 2/10 each as fillers for game pies. The public soon got bored of their flavour so by 1949 you could buy them for 9d each.
For a decent rook pie rather than a veggie salad with strips of fried breast:
Skin the birds, cut off wings and legs and draw them. Stuff with a veal forcemeat. Season well with salt and pepper. Arrange in a pie dish with slices of steak and a good beef broth. Cover with puff pastry. 350 F for 1hr 45min. Top up the stock and serve.
Posted by The Englishman at 11:32 PM
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July 29, 2011
Friday Night is Music Night (Reise Edition)
The German relatives are staying - sometimes only Rammstein will do...
Posted by The Englishman at 7:51 AM
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July 28, 2011
Parking in Wiltshire - They Are Having A Laffer
Motorists shun car parks in Wiltshire (From The Wiltshire Gazette and Herald)
CONTROVERSIAL increases in car parking charges by Wiltshire Council are set to result in a loss of income of half a million pounds.
Just three months after the charges were introduced the Conservative run council says fewer motorists are using the council’s car parks and is predicting a potential shortfall of income of £500,000.
The new charges, which are deeply unpopular among businesses who say trade has been affected as a result, were designed to bring in just under an extra £1.5 million in car parking revenue to the council.
Not just tax revenues that have a maximum yield.
Posted by The Englishman at 7:16 AM
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July 24, 2011
It's The Morning After
Now that's what I call a lamb roast - it was delicous, and the music from The Bath Blues Brothers was fantastic.
Thanks to everyone who came and especially those who helped.
Posted by The Englishman at 10:11 AM
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July 23, 2011
Halcyon Days
Living Freely in England a Century Ago - By Daniel Pipes - The Corner - National Review Online
A. J. P. Taylor wrote this memorable passage in English History, 1914-1945 (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1970):
Until August 1914 a sensible, law-abiding Englishman could pass through life and hardly notice the existence of the state, beyond the post office and the policeman. He could live where he liked and as he liked. He had no official number or identity card. He could travel abroad or leave his country for ever without a passport or any sort of official permission. He could exchange his money for any other currency without restriction or limit. He could buy goods from any country in the world on the same terms as he bought goods at home. For that matter, a foreigner could spend his life in this country without permit and without informing the police. Unlike the countries of the European continent, the state did not require its citizens to perform military service. An Englishman could enlist, if he chose, in the regular army, the navy, or the territorials. He could also ignore, if he chose, the demands of national defence. Substantial householders were occasionally called on for jury service. Otherwise, only those helped the state who wished to do so. The Englishman paid taxes on a modest scale: nearly £200 million in 1913-14, or rather less than 8 per cent. of the national income. … broadly speaking, the state acted only to help those who could not help themselves. It left the adult citizen alone.
via the ever excellent Maggies Farm
Posted by The Englishman at 6:38 AM
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July 22, 2011
Friday Night is Music Night (Twang Edition)
Posted by The Englishman at 5:49 AM
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July 20, 2011
Been there - I need the T shirt
Did you once have a great idea that you failed to implement?
Were you around when the Internet boom started and didn't register that domain when you had the chance?
Are you embittered by seeing 23 year olds who've made a fortune from something so trivial you can't believe anyone fell for it?
Posted by The Englishman at 8:50 PM
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It's Chilli Cook-Off Time This Saturday
Ingredients:
6 lbs. beef
4 onions
3 bell peppers
2 minced jalapenos
3 cans beef bouillon
24 oz. tomato sauce
4 Tbs. ancho chili powder
4 Tbs. chili powder
2 Tbs. Mexican oregano
4 Tbs. cumin
4 cloves garlic
1 bottle Icehouse beer
1 tsp. sugar
salt/pepper to taste
Directions:
Brown meat. Sauté vegetables. Combine and add the remainder of the ingredients. Simmer 2-3 hours.
It will be something like that down at The King's Arms on Saturday lunchtime.
Of course if you have a better recipe, please tell me.
And the band is confirmed for the evening do.
Posted by The Englishman at 6:51 AM
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July 19, 2011
News From The Stone Age
Confirmed: All non-African people are part Neanderthal
Neanderthals, one of the last extant hominid species other than our own, left Africa somewhere between 400,000 and 800,000 years ago and settled mostly in Europe until they went extinct 30,000 years ago. Early modern humans left Africa about 80,000 to 50,000 years ago, meaning they overlapped with Neanderthals in time and place for at least 20,000 years.
... answer came with the first sequencing of the Neanderthal genome last year. Dr. Labuda compared 6,000 chromosomes from all over the world to the corresponding part of the Neanderthal sequence. With the exception of people from sub-Saharan Africa - whose ancestors would have been unlikely to come into contact with Neanderthals, since their territories didn't overlap - every chromosome featured evidence of the Neanderthal sequence.
That even includes particularly far-flung groups of humans like native Australians, who are thought to have reached the island continent by as far back as 40,000 years ago. For that sequence to show up even in such geographically isolated groups, it suggests that there was a lot of interbreeding between the two hominid species, and that pretty much all ancient humans that left Africa passed through Neanderthal territory and had close interaction (read: a ton of sex) with their evolutionary cousins.
Posted by The Englishman at 7:48 AM
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July 15, 2011
Friday Night is Music Night (Shame Edition)
Posted by The Englishman at 7:14 PM
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July 8, 2011
Friday Night is Music Night (Charlie Watts Edition)
One of the best evenings of my life was the one where I saw his Big Band and Ronnie Scotts, Ringo and Barbara were on the next table and the drive home was great.
Posted by The Englishman at 5:43 PM
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Mourning The News of The Screws
The real reason for the Guardian-BBC assault on News International « Autonomous MindMake no mistake, I carry no brief for Murdoch. But I cannot stand seeing the British people being misled by his opportunist opponents who have a self serving agenda that is not in the interest of the public.
The hypocrisy and double standards at play here are incredible. The Guardian has not pursued this story for the noble aim of getting at the truth, but in a desperate effort to undermine Rupert Murdoch, with the full connivance of its broadcast arm, the BBC. The phone hacking scandal, while criminal and disgusting, is nothing more than a rider for a campaign where something far greater is at stake - maintaining the left-liberal media consensus that holds sway in this country
DUFF & NONSENSE!: British liberty takes another hit
The political class, of course, are jubilant. On Sky News just now 'Lord' Prescott looked and sounded as excited as he must have done when he was shagging his secretary over his ministerial desk five years ago. To obtain the full, rank measure of this fat, useless, immoral, old has-been, or perhaps never-was, is a better designation, let me tell you that he sneered at the British press for wanting to follow the American way of being allowed to print anything, which they do, of course, because it is enshrined in their constitution, freedom of speech being considered crucial to a civil society by the Founding Fathers. Prescott speaks for virtually all the political class and you can expect a raft of new regulations designed to limit the ability of the press to investigate anyone, particularly if they are important. They will be aided in this endeavor by establishment judges sucking up to European law by strict interpretations of the law of so-called 'Human Rights'. The death of the NoW is merely the beginning. That's one down, they are thinking, now we can go for the rest of the rat-pack, starting with The Sun.
So now we, the people, must open a new front against these despicable rascals who seek to flaunt their power over us. Now the bloggers and the tweeters must arise, especially those who are, or were, journalists, and use their skills and their knowledge and their contacts to maintain, like the skirmishers of the Napoleonic era, a constant barrage of sniper fire aimed at the massed ranks of the trough-swillers set above us. Never mind the bloody Arabs, it's time for a British Spring!
Posted by The Englishman at 6:42 AM
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July 2, 2011
Bucket of cold water please
Women with size five feet are most attractive to men - Telegraph
The formula for a perfect woman's foot is a size five, wearing three inch heels and red toe nail varnish, according to the study.
First thing I noticed about Mrs E was her feet. Of course, small hands are also very appealing, they are so flattering....
Posted by The Englishman at 10:48 AM
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July 1, 2011
Friday Night is Music Night (Original Good Year Edition)
I had never heard it sung by the songwriter before.
Posted by The Englishman at 5:01 PM
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June 24, 2011
Friday Night is Music Night (Fred Edition)
Youtube has lots more, often my problem is finding one good video of a performer, with Mississippi Fred McDowell the problem was finding just one to feature
Posted by The Englishman at 6:23 PM
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Friday Night is Music Night (Nellie Edition)
Nellie the elephant packs her trunk
John Redwood
Yesterday was a day when Parliament asserted itself against the executive. Nellie is saying Good bye to the circus, if Parliament has its way.
Conservative MPs had been placed on a three line whip to vote down Mark Pritchard’s motion. The government favoured better regulation of circus animals. Mr Pritchard favoured a ban.
Mr Pritchard’s speech in the chamber told us of the pressures he had been under to change his motion. It was an interesting moment in the evolution of this Coalition government, when the government had to accept it was better not to test the mood of the Commons.
Posted by The Englishman at 8:59 AM
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June 18, 2011
A Free Speech Victory
Husband cleared of harassing wife's lover on Twitter - Telegraph
“This is a victory for the little guy. Frankly, in this country we don’t generally do what I did and stand up and fight. It is a victory for free speech.”
Posted by The Englishman at 5:38 AM
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June 17, 2011
Friday Night is Music Night (Bop Edition)
lead guitar : johnny meeks
piano : cliff simmons
bass guitar : grady owen
drums : clyde pennington
vocals : gene vincent
Posted by The Englishman at 8:30 PM
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June 12, 2011
An Englishman Emigrating
Sometime ago I posted a picture:
An Englishman in his Library
John Frederick Marchant of 59 Berners Street, Middlesex, flax chandler,
I invited any relatives to claim the picture. It was just an old photo I found in a second hand frame - I'm pleased that after five years a relative has come forward to claim the old boy and he is now off to enjoy a venerated after life in New Zealand.
Posted by The Englishman at 6:06 AM
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June 10, 2011
Friday Night is Music Night (Staying The Same Edition)
Promising young blues band, if they could just learn to simplify things and cut it a bit shorter they could go far. I wonder whatever happened to them.
Posted by The Englishman at 5:13 PM
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Wiltshire Church Accidentally Keeps The Second Commandment
BBC News - Cleaner removes 'face of Jesus' from Wiltshire church
An "image of Jesus" seen in dripped wax by worshippers at a church in Wiltshire has been removed by a cleaner.
The face was first spotted by a church warden at the parish church of Ogbourne St George at Easter.
The image, described as a a man with a long beard, was formed by candle wax dripping from the church's pulpit...
Despite going through the church's cleaning rotas, no-one has admitted to scraping away the wax image.
"I felt really disappointed actually and I wished I'd done more about preserving it," admitted Mrs Irwin.
"The Church of England is not very good at this sort of thing and if I'd done something sooner it could have been a bit of a money spinner."
But that is what the dear old C of E is all about - none of that idolatrous worship of waxen images with pennies being put in the slot... Another finger of Bushmills and I will come over all Dr Ian and start denouncing the Whore of Babylon and Graven Images....
Posted by The Englishman at 3:49 PM
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Happy 90th Sir
Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, Earl of Merioneth and Baron Greenwich, was born Prince of Greece and Denmark in Corfu on 10 June 1921.
He was born the only son of Prince Andrew of Greece. His paternal family is of Danish descent - Prince Andrew was the grandson of King Christian IX of Denmark.
After leaving Gordonstoun in 1939, Prince Philip joined the Royal Navy, graduating the next year from the Royal Naval College, Dartmouth, as the top cadet in his course. He was commissioned as a midshipman in January 1940. Philip spent four months on the battleship HMS Ramillies, protecting convoys of the Australian Expeditionary Force in the Indian Ocean, followed by shorter postings on HM Ships Kent, Shropshire and in Ceylon (now Sri Lanka). After the invasion of Greece by Italy in October 1940, he was transferred from the Indian Ocean to the battleship HMS Valiant in the Mediterranean Fleet. Amongst other engagements, he was involved in the Battle of Crete, was mentioned in despatches for his service during the Battle of Cape Matapan where he saved his ship from a night bomber attack. He devised a plan to launch a raft with smoke floats that successfully distracted the bombers allowing the ship to slip away unnoticed.
Philip was also awarded the Greek War Cross of Valour. Duties of lesser glory included stoking the boilers of the troop transport ship RMS Empress of Russia.
Prince Philip was promoted to sub-lieutenant after a series of courses at Portsmouth in which he gained the top grade in four out of five sections. In June 1942, he was appointed to the V and W class destroyer and flotilla leader, HMS Wallace, which was involved in convoy escort tasks on the east coast of Britain, as well as the allied invasion of Sicily. Promotion to lieutenant followed on 16 July 1942. In October of the same year, at just 21 years of age, he became first lieutenant of HMS Wallace and one of the youngest first lieutenants in the Royal Navy. In 1944, he moved on to the new destroyer, HMS Whelp, where he saw service with the British Pacific Fleet in the 27th Destroyer Flotilla. He was present in Tokyo Bay when the instrument of Japanese surrender was signed
As fine a foreigner who ever made an English Gentleman - A tot of something to celebrate a life of service is in order I think
Posted by The Englishman at 5:57 AM
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June 7, 2011
Knock Knock
Germany officially the world's least funny country - Telegraph
Say it ain't so....An Englishman's Castle: German Jokes - Part II
Posted by The Englishman at 9:01 PM
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June 3, 2011
Friday Night is Music Night (Ever Fallen Edition)
Yes...
Posted by The Englishman at 9:40 PM
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June 1, 2011
The Countryside You Pay For
The tall crop on the left won't be harvested, it is being grown for the wild birds to eat during the winter. The grass on the right is not used to feed animals, it is for the birds to nest in, as is the hedge. In the distance under the hills there is five acres of fallow for different birds to nest in, and the downs themselves are managed organically with low output planned.
Ten years ago there wasn't a hedge here and every inch was ploughed to produce food, apart from the downs which had had fertiliser flown onto them to maximise output.
Farmers have responded to financial incentives and wildlife has paid better than food. Every change is reversible.
Posted by The Englishman at 9:11 AM
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May 27, 2011
Friday Night is Music Night (Stoned Edition)
That's my work for the long weekend.
I remember at college having this gatefold album with its fold out map in the middle, plenty of rolling room!
Posted by The Englishman at 4:18 PM
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May 25, 2011
My New Office
+ size Get some uPVC windows in and fix the roof, it won't be bad for blogging from.
Posted by The Englishman at 6:24 PM
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May 19, 2011
Finis
It has been a busy seven days; I became a Grandfather, resigned from my job, turned fifty and have just been offered a new job that I hadn't applied for. It is only part time and for three months, I turned down the chance of full time as I still have other irons in the fire. But I think it will be really interesting and the workplace is wonderful and fascinating. And there is every chance the contract will be extended.
However I will be a small speck on the cogwheels of State, with Her Majesty and Her Ministers as my ultimate employers and being a loyal and humble servant it is probably only fitting I am no longer rude about their infinite wisdom.
This isn't a "I will never blog again" post because this blog and you, the readers, have given me so much fun and education over the last seven years that it would be hard to draw it to a close. It just marks that there may be changes and unexplained haituses.
I go to get the uniform measured on Monday, wish me well and I hope to see you soon.
Posted by The Englishman at 8:40 PM
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May 18, 2011
1961 Was A Very Good Year
Posted by The Englishman at 7:07 AM
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May 13, 2011
Friday Night is Music Night (Boogie Edition)
May I also recommend Hugh Laurie's Let Them Talk
Posted by The Englishman at 5:17 PM
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We Have Become A Grandfather
The first of a new generation of Englishmen, for it is a Grandson, was born last night.
All doing well.
I feel my new status means I need to go to have a little lie down.
Posted by The Englishman at 6:16 AM
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May 9, 2011
Spring Sprung
Rhubarb from the garden cooked under sponge served with cream for pudding yesterday, the main was ham boiled in ginger beer, then baked off with a mustard and muscovado crust, served with new potatoes boiled with fresh mint, and a fresh parsley sauce. To start, it was nettle soup.
Lots of tastes of spring. Time to pity those unlucky enough not to be in England.
Posted by The Englishman at 7:01 AM
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May 6, 2011
Friday Night is Music Night (Loser Edition)
One for my long haired liberal friends, roll up a long one and weep into your tie-die cheesecloth.
Posted by The Englishman at 4:12 PM
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May 4, 2011
The Play Of The Blog
Tony Awards 2011: British drama Jerusalem nominated six times - Telegraph
I haven't seen it yet but then I live here and know the characters.
Tom Mellors - Jerusalem: drugs and booze in our green and pleasant land - Community | Wiltshire MagazineJerusalem is set in our very own Wiltshire. It is about a modern-day Pied Piper, an anarchistic outcast who personifies every rebellion in English history, from peasants’ revolt of 1381 to the Diggers.
Jez Butterworth's script tackles some of the most pressing issues in rural England, and all through a group of characters who wouldn’t look out of place on Channel Four’s Shameless.
Through the characters' carefree drug taking, underage drinking, and tales of all-night raves in the woods, Butterworth presents a group of reprobates who stand defiant in the face of our sanitised modern life.
They are not lowlifes however, nor are they stupid. They see through the "fun" prescribed by the local bureaucracy, and remember fondly the days when the village festival was enjoyable - when paying a pound to kick a burly farmer between the legs was the main entertainment.
The play laments the health & safety legislation which has come to dominate almost everything a community does. The cancelling of the annual cheese-rolling race in Gloucestershire this year is a recent indication of this trend.
At the same time it satirises the takeover of traditional customs by clever marketing folk. It mocks the brewery for forcing a local pub landlord to dress up as a Morris dancer and dance through the streets.
Within the scenes of revelry there is a subtle reflection of what is under threat in rural England; not just fun and spontaneity, but also nature itself.
The destruction of countryside through "development" and the growing authority of the government which allows this destruction to take place are both subtly criticised.
Worthy themes - I wish it well.
Posted by The Englishman at 7:10 AM
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April 26, 2011
Clackety Clack For Us Dinosaurs
Typewriters about to become a page in history
India's Business Standard - April 17
Godrej — the last manufacturer of typewriters in the world — has just 500 machines left for sale.
“We stopped production in 2009 and were the last company in the world to manufacture office typewriters."
(Ping)
Posted by The Englishman at 7:00 AM
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April 24, 2011
Bashing The Blogger Bash
Bloggers' Bash 2011: 'Blogging: Yesterday's news?'
The ASI and guests put on an excellent evening for which many thanks. I especially enjoyed catching up with Helen who echoes some of my views on it.
The panel seemed to be professional politicians who blog talking about how useful it is to professional politicians to blog.
Douglas Carswell made one good point that blogging by its nature is anti-corporatist and libertarian and that organisations such as the BBC will never "get it". Shortly after the two ladies from the BBC's Politics Show sitting next to me upped and left.
The righting of individual injustices, the shining of the spotlight into dusty corners and the relentless searching for truth, especially on the biggest economic and social story of our time (climate change), were unmentioned with only self-congratulatory speeches on the gossip-mongering in the Westminster village.
But a good time was had by all.
Posted by The Englishman at 6:55 AM
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April 20, 2011
In which I respond to Mr Longrider's insults and arguments.
My apologies.
I am returning to Mr Longrider's attacks on me. It is all rather tedious and so I have hidden it below the fold. I believe that brevity is the mark of good writing but sometimes it has to be abandoned in the interests of fairness. But I won't be wronged and I won't be insulted as another man on a horse once said.
As an illustration of the futility of blogspheric arguments and how rage can be manufactured against straw men whilst ignoring the substantive it is a classic.
If you have the time, read on and enjoy.
My Original post in full:
Railways Belong In MuseumsBody on line causes radio show cut | UK news | guardian.co.uk
A flagship BBC radio current affairs show had to be cancelled after guests including employment minister Chris Grayling were unable to get to the live recording because of a body on a railway line.
Radio 4's Any Questions was due to be broadcast from the National Railway Museum in Shildon, County Durham, but only one of the four-strong panel for the topical debate show was able to get there on time.All very tragic but yet again proving that railways belong in a museum. The invention of the steering wheel made them obsolete. A coachful of politicians and BBC employees could simply have driven round the body, been more fuel efficient, capable of moving more people per hour per mile of track and been more comfortable.
It also could have been diverted to a cliff top for the greater good of us all.
You will note I make several distinct claims:
Railways are obsolete because;
1. Trains cannot be steered around obstacles.
2. Alternatives are more fuel efficient.
3. Alternatives can carry more people per mile of track
4. Alternatives are more comfortable.
5. Implementing a diversion is easier on the road.
You will note I didn't make any claims about political philosophy, personal freedom, the restriction of choice or concreting over the railways.
Mr Longrider and his friendly commentators have racked up over 8,000 words responding to this harmless, slightly tongue-in-cheek brief post.
The chief result is that I apparently have made Mr Longrider realise he isn't a Libertarian but is actually a Classical Liberal. I await my reward from Nick Clegg.
But how well did he and his chums deal with my claims?
(The posts and comments are a stream of conciousness outpouring and so I have cut and pasted what I think are all the arguments. They are below in italics The posts have also been edited after publishing so there may be changes since I took my copy. Any arguments I have missed or unfairly represented please tell me. Please remember the paragraphs have been cut from a much longer screed, so please go back to Mr Longrider for the full version. The headings in bold are mine and are for my reference only. My comments are in non-italics.)
Libertarianism:
My recent spat with the Englishman has served to highlight a strain of libertarian thought that, frankly, disturbs me.
Tim, your prejudices are far too deeply entrenched for that. You have also highlighted the ugly, vulgar, misanthropic side of the libertarian philosophy, one that has always disturbed me – everyone must fit in with your choices, irrespective of individual circumstance or preference. You appear to understand the monetary cost but fail to recognise that cost is not merely measured by money, which is a pretty basic economic reality. That may not be an accurate analysis of your position, but reading your words, that’s what comes across.
Presenting a logical fallacy as a fait accomplis doesn’t wash. You see, even if you were right about obsolescence, the incident you cite doesn’t prove it. It’s a non sequitur. Hence your original point was utter bunk. For someone who claims to be bashing bogusmongers from behind the barbed wire, you’ve done a remarkable impression of a bogusmonger yourself with this one.
As I said earlier on, I wonder sometimes at the sheer misanthropy and arrogant “I’m all right Jack” attitude expressed by my fellow travellers.
It is very easy to sit astride one’s high horse and make declarations about how the little people – or cattle class – should be, what their choices should entail and decide that because we, in our superiority have made a choice, the proles should all do likewise.
There lies the road to totalitarianism and totalitarianism in the name of libertarianism is no less repugnant for that.
I think, on balance, I am probably not a libertarian at all.
‘Libertarianism’, as it seems to be represented across a large number of blogs, is a license to sneer at the sheep and cattle who ‘demand’ they have their backsides wiped by the state.
If I ever have to go to London, Manchester or Birmingham, I will avoid driving like the proverbial. No, it’s the train every time. Oh, yeah and contrary to the assumptions being made by Tim’s commenters, it’s not some great socialist conspiracy. It’s at times like this when I see such swivel eyed twaddle being peddled as libertarian thought that I start to wonder about my fellow travellers.
Good post, there are some very silly knee jerk prejudices amongst libertarians that can rival the left for daftness. Opposition to railways because they are somehow deemed socialist is one of them. I came across one of these half wits the other day who was ranting on about the noise of the wheels on the Bakerloo line being down to the tube and its staff being “communist”, I couldn’t be bothered to argue with him. “Swivel eyed” is a good description of this sort of thing and with Anna Racoon’s recent revelations about the Libertarian Party I’m glad I’ve never been tempted to join any of these fringe groupings who are, it seems, every bit as bonkers as the far left.
I'm not a member of the Libertarian Party despite being close friends with Chris Mounsey.
The incident I referred to directly illustrated one of the failings of railways and why they are obsolete, not a non sequitur at all. As to the rest these are your straw men you have erected to argue against.
Cost
While it amused me to see a suggestion that taxpayer’s money be used to subsidise taxi travel as a replacement option for rail, the blinkered “anything but this” option was apparent – despite logical arguments that proffered an explanation for the alternative being relevant and despite it being highlighted that cost is not something measured purely in monetary terms.
I value my time and the flexibility more than the monetary cost of the ticket. Just because something is expensive does not mean that it is not an appropriate option. It all depends on individual need and the value one places on such things as time. I’d have thought a libertarian would understand that principle.
His (Tim’s) argument is based upon cost and oddly for someone with his politics, CO2 emissions. As, like him, I am not a global warming worshipper, that argument fails.
… I am aware of the figures. I mentioned them in my post (and pointed out that there are caveats). Cost is not merely a monetary thing – unless you consider everything in life by the bottom line. If I want to travel to York from Bristol, for example, the train will get me there more quickly than the car – yes, it will, I’ve done it both ways and the train is way, way quicker. I can relax and work during that time if I so choose. I have to weigh up the cost in money against the saved time. I may decide that the time taken by road is too high a cost. I may decide that the stress of the drive is too high a cost. Consequently, producing raw monetary figures per passenger mile is meaningless. But I said that already – cost is not just about money. Tim is simply repeating his assertion in the hope that if he makes it often enough it will magically become true.
So, no, it didn’t and Tim has failed to provide any evidence that it did.
What Tim and his commenters have missed is that “cost” does not always apply to money. If I want to travel to Manchester, York or London I can do it more quickly by rail and if I want to can use the time to work. My time is worth more to me than the monetary cost of the ticket. It’s a simple enough economic equation, but there is a certain brand of vulgar libertarianism that sees everything in terms of monetary cost. These people seem to know the cost of everything and the value of nothing.
Um, I didn't mention cost at all.
In a response I suggested people look at "the figures". I was assuming we were talking about safety, fuel efficiency etc.
(In a subsequent post responding I relayed an anecdote about cost to illustrate railways aren't necessarily cheaper, but this was in response to Mr Lonriders rant about costs. A rant against his own straw man again.
I use the readily available CO2 figures as a measure of fuel use and efficency not because it will kill the baby polar bears. To suggest baby polar bears won't die means we can ignore the benefits of fuel efficiency is bizarre. Whatever Mr Longrider does in the privacy of his own home is up to him but I can't afford to waste fuel for heating or transport.
Insults
The use of the term “cattle class” said much, very much, and it was not to the credit of the person who said it.
The Englishman made a sweeping assertion and tried to use a single incident to underpin it. The whole argument was bunk.
Tim’s argument started with a logical fallacy and went downhill from there.
I realise that Tim doesn’t like railways. He’s trotted out the canard that the steering wheel made them obsolete often enough for us to get the message. It didn’t.
When did joined up thinking become a lost art?
Suggestion – if you’ve got the time.
Go over to Tim’s site, and tell the rotating-heads there a few facts.
Could be fun - Comment by Greg Tingey
I'm not sure what the use of general slang says very much about - maybe Mr Longrider isn't used to actually using cattle class where it is the standard description used by the users.
Travel Time
Oh, please. My Satnav is similarly optimistic. I have never, ever made a journey to the time that either Google Maps or the Satnav predict. Real life in the form of rest stops and traffic congestion always gets in the way somewhere along the journey. I’m sorry, but if the strength of your argument lies in Google Maps and Transport Watch, you’d best retire with some dignity now.
Very hard to conduct an argument about how long journeys will take if we can't use any of the standard predictive tools. My guess is that Google Maps predictions are more accurate than railway timetables. They certainly are good enough for me to use for planning trips. But my original post didn't make any timing claims, what we have here is another straw man set up, knocked over by me and then withdrawn in a huff because it wasn't in the rules.
Choice
The claim that rail is obsolete just doesn’t stack up. Our system may not be an example of the best – Japan is an example of excellent practice – but it provides a choice for the traveller that is a viable alternative if you either cannot drive or don’t choose to. For me, the coach is not an option because, apart from the ticket price, it comes with all of the disadvantages of both rail and road and offers none of the advantages. For others, that ticket price will be what swings it. You see? Individual solutions for individual needs – libertarianism in practice.
Did I say I wanted to ban trains? I use obsolete technology all the time, my Lee Metford rifle was made obsolete by the introduction of cordite but I still use it and it works for me. My shotgun has hammers. My fountain pen is a bizarre affectation but I keep it to write letters of sympathy and congratulations. Even my email client only allows 80 characters to a line but it suits me. But I acknowledge they are obsolete choices I make.
Density
“Look at the photo above from Google of Paddington station and the A40 – which one is moving more people? Go and search the line, look at other stations, you will see the same thing – the tracks are nearly always empty because you can’t get the density of traffic onto rail that you can on road.”
Sigh, and I could take a photograph of the motorway system at a quiet time and that would prove nothing as well. And as for paving over Waterloo – well, more later on that one.
The photo shows two competing systems at the same time, if the motorway is quiet then I expect the railway will be even quieter. But as I invite go and find another example, there are lots in the UK where a railway and comparable road can be seen in an aerial shot. Count the number of people being moved on each. That is how arguments are conducted, look for the evidence and present it.
Central Control
Rail offers mass transit that bypasses the congested roads during peak times. If you prefer to sit watching the traffic lights change sequence on your way into London, be my guest. I prefer not to. And that is the crux – rail offers an alternative. It can do this because it uses discrete infrastructure controlled from a central location. The movements are time-tabled enabling a fairly dense traffic flow that keeps moving. With in-cab signalling, it will be possible to move more vehicles faster, so the technology is far from obsolete.
The London traffic lights, which are an infrastructure controlled from a central location, are proof that railways are better because they are an infrastructure controlled from central location. FAIL
Transport Watch
Tim’s reference to Transport Watch was enlightening. It is operated by a chap called Paul Withrington. Its funding is not immediately obvious. What is obvious is a clear bias in favour of road transport. As a source, it’s pretty toxic and not one to take seriously. This man thinks that it would be viable to pave over the rail infrastructure. As Thornavis points out in the previous discussion here, it just ain’t that simple. And, having done away with that central control of the vehicles, the unique method of mass transit will revert to the problems that currently exist on the crowded roads.
It’s also worth pointing out that Transport Watch is a highly biased source, so not really worth taking too much notice of. They advocate converting the railway to road in order improve journey times. Given that the rail has its own infrastructure independent of roads and vehicles are time-tabled and their journeys controlled by an outside system to keep them to time and separate from each other, they can reach three-figure speeds unobtainable with disparate vehicles on a crowded road system. It’s an absurd proposal that only the rabidly anti-rail lobby could come up with and is worthy only of ridicule. If this is the best they can do, I don’t recommend anyone take them too seriously.
I know nothing about Transport Watch - they are a convenient source of figures. Are those figures wrong, if so say so. If not where they come from is irrelevant.
Safety
Tim criticizes the safety costs on rail compared with roads. It’s not something that can be easily compared given the different systems, who controls the budgets and how the cost is decided, however, it is worth noting that death and injury on the roads passes daily without much comment.
Ther is a very good reason you are safer in a train than in your own home, and why 3000+ people are killed (never mind the injured and maimed) on the roads every year ….
Not easily compared, but at least I tried to. Again when the figures don't come up on the railways side the argument is dismissed with a superior wave of the hand.
The Disabled
The anti-railway enthusiasts seem to combine an I’m-alright-Jack attitude with I-know-best, like a delightfully arrogant nanny smacking down foolish sentimentalists. Well, that’s fine and dandy if you have the health to drive a car. It’s tough enough for this not-allowed-to-drive person to get where I need to be now. Take out the trains and then what? Tried travelling by coach in a wheelchair you can’t get out of (as I currently – hopefully not permanently – am)? Or does that disqualify me from being permitted to travel? Grrr! Woe betide such folk if they ever find themselves too disabled to drive.
But the thing that bugs me most about people like him? They always assume their abilities will remain the same, that they will continue to be ‘normal’. Newsflash – disability can happen to anyone.
This latter bit was from a commentator rather than Mr Longrider. Bluntly you know nothing about me or my family and the suggestion I don't know or care about the disabled is offensive. So you can fuck right off.
Efficency
As for more efficient – well if Tim likes being stuck in a tin box struggling through dense stop-start traffic, who am I to gainsay him? The reality is that for commuting into city centres, the train does so without being stuck in traffic going nowhere fast and the seating – while leaving something to be desired – is more spacious and comfortable than a coach. And on Intercity trains you can always get up and walk to the buffet car. Not sure I’d recommend the produce, mind…
While studies tend to indicate better passenger miles per gallon by road, it’s worth bearing in mind that these reports come with caveats. And efficiency is not just measured by passenger or tonnes per gallon. I’d rather drive on a motorway with fewer trucks playing leapfrog at 56mph – so the same freight travelling behind one train on the rail network suits me just fine.
Efficiency is not measured by efficiency but by however I choose to, can't argue with that, it is like arguing with a toddler over whose turn it is on the potty.
Just Better
the rail network offers an alternative to the road and flying for long distance travel and is far, far better for commuting into the traffic choked, clogged centres of modern conurbations
But why are they far, far better? Give us a clue as the argument you are using.
Security
And for a relaxing trip without the obsessive security theatre, the train takes some beating. Unless you take the Eurostar of course – in which case, the ferry avoids all the paranoia
Not a huge problem on the morning commute, or much to do with trains vs coaches.
You may remember my original claims:
Railways are obsolete because;
1. Trains cannot be steered around obstacles.
2. Alternatives are more fuel efficient.
3. Alternatives can carry more people per mile of track
4. Alternatives are more comfortable.
5. Implementing a diversion is easier on the road.
So far not one of those has been seriously argued against or disproved. And let me reiterate I have extracted all the argument I could find presented by Mr Longrider and if I have missed one please tell me and I will add it.
So five claims, no rebuttals - I think victory is mine.
But there is more, my main claim is that the inflexibility of tracked vehicles when faced with an obstruction is the main reason for their obsolescence. Proclaiming this benefit is turned into the sneerings of a homicidal maniac in Mr Longrider's strange world.
He doesn't actually dispute the fact so I think on this point my claim can be taken to be proven in this argument. But read on and enjoy a peep behind the veil.
Drive Round
I think the killer quote for me was Tim’s assertion that on the roads, a coach could just drive around the dead body. On the one hand this is staggering ignorance as we well know the police won’t let you just drive around. The only way that you would be able to drive around the obstruction is if you were first on the scene. What really reeks is the expectation that a driver would drive around someone lying in the road without stopping to investigate and call the emergency services. Why not go the whole hog and drive over them? That way we can be certain they are dead.
Much of my musings since then have been a recoil in horror at such naked misanthropy, arrogance, I’m-alright-Jackism and self-righteousness. But, Tim is not alone among those of us who would champion personal liberty when displaying such traits.
What happens when there is a road traffic incident on the motorway system? Yes, the police do exactly the same as they do with the rail system; shut the lot and to hell with the travelling public trying to get to their destination.
I was trying to put my finger on what it was that I found so repugnant about Tim’s comments. The idea that a coach driver would simply drive around a dead body and carry on is unbelievably cold blooded. And it’s that callous indifference; the price of everything and value of nothing mentality that irks. Quite apart from the sheer absurdity of plucking one case out of the ether and attempting to use it to prove a prejudice and assuming that bottom line is the only measure of efficiency.
Bollocks. What happens when there is a road traffic incident on the motorway system? Yes, the police do exactly the same as they do with the rail system; shut the lot and to hell with the travelling public trying to get to their destination. In times gone by, the local signalling inspector’s team would have moved the body, covered it up and waited for the coroner – meanwhile trains would be moving again fairly swiftly, even if only on one line with single line working in place.
So it was all right for trains to drive by a body when the local signallers had said so. But taking an over literal interpretation of my suggestion that cars and coaches can divert around problems makes me a blood sucking monster.
Once a railway man
It used to be relief signallers such as me who carried out handsigalling and pilotman duties.
Comment by Longrider — April 16, 2011 @ 22:06
And there I think we have it, a belief in the benefits of the central control of the travelling public, the belief that a signaller's say so turns the morbid into the practical, the unreasoned fury at any insult of the railway system. Once a railway man, always a railway man.
Posted by The Englishman at 8:05 PM
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April 19, 2011
1:37 is all you need to get your message over
I'm not going to try to teach a pig to sing. It wastes your time and annoys the pig.
I'm up to my eyeballs in "stuff", some good, some really shitty.
But the sun is shining.
I still hope to make it to the ASI Blogger Bash - depending on how the "stuff" turns out over the next couple of days.
I'm off out to break rocks.
Posted by The Englishman at 6:58 AM
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April 15, 2011
Friday Night is Music Night (The Birth Pains Of Punk Edition)
Posted by The Englishman at 4:53 PM
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April 9, 2011
Friday Night Is Music Night (H-Bomb Edition)
H-Bomb Ferguson (May 9, 1929 – November 26, 2006) was an American jump blues singer from Cincinnati, Ohio. He was an early pioneer of the rock and roll sound of the mid 1950s, featuring driving rhythm, intensely shouted vocals, honking tenor saxophone solos, and outlandish personal appearance.
This footage was filmed a month prior to his death. This was the last footage and recording of him prior to his passing.
Posted by The Englishman at 5:44 PM
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April 1, 2011
Friday Night is Music Night (Mojo Edition)
Posted by The Englishman at 5:18 PM
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Top Viral Video of 1911
Posted by The Englishman at 2:41 PM
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Make 10% on your money over the weekend
Royal Mail has announced its annual stamp price rises which will take effect from 4 April 2011
The price of First and Second class stamps for standard items weighing up to 100g will rise by 5p to 46p and 4p to 36p respectively.
The cost of a Large Letter stamp will rise by 9p to 75p for First Class items and 7p to 58p for Second Class mail.
BUY STAMPS TODAY - they don't have a value on them so 1st class stamps bought today will still be 1st class stamps next week.
Posted by The Englishman at 9:02 AM
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March 27, 2011
Yoof of Today
Posted by The Englishman at 10:58 AM
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Spring Back
Remember you can never hold back spring.
Posted by The Englishman at 10:32 AM
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March 25, 2011
Friday Night is Music Night (Fujiyama Edition)
Original:
Posted by The Englishman at 5:19 PM
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March 22, 2011
Pinetop Repost from Last Year
Pinetop Perkins - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pinetop Perkins (born Joseph William Perkins, July 7, 1913) is an American Blues musician. Perkins, whose specialty is the piano, currently shares the distinction with one of his lifelong friends, David Honeyboy Edwards, as being the eldest living Delta blues performers who continue to tour and perform from the past century...
UPDATE: Pinetop Perkins died on March 21 aged 97
David Honeyboy Edwards - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
David "Honeyboy" Edwards (born June 28, 1915) is a Delta blues guitarist and singer from the American South.
Posted by The Englishman at 10:19 PM
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March 19, 2011
Saturday Morning Song Request
Posted by The Englishman at 7:58 AM
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March 18, 2011
Friday Night is Music Night (Bedroom Punk Edition)
Say three Hail Marys and don't think those thoughts again.
Posted by The Englishman at 6:50 PM
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March 16, 2011
Celebrate The Decline And Fall
Title: Blogging: Yesterday's news?
Speakers: Tim Montgomerie (ConHome), Douglas Carswell MP (TalkCarswell.com) and Harry Cole (Guido Fawkes blogger)
Date: 21st April 2011
Time: 6.30pm to 8.30pm
Location: The Emmanuel Centre, Marsham Street, SW1P 3DW
RSVP: events@adamsmith.org
Tim Montgomerie, the editor of ConservativeHome, will be joined by blogger and MP for Clacton, Douglas Carswell, and former ToryBear and current news editor of order-order.com, Harry Cole. In the light of the decline of centre-right bloggers and growth of mainstream media blogs they will discussing the future of the blogosphere.
Blogging, it was fun whilst it lasted, I suppose this is the official wake for it.
Posted by The Englishman at 7:57 AM
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March 13, 2011
As Happy As A Cardiff Pizzeria
Two fantastic finishes yesterday - we don't want any of that nonsense today - just regular slotting of points away against the Sweaties as I sup my ale in the pub, please.
Posted by The Englishman at 9:24 AM
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March 11, 2011
Friday Night is Music Night (Classy Edition)
Posted by The Englishman at 4:32 PM
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March 10, 2011
What A Complete And Utter Banker
Fred Goodwin gets superinjunction to stop him being called a banker
How was I meant to know he didn't like being called an onanist with other people's money, luckily a slip of the tongue saved me.
Fred Goodwin gets superinjunction to stop him being called a banker
Posted by The Englishman at 9:07 PM
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March 8, 2011
It's Not About Paul - Rock Bottom
On Amazon - Rock Bottom: A Fanchild's Revenge
Or send an email to sales@ragabondpress.com to cut out the middlemen
Posted by The Englishman at 8:24 AM
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March 7, 2011
An English Rajah - RIP
Anthony Brooke - Telegraph
Anthony Brooke, who died on March 2 aged 98, was heir to the throne of Sarawak and briefly ruled the romantic jungle kingdom on Borneo with the powers of the last White Rajah.
Anthony Walter Dayrell Brooke, always known in his family as Peter, was born on December 10 1912, the fourth child and only son of Bertram and his wife Gladys, the only daughter of Sir Walter Palmer, first and last Baronet – and thus heiress to a sizeable slice of the Huntley & Palmer biscuit fortune.
Anthony's mother was a restless exhibitionist who went through a number of religious conversions. In 1932 she converted to Islam while on a flight from Croydon to Paris, after which she went by the name of Khair-ul-Nissa (Fairest of Women).
She separated from her more retiring husband when Anthony was four but, having produced the longed-for son, remained in favour with her father-in-law, who ordered a 21-gun salute at Kuching when Anthony was born....
His life was beyond the imagination of any fiction writer, do read the whole obit and mourn a type we won't see again.
Posted by The Englishman at 6:57 AM
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March 4, 2011
Friday Night is Music Night (Revolution Edition)
Posted by The Englishman at 4:49 PM
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March 3, 2011
Princess on Expenses
Going through my receipts for ironmongery for my accounts I found this one. I don't remember buying her but it looks like I got a decent discount. I hope she is tax deductible.
Posted by The Englishman at 2:28 PM
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February 26, 2011
Local Hero
Car clamp nightmare (From Salisbury Journal)
A YOUNG carer from Salisbury took a stand against a wheel clamper in an ordeal lasting 30 hours.
Jessica Davey, 22, barricaded herself in her car outside her home at Wesley Court, Harnham, after her vehicle was clamped in the early hours of Monday morning â despite displaying a valid parking permit.
She was worried her Renault Clio would be towed away and she wouldn't be able to afford to get it back.
For much of the time she was sitting in her car, Miss Davey, who works at Winterbourne Care Home, in London Road, was being watched by clamper Anthony Brindley who was demanding £110 to take the clamp off.
Wear the buggers down.
Posted by The Englishman at 4:29 PM
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February 21, 2011
Il nʾy a pas de héros pour son valet-de-chambre
Porter leaves St John's after 66 years - The Oxford Student
St John’s has bid farewell to its longest-serving member of staff after 66 years on the job: longer than the Queen has been on the throne.
Peter Cox joined the College as an under-scout in 1945, aged 15, starting immediately after VE day.
Cox saw a lot of famous faces during his time at St John’s, and was able to reel off a list of names of figures as diverse as Francisco Franco, Robert Graves and Princess Margaret.
“One so-called famous person, who I never really had anything to do with, was Tony Blair”, Cox said. “All I know was that he was a long-haired git who played the guitar. But I wouldn’t say he was dreadfully famous.”
I remember him well, I hope he doesn't me.
Posted by The Englishman at 8:07 AM
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February 18, 2011
Friday Night is Music Night (Best of Belgium Edition)
And no Plastique to be seen anywhere.
Posted by The Englishman at 6:28 PM
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February 15, 2011
Rock Bottom - How To Get It
There have been problems with ordering Geoff Baker's book Rock Bottom through Amazon so here is the link that works: Rock Bottom - Get it Direct
Or the easiest way to order Rock Bottom is to send your order by email to sales@ragabondpress.com and they will send back a paypal link.
If you ask nicely you may get a signed copy.
(Oh and no that isn't the cover - I didn't have a jpg of it so I found a nice seaside picture to go with the theme of the book.)
Posted by The Englishman at 8:44 PM
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February 14, 2011
Rock Bottom - Out Today - Ideal Valentine Gift
BEATLES EX-PR PUBLISHES RUDE ROCK ‘N’ WOE BOOK
After a six-year struggle to get it into print, Geoff Baker - former PR to Paul McCartney, The Beatles and Oasis - is finally publishing his rude, racy and irreverent novel about the music industry.
Rock Bottom is Baker’s black-humored but fond satire which pokes a tongue behind the scenes and between the sheets at almost every aspect of the record business.
The first, limited edition of 1,000 copies will be available on Amazon from February 14th, priced £7.99. It will be published by Ragabond Press, a micro publisher that Baker set up with another former journalist, Jill Newton, after the UK’s mainstream publishers refused to touch his book.
Baker says Rock Bottom is ‘a work of complete and utter fiction’. The 400-page paperback romps and ruts through the conjoined stories of a flagging rock star, his demented PR and a blackmailing fan who threatens to ruin the pop idol’s reputation by unmasking a long-hidden sexual secret.
‘The star, Birmingham-born genius Ian Taylor, is not remotely based on anyone I’ve known,’ said Baker, ‘I made him up and he is as fictional as Henry the Horse who dances the waltz.’
Instead of writing about actual people I’ve worked with, it was more interesting for me to create fictional types of that rock world – the musicians, managers, record company execs – and to have a laugh at what fame can do to people and how it can disastrously affect those who work around the famous.
‘But what was of most interest to me was to make the fan the central character of the book; the fans’ feelings are often overlooked in the music game so I made the fan the heroine for a change.
‘Rock Bottom is basically a celebrity love story, but it’s quite sad in parts – rock ‘n woe, we call it. It is also the flipside of The X-Factor, revealing the madness and misery of making it big, so in some ways it’s a cautionary tale for those who long to see their name in lights.
‘The book is also rather rude. We were thinking of having a Parental Advisory sticker on it as the vernacular of the business is certainly not kids’ stuff and as a word search revealed there are 864 f-words in the book those who dislike bad language might be better off reading Trainspotting instead.’
Although Ian Taylor’s genius but mercurial temperament was drawn from Baker’s imagination,
he admits that various journalist characters who play supporting roles in the lurid drama were partly inspired by old pals from his newspaper days on Fleet Street.
‘I’ll be interested to see if any mates from the hack pack that I used to run with recognize anything of themselves in the book,’ said Baker, 54, ‘A number of them are editors now.’
It has taken Baker more than six years to publish his novel.
‘I wrote the original story in three months, back in 2004. I got a leading literary agent and he enthusiastically sent the manuscript to every major publisher – but none of them would touch it with a bargepole. Four years of rewrites followed, my funds ran out and if it hadn’t been for the support and belief of my wife Amanda throughout it all, I’d be rotting in debtor’s prison.’
‘Pissed off but unbowed’, Baker and Newton – an old Lyme Regis school pal - formed their own micro publishing company, Ragabond Press.
‘Jill and I re-met by chance after having not seen each other for more than 35 years. We talked about the book and realized that as she was trained as an editor and a sub and I was trained as a hack, maybe we could combine our skills for the book’ said Baker.
‘So between us we took on every aspect of getting a book done – editing, proofing, type-setting, layout, design, photography, distribution, marketing, PR, the lot.’
Now Ragabond Press, which is based in Newton and Baker’s home town of Lyme Regis, has seven self-penned books in production and is considering publishing other writers.
‘Rock Bottom comes out on Amazon on February 14 and we’re going to take several months to slowly plug it, just like I used to with a rock album,’ said Baker, whose next project is Ragabond Press’s The Beatles Fanthology, the story of the Fab Four told through the memories and stories of Beatles fans.
Or send an email to sales@ragabondpress.com to cut out the middlemen.
I haven't read it all yet, but what I have is funny, far more touching than I expected, insightful and real page turner. The plot canters along and you want to keep up and know what happens next.
Get a copy, you'll enjoy it.
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February 12, 2011
Happy Darwin Day - And 21st To Son No.2
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February 11, 2011
Friday Night is Music Night (Sensible Shoes Edition)
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February 7, 2011
Labour Peer's Jungle Drums
House of Commons - Treasury - Minutes of Evidence
Chairman (Mr John McFall): On that close engagement, if we refer to the Governor's appearance before the Committee two weeks ago today, Wednesday 24 June, I said to him: "If we believe the jungle drums, Governor, the White Paper could be out next week, but you have been consulted on that, have you not?"
John McFall is now Baron McFall of Alcluith and aged 66.
Is he a racist in need of diversity training for using the phrase "Jungle Drums" without apology, or does such vilification only happen to nice old ladies who give their time and expertise to The Big Society? Though if she has any sense she won't bother to again.
Posted by The Englishman at 5:45 PM
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I hear the sound of distant drums....
Health watchdog chief in racism row over 'jungle drums' phrase - Telegraph
The affair began at a meeting of the Wiltshire Involvement Network (WIN), a statutory, independent health watchdog, at a Scout headquarters at Potterne Wick, Devizes.
Members were discussing how gossip can spread when Anna Farquhar, the 70-year-old chairman, said: "You cannot help the jungle drums."
Sonia Carr, a member of the Wiltshire Racial Equality Council who was sitting in the public gallery observing the meeting, intervened to say that a racist term had been used.
Mrs Farquhar said she did not think the remark was racially offensive, but said she was sorry and pressed ahead with the meeting.
Yet Mrs Carr, 50, submitted an official complaint to Wiltshire council – which launched an investigation, produced a 10-page report upholding the complaint, and barred all watchdog members from council premises and meetings.
Mrs Carr said in her complaint that the apology was inadequate, that senior watchdog figures had failed to challenge the "jungle drums" remark, and that watchdog members did not understand "equality and diversity issues".
She is understood to want a full apology and all members of the network to have diversity training.
Mrs Farquhar, from Devizes, told The Sunday Telegraph that she believed "jungle drums" was "a common expression similar to 'grapevine' or 'rumour mill'", and this was the meaning intended.
Phil Matthews, WIN's vice-chairman and a member of the local Coalition Against Racism, said: "It was an innocent comment, a widely used phrase and certainly nothing that should have led to a formal complaint."
"I am outraged at how we have been treated. It's the worst kind of political correctness. Anna's remark was nothing to do with race.
"You might expect this from loony Left councils in the big cities, but you don't expect it in the Tory shires.
I have been unable to unearth how much the Salisbury Coalition Against Racism costs the local taxpayer but I have a feeling it is too much....
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February 4, 2011
Tonight I Will Be Mainly Watching The Game At The Pub
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February 3, 2011
Tonight I Have Mainly Been Eating Ham Cooked in Ginger Beer
I have previously confessed; An Englishman's Castle: Nigella's urges have made me into white trash but when a man is tired of Nigella what does he do to ginger up his life?
Cook the ham in Ginger Beer instead.
Full fat ginger beer with sugars, not sweeteners.
If needed it can be diluted to ensure it covers a ham in a pan.
Boil for the requisite time.
When cooked take out and let cool for ten minutes or so, glaze fat with simple mix, golden syrup with mixed spice or mustard/honey/cloves and bake for twenty minutes to get it golden.
Lovely hot and great cold, just a touch of ginger in the meat, and the fat absorbs all the flavours to tingle your tongue.
Posted by The Englishman at 6:43 PM
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January 23, 2011
In which I learn to cook an egg
Never too late to learn - frying an egg, just before the end, teaspoon of water in pan, cover pan with lid, steam cooks the top of egg to perfection. No need to do any of that splashing the fat about or turning it over. If only I had learnt this thirty years ago.
Posted by The Englishman at 8:08 AM
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January 22, 2011
Brideshead Revisted
Sponsor pulls out of Oxford and Cambridge skiing trip after students strip off in the snow - Telegraph
But the conclusion of this year's Varsity trip to the Alps descended to such levels of debauchery, one of the event's chief sponsors has vowed never to get involved again.
The antics of the students has appalled management at Scott Dunn, the up market travel firm which is now distancing itself from the event faster than a downhill skier on a black run.
In the challenge "smashing an egg in the most creative manner possible", the winners from St Anne's College, Oxford – whose alumni include Edwina Currie, Libby Purves and Mary Archer – excelled again....
Andrew Dunn of Scott Dunn: my first million - MoneyWeek Andrew Dunn spent more time organising parties than studying while at Oxford Polytechnic....
Dear old Oxford Poly - I 'm sure it has changed its name now but this story is just too delicious for an West Cowley College man not to collapse with laughter about. Thank God that our ancient institutions can still shock the prissy polytechnic Daily Mail readers.
Posted by The Englishman at 10:43 PM
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January 21, 2011
Friday Night is Music Night (Blues Brothers Edition)
One of these bands will be playing in the evening of the 23rd July, after the Chilli Cook-off, at my birthday party. Regulars please drop me a line if you would like to come along.
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January 16, 2011
July 23rd - Date for your diary
Posted by The Englishman at 4:48 PM
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January 14, 2011
Friday Night is Music Night (Still Breathing Edition)
Much underrated band, only famed for Nellie, check out their other videos.
Posted by The Englishman at 4:57 PM
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January 13, 2011
Keep Up At The Back
BBC weatherman tries to clear Met Office but digs deeper hole ｫ Autonomous Mind continues the story.
See also An Englishman's Castle: The Met Office And The Cabinet - Missing The Bloody Point
Posted by The Englishman at 6:46 AM
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January 10, 2011
Whenever I Hear The Word Culture I Reach For My Browning
+ Catching up from a trip to Oxford - the renewed Ashmolean and Pitt Rivers Museums are wonderful (throw in the Natural History as a bonus), and I'm all cultured out.
Lunch at the Ashmolean Resturant looking out over the spires in the sunshine and all was pretty well with the world.
The picture is from the reopened top floor of the Pitt Rivers; points for naming them.
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January 7, 2011
Friday Night is Music Night (That'll Do Edition)
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December 31, 2010
Friday Night is Music Night (New Year's Eve Edition)
With my plaidophobia tonight I am going for the early gargle and home to be under the eiderdown before it turns into amateur night at the pub.
Have a good one.
Posted by The Englishman at 2:24 PM
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December 26, 2010
Diet Tips For Boxing Day
The Times
It was only a few weeks ago that Blumenthal joined Harold McGee for a blowout in San Sebastián, Spain. "Once a year we have these long weekend excursions â three to four full-length meals a day, plus wine and cocktails," says McGee, grinning.
This not only confirms his status as a gastro rock star, but also surely a world authority on how to recover from the kind of overindulgence that most of us inflict on ourselves at this time of year. Any tips? "Well, Hess and I try to run between meals when we're away," he reveals. "The first 15 minutes are hell, especially after a bottle of wine or two. It's not so bad after that."
Telegraph
My French friends tell me of a new phrase in Parisian slang: to "do a Depardieu". "Come the 26th, she's doing a Depardieu," they'll say of a friend planning to shed the Christmas pounds, after the Obelix-shaped French actor lost three stone during a 10-day water-only fast.
Of course, Depardieu has always been a fan of a liquid diet. When I interviewed him about his wine-making for The Spectator years ago, and asked whether he was a white or a red man, the tetchy actor replied: "Well, obviously whites are better in the mornings, but from lunchtime onwards I tend to prefer reds."
As today is the day for our big meal I will take the latter tip to heart.
Posted by The Englishman at 7:18 AM
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December 25, 2010
Happy Christmas From My Bunker
Yes, it is on my land and I own it, one day it may come in useful....
Posted by The Englishman at 9:55 AM
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December 24, 2010
Friday Night is Music Night (Christmas Eve Edition)
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December 23, 2010
Geeky Fun at Christmas
Science News / The Mathematical Lives Of Plants
The seeds of a sunflower, the spines of a cactus, and the bracts of a pine cone all grow in whirling spiral patterns. Remarkable for their complexity and beauty, they also show consistent mathematical patterns that scientists have been striving to understand.
A surprising number of plants have spiral patterns in which each leaf, seed, or other structure follows the next at a particular angle called the golden angle. The golden angle is about 137.5. Two radii of a circle C form the golden angle if they divide the circle into two areas A and B so that A/B = B/C.
The golden angle is closely related to the golden ratio, which the ancient Greeks studied extensively and some have believed to have divine, aesthetic or mystical properties.
Plants with spiral patterns related to the golden angle also display another curious mathematical property. The seeds of a flower head form interlocking spirals in both clockwise and counterclockwise directions. The number of clockwise spirals differs from the number of counterclockwise spirals, and these two numbers are called the plant's parastichy numbers (pronounced pi-RAS-tik-ee or PEHR-us-tik-ee).
These numbers have a remarkable consistency. They are almost always two consecutive Fibonacci numbers, which are another one of nature's mathematical favorites. The Fibonacci numbers form the sequence 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21 . . . , in which each number is the sum of the previous two.
The Fibonacci numbers tend to crop up wherever the golden ratio appears, because the ratio between two consecutive Fibonacci numbers happens to be close to the golden ratio. The larger the two Fibonacci numbers, the closer their ratio to the golden ratio. But this relationship doesn't fully explain why parastichy numbers end up being consecutive Fibonacci numbers.
Scientists have puzzled over this pattern of plant growth for hundreds of years....
As you struggle to engage in the tedium of Christmas behold the sprout stalk or the festive pine cones and observe and wonder, let others debate Vince, Dave and Nick, let your mind be on higher things.
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My Blackberry Is Not Working
Posted by The Englishman at 7:41 AM
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December 20, 2010
The Blood Red Moon Will Be In The Sky
United Kingdom - Europe | 2010 Lunar Eclipse viewing times and information
Time to observe for most of time zone:
05:29am - 08:53am (GMT)
On: December 21
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December 17, 2010
Friday Night is Music Night (Blake Remembered Edition)
Posted by The Englishman at 3:52 PM
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December 15, 2010
Guido Behind The Wall
WikiLeaks hackers are aiming at the wrong targets | The Times
Guido Fawkes
The hacktivists would be better employed copying and distributing WikiLeaks releases to countries that do not allow their press the freedom to publish government secrets. They should be circumventing the electronic walls that prevent citizens from knowing the truth....
Sorry the rest of this article is hidden behind an electronic pay wall...
Posted by The Englishman at 6:58 AM
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December 13, 2010
Sadly Missed
The death of Tom Walkinshaw got me thinking about this little beauty of an XJRS I used to own - it was only a three speed automatic, but with a V12 6 litre engine, hand built by TWR in Abingdon, that was enough.
www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/noframes/9794.shtml seems not to approve of the engine but it was sheer joy late at night on the motorway holding her in second until about 90mph and then dropping into third and pressing the loud pedal, which would punch you back into the seat, piss off absolutely any nearby boy racer and send the fuel gauge into free-fall.
But the babyseat wouldn't fit so it was sold...
Posted by The Englishman at 9:58 PM
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I'm dreaming
White Christmas hope
Last minute shopping and visits to relatives could be wrecked by snow.
Oh yes, that is my hope. I love having family visit me but not having to venture out to them or the shops is my fervent hope. Though whether that is what the writer meant I doubt.
Posted by The Englishman at 6:51 AM
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December 12, 2010
Today I have been mainly pasting the cake.
Marzipan or Almond Paste?
The late sainted Mrs Grigson's English Food
As the range of recipes is so wide it may be helpful to put down the one I use.
(Please excuse the use of grammes but I find it easier to do things in packet sizes now and ground almonds come in 200g packets.)
Almond Paste or Marzipan Recipe - adapted from Jane Grigson400g Ground Almonds
250g Icing sugar
One beaten egg
Couple of tablespoons lemon juice (add to get consistency right)
Mix and mash it all together and roll out. You will not buy better, (if your tooth is sweet add more sugar).
To stick it to the Christmas Cake they always call for Apricot Jam - as I never have the stuff I drain off the fruit juice from the kids' can of Apricot Halves, boil it with a good amount of sugar and in five minutes you will have a lovely apricot glue.
Posted by The Englishman at 2:39 PM
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December 10, 2010
Friday Night is Music Night (Don't Take Five Edition)
Nice - Happy Birthday
Posted by The Englishman at 4:35 PM
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November 28, 2010
Boo to the old Coll...
A billion people will lose their homes due to climate change, says report | Environment | The Observer.... a climate expert at Oxford University,......
When I was up amongst the dreaming perspires such tosh would have had short shrift in the science department, but to be fair such expertise would have been at home in the philosophy park. Maybe that is where such nonsense has its home.
Posted by The Englishman at 3:31 PM
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Hurrah for the old skool!
A product of my old alma mater, bugger, when I was there the computer lessons consisted of punching holes in number cards and posting them off to be processed I think it took a whole term to get to "Hello World". I was convinced this computing lark would never catch on and concentrated on pottery.....
Posted by The Englishman at 3:27 PM
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November 26, 2010
Friday Night is Music Night (Dead End Edition)
Posted by The Englishman at 5:45 PM
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November 21, 2010
Today I'm Mainly Preparing The Mincemeat
An Englishman's Castle: Recipe of the Day - Traditional Mincemeat
200g Beef Suet
400g Mixed Fruit with peel
100g of Beef steak (raw minced)
200g of diced cooking apple
bit of nutmeg, squeeze of lemon, some lemon zest.
A large splash of brandy.
Mix them all together, squeeze into a sealable jar and leave for at least a couple of weeks; make it now for Christmas and you will be mouthing my name in thanks as you eat the best Mince Pies ever, and cursing as you will never be able to face a shop bought one ever again.
Posted by The Englishman at 9:03 AM
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November 19, 2010
Friday Night is Music Night (Dirty Old Town Edition)
There is many a beggar in Dublin singing this tonight.
Posted by The Englishman at 5:15 PM
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November 18, 2010
National Ammo Day
National Ammo Day
The Ammo Day website is no longer active, but the Ammo Day mission continues: Buy 100 rounds of Ammo (or equivalent in reloading supplies) every November 19 (or the week surrounding it).
I tried, I went into a large gun shop in Salisbury waving my ticket;
"I want a couple of boxes of .38..."
"Sorry Sir"
"Anything in .357?"
"No, we haven't sold either of those for ages, no call for them, we
might be able to get some in for you....."
Sorry Kim, I tried, I guess you don't have the same problem in Texas.
Posted by The Englishman at 4:19 PM
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November 12, 2010
Friday Night is Music Night (Weather Forecast Edition)
Well everyone else has covered it...
Posted by The Englishman at 7:04 PM
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November 10, 2010
The Englishman's Law of Art
BBC News - Image of teenage girl hunting wins photography prize
A picture of a teenager from Alabama on her first hunting trip to South Africa has won this year's Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize
The £12,000 award was presented to photographer David Chancellor for his portrait, entitled Huntress with Buck.
Now that is art, I don't know much about pictures but it seems the Traditional Law of Art is that a decent one has a bit of landscape, pretty girl, horses, hounds or dogs and probably a dead animal in it.
I know all the ones I have do.
Posted by The Englishman at 7:05 AM
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November 9, 2010
My Sort of Cookery Book
The Guardian reviews a cookery book entitled How to Feed a Man written by someone called Stasha Butterfly
......feature women nibbling lettuce and men hacking apart still-moving cows. And why would anyone want to cook from a book like that?
And why would anyone want a cookery book that suggested anything else?
Posted by The Englishman at 7:18 AM
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November 8, 2010
Shooting Guardian Journalist
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November 5, 2010
Friday Night is Music Night (Tonight We Sing The Old Songs Jah Edition)
Posted by The Englishman at 7:07 PM
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Remember, Remember...
Wedding Anniversary - Happies to Mrs E!
Bitter sweet loss - After ten years, the oldest Englishette no longer qualifies for a Blue Badge, so no more free parking - she no longer qualifies not because of some tightening of the rules but because she is better.
A pint or two tonight is called for I think.
Hum along....
Posted by The Englishman at 7:05 AM
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November 3, 2010
The Moving Finger writes, and having writ, Moves on
"It all gets a bit Groundhog Day-ish; when you start to scour the news websites with not a clue what to post about, but with a conviction that you must, must write something, you know things aren't quite right."
And there's certainly something in that. If you're not careful, blogging can end up eroding your free time to the point where you can't switch off, having a deleterious effect on your relationships and real life. But there's more to it than that, I suspect. Without New Labour providing regular cannon fodder to stoke up the libertarian mindset, I daresay it's harder to get worked up with the coalition promising a smaller state and clamping down on the scroungers. How can you get angry at people doing what you want?
Many libertarian bloggers were the first in the field, they had been doing it too long, they moved on as their lives changed and they got bored of saying the same things over again. The young pups don't start those sort of blogs now. They rant in the comment sections of newspapers, which weren't there five years ago. They tweet and facebook, post youtube videos. They are harder to spot but there are more of them and they are more effective.
But out in the swamp a few old dinosaurs still roar.
Posted by The Englishman at 7:54 AM
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October 31, 2010
Why Can't a Woman Be More Like a Man?
Stephen Fry angers feminists by claiming women do not enjoy sex - Telegraph
He said: "If women liked sex as much as men, there would be straight cruising areas in the way there are gay cruising areas. Women would go and hang around in churchyards thinking: 'God, I've got to get my f------- rocks off', or they'd go to Hampstead Heath and meet strangers to shag behind a bush.
“It doesn't happen. Why? Because the only women you can have sex with like that wish to be paid for it."
He continued: "I feel sorry for straight men. The only reason women will have sex with them is that sex is the price they are willing to pay for a relationship with a man, which is what they want.
“Of course, a lot of women will deny this and say, 'Oh no, but I love sex, I love it!' But do they go around having it the way that gay men do?"
Cue outrage; But he is talking about having sex for just for having it. Not for having sex, good, bad or indifferent, where a whole raft of other stuff is including in the reasoning for having it. And that is where gays are lucky, I presume. Lots of sex without strings. It is almost tempting...
Posted by The Englishman at 5:08 PM
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October 30, 2010
Don't Forget のめる
It's quiet out there for this time of the morning...
Posted by The Englishman at 9:55 PM
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October 29, 2010
Friday Night is Music Night (Another Night To Cry Edition)
Posted by The Englishman at 6:01 PM
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October 26, 2010
It's what he would have wanted.
Giant red stag Exmoor Emperor shot dead | UK news | guardian.co.uk
Venison burger for tea tonight - with roast sweet potato and a bottle of robust Rioja. Yum.
Posted by The Englishman at 7:18 PM
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October 22, 2010
Friday Night is Music Night (Does it Right Edition)
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October 21, 2010
My Favourite Hooker Video - I was there!
As I sip a large tot of Nelson's Blood I am taken back to a grand England confrontation, we had fantastic seats on the half way line, the ones in front of Sir Bobby Charlton's, so the camera view was what I saw.
And when the game started and Lomu was given the ball not twenty yards away from me, happy I was to be there that day.
It changed the game, before this outing in a soccer stadium Twickenham was a holy ground, with a military band and reverential silence. All the pre match razz-ma-tazz started here, the soccer boy s didn't know this wasn't what was meant to be put on, and the old buffers realised the crowd quite liked it.
Posted by The Englishman at 5:35 PM
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Trafalgar Day
A small chest at The Castle has these handles, "Sacr'd to Nelson - Trafalgar" - probably just a cheap souvenir 200 years ago but rather nice now.
Posted by The Englishman at 5:03 PM
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October 15, 2010
Friday Night is Music Night (5-0 Edition)
Posted by The Englishman at 6:55 PM
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October 14, 2010
Cats Action Trust N&W Wiltshire - Condescending Cunts
No cat for you: you're disabled - Live your potential
I get a phone call from the administrator.
"I've got some bad news. The fosterers of the two cats have been talking and they have decided you cannot have a cat. You won't be able to change its litter tray".
I'm shocked. "None of you have ever met me. How do you know what I can or cannot do?"
"I'm sorry. Life must be hard with your condition and I don't want to make it any worse. Do you have a carer?"
I'm getting angry now. "Not that it's any of your business, but no, I don't have a carer. I live alone and independently"
"Well, you won't be able to catch the cat if it escapes. You might run over it with your wheels. And you didn't tell me that you were a wheelchair user when we first spoke. You should have told me"
Posted by The Englishman at 3:47 PM
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October 13, 2010
Your Transitive Telegraph
Police to train gamekeepers
Police are to be trained by gamekeepers
The sub heading is correct as it is plod what is to be trained. Don't they have any English sub-editors?
(The photo is from last year in what was my field - before they arrested the man with the gun they came looking for me. I had a bit of a tense conversation with some tooled up men in black persuading them I knew nothing.)
Posted by The Englishman at 11:47 AM
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Sticks and Stones
Auntie bans 'humiliating' humour - Scotsman.com News
Under new guidelines, comedians and BBC staff will be prohibited from entertaining audiences with "unduly intimidatory, humiliating, intrusive, aggressive or derogatory remarks for the purposes of entertainment". The guidelines state: "This does not mean preventing comedy or jokes about people in the public eye, but simply that such comments and their tone are proportionate to their target." The dead, and historical figures, remain fair game.
How lucky we are that the guidelines don't apply to the blogosphere - yet.
Posted by The Englishman at 6:14 AM
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Die, you bastard, die!
John Simpson says BBC news was never left wing - Telegraph
"Thirty years ago I was the BBC political editor and there was absolutely nothing either left wing or right wing about our coverage. We were as straight as a dye then and I think it is absolutely as straight as a dye now.
It is "die", the singular of dice, not dye -
- The OED puts it under the “gaming cube” sense of die”
(f) In comparisons: as smooth, true, straight as a die.
...
f. 1530 PALSGR. 629 Make this borde as smothe as a dyce, comme vng dez. 1600 HAKLUYT Voy. (1810) III. 256 Goodly fields..as plaine and smoothe as any die. c1710 C. FIENNES Diary (1888) 151 Ye tide was out all upon the sands at Least a mile, wch was as smooth as a Die. a1732 GAY Songs & Ball., New Song on New Similies, You’ll know me truer than a die. 1877 SPRY Cruise Challenger xiii. (ed. 7) 226 Arums climbing fifty feet up large trees as straight as a die.
(I hesitate to blame John Simpson as he may be the victim of a cloth eared transpositor - and his touching naïveté is a wonder to be pointed and marvelled at in this age of lost innocence).
Posted by The Englishman at 12:20 AM
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October 11, 2010
Anything Once
A late lunchtime sandwich, what to have?
Oak-smoked peanut butter from some welsh hippies and some fresh homemade Damson jam were both on the counter.
At my advanced age I realised I had never tried our colonial friends' favourite of "Jelly" and Peanut Butter as a mixed filling.
As we say down here, a faintheart never fucked a little pig, so I tried it.
Remarkably good.
I think that only now leaves morris dancing not to be tried.
Posted by The Englishman at 2:10 PM
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October 8, 2010
Friday Night is Music Night (Sugar Pie Edition)
Rock Me Baby - Sugar Pie Desanto. England 1964.
At a live street concert in San Francisco on August 7th, 2007.
Posted by The Englishman at 4:13 PM
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October 1, 2010
Friday Night is Music Night (Licks Edition)
He's turned into a fine guitar player but I hate his singing, shut up and just play!
Posted by The Englishman at 4:47 PM
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September 24, 2010
Friday Night is Music Night (Lonesome Road Edition)
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Sweet Memories
Glam rock bottom: why did it go so sour for Sweet? | Music | The Guardian
Posted by The Englishman at 6:55 AM
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September 21, 2010
C for Cumming - A Spunky Idea For A Bond Film
In June 1915 Mansfield Cumming, the first chief (or C) of the SIS was "making enquiries for invisible inks at the London University".....that the best invisible ink is semen", which did not react to the main methods of detection. Furthermore it had the advantage of being readily available.
A member of staff close to "C", Frank Stagg, said that he would never forget his bosses' delight when the Deputy Chief Censor said one day that one of his staff had found out that "semen would not react to iodine vapour".
Stagg noted that "we thought we had solved a great problem".
However, the discovery also led to some further problems, with the agent who had identified the novel use having to be moved from his department after becoming the butt of jokes.
In addition, at least one agent had to be reminded to use only fresh supplies of the 'ink' when correspondents began noticing an unusual smell.
Damned awkward for female spies though, having to spit into an inkwell....
Posted by The Englishman at 9:34 PM
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September 20, 2010
Damian Thompson - Have you got the right word?
Catholic Church is 'systemically paedophile' says Tory MEP – Telegraph Blogs
Damian Thompson has got in a huge huff over a blog post by Roger Helmer MEP in which he says: "It would not be fair to describe the Church as “institutionally paedophile”. So far as I know it has no rules or systems designed to support or promote paedophilia. But I think it would be perfectly fair to describe it as systemically paedophile."
I have a terrible feeling that the whole row is over a misunderstanding between systematically and systemically. The latter means "of a system", "affecting the entire organism or bodily system", and would seem to be fair criticism. And if it is not Damien doesn't attempt to argue why it isn't, he just demands Roger's head on a plate.
Posted by The Englishman at 2:32 PM
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September 17, 2010
Friday Night is Music Night (Moonshine Edition)
Posted by The Englishman at 5:59 PM
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September 10, 2010
Friday Night is Music Night (Here's One I Made Earlier Edition)
Down Shep!
Posted by The Englishman at 4:44 PM
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September 4, 2010
I'm a Firestarter
Busy week coming up selling and demonstrating unbreakable cords and laces so if I'm not here please excuse me...
Posted by The Englishman at 11:57 AM
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September 3, 2010
Friday Night is Music Night (Swellegant Edition)
Posted by The Englishman at 4:26 PM
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September 2, 2010
Pace Iain - An Excellent Day For Political Blogging
Iain Dale thinks it a "A Bleak Day For Political Blogging", I disagree, I see it as an excellent ranging shot across the bows of politicians. That the innocent have been caught in the crossfire is regrettable but is a risk that goes with the territory they chose to occupy, and the traditional English way of doing things...
En causant ainsi ils abordèrent à Portsmouth; une multitude de peuple couvrait le rivage, et regardait attentivement un assez gros homme qui était à genoux, les yeux bandés, sur le tillac d'un des vaisseaux de la flotte; quatre soldats, postés vis-à-vis de cet homme, lui tirèrent chacun trois balles dans le crâne, le plus paisiblement du monde; et toute l'assemblée s'en retourna extrêmement satisfaite. Qu'est-ce donc que tout ceci ? dit Candide; et quel démon exerce partout son empire ? Il demanda qui était ce gros homme qu'on venait de tuer en cérémonie. C'est un amiral, lui répondit-on. Et pourquoi tuer cet amiral ? C'est, lui dit-on, parcequ'il n'a pas fait tuer assez de monde; il a livré un combat à un amiral français, et on a trouvé qu'il n'était pas assez près de lui. Mais, dit Candide, l'amiral français était aussi loin de l'amiral anglais que celui-ci l'était de l'autre ! Cela est incontestable, lui répliqua-t-on; mais dans ce pays-ci il est bon de tuer de temps en temps un amiral pour encourager les autres.
Posted by The Englishman at 2:55 AM
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August 27, 2010
Friday Night is Music Night (Old Delta Blues Edition)
Pinetop Perkins - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Pinetop Perkins (born Joseph William Perkins, July 7, 1913) is an American Blues musician. Perkins, whose specialty is the piano, currently shares the distinction with one of his lifelong friends, David Honeyboy Edwards, as being the eldest living Delta blues performers who continue to tour and perform from the past century...
David Honeyboy Edwards - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
David "Honeyboy" Edwards (born June 28, 1915) is a Delta blues guitarist and singer from the American South.
Posted by The Englishman at 6:58 PM
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August 13, 2010
Friday Night is Music Night (Gladrags Edition)
Posted by The Englishman at 6:16 AM
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August 12, 2010
Wiltshire Speed Camera Partnership Scrapped - A Nation Mourns
From: wendy.packer@wiltshire.gov.uk
Date: Thu, 12 Aug 2010 09:30:52 +0100
Subject:
To:
Please find attached a press release on the closure of the Camera Safety Partnership.
It is disappointing that the funding of the partnership from Government has been reduced this year and is uncertain for 2011/12, but this is just one of the austerity savings that have been made to reduce the Nation’s debt. Wiltshire Council has to make 25% savings over the next four years and is unable to absorb the effect of the reduced Government grant that funds the partnership.
The Police will continue to enforce speed limits in the ways described in the press release.
Dick Tonge
Cabinet Member for Highways.
Wendy Packer
Democratic Support Officer
I have no idea what a Democratic Support Officer does or why Wiltshire Council needs them, but it obviously doesn't include supporting the actions of our democratically elected government as it tries to reign in the increasing bloating at Council level. "It is disappointing" may be her view but it ain't everyones...
And as for "Austerity" - don't make me laugh. A couple fewer cherries on top of the cream cake isn't austerity.
Posted by The Englishman at 10:43 AM
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August 7, 2010
Wine and Circuses
Why everyone can find the circus but no one can find the farmers’ market - Telegraph
Farmers markets' are struggling to survive because of an ‘outdated’ law that makes it illegal for stall holders to advertise locally – even though circuses and ploughing contests can put up temporary signs.
I think I would prefer to go to a circus, or even a ploughing match, rather than trudge round stalls selling over priced Spelt bread buns, misshapened carrots and fatty burgers from pigs with names. Even so it is an example of regulations we can do without.
Posted by The Englishman at 7:14 AM
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August 6, 2010
Friday Night is Music Night (Howling Edition)
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Tan Hill Fair Day
Grubbing Out the Past
By George Monbiot. Published in the Guardian 10th January 1996.
...
In August last year, thirty lean, sun-tanned, scruffy people pulled their handcarts, goats, donkeys and bow-topped wagons to the top of Tan Hill, near Devizes in Wiltshire. They claimed that a Royal Charter, issued in 1499, entitled them to hold a fair at Lammas on the summit.
The police arrived in six riot vans, three dog vans and a helicopter. As the revellers trooped back down the hill, the officer in charge said “When will you people realize that this is Wiltshire, and you don’t belong here?”
The hippies at Tan Hill were removed, the police said, because they posed a threat to the land.
The Tan Hill Fair eventually took place not on the hilltop, but in a green lane two miles away. For three days 200 people rode horses with painted flanks and plaited tails, drank mead, danced to the music of fiddles and mandolins and ate fat hen picked from a nearby field in set-aside, before they were thrown off by the police again. Something happened in those days which subtly changed the lives of everyone who roistered there. It is hard to tell what it was, but it felt like the future, swimming up slowly from the depths of the past.
As the local farmer I was chatting to the hippies in the green lane under Tan Hill and was invited up to a very enjoyable evening with them on the top of Tan Hill....
We got on well because I had evicted a fat faced youth with dark curly hair who they claimed had a bus that mummy and daddy had bought him to play being a hippy in, and he was just a pain in the arse, asking questions and writing stuff down. As far as I remember he was the only one evicted, as the hippies told him, "This is Wiltshire, and you don’t belong here. Go and play at being a crusty somewhere else."
I often wonder what became of the obnoxious little git, and almost miss the old hippies and their herbal excesses.
Posted by The Englishman at 6:53 AM
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August 5, 2010
Pewsey Music Festival
Pewsey Music Festival
Great line up of bands in aid of local charities.
The poster says it all I think....
Posted by The Englishman at 7:34 PM
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August 3, 2010
Wiltshire Speed Camera Partnership Scrapped
Wiltshire Police - Camera Safety Partnership to close
Following a meeting of the Chief Executives of Wiltshire and Swindon Camera Safety Partnership a decision has been made that the partnership will close..".Although the exact date for closure of the unit has not been established at this time we believe that it will be towards the end of October this year and that this will be a phased process."
Cash is king and when that dries up so do the cameras....
Posted by The Englishman at 1:57 PM
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August 1, 2010
Peres mistakes me for an Hungarian Nobleman
Fury as Israel president claims English are 'anti-semitic' - Telegraph
Shimon Peres said England was "deeply pro-Arab ... and anti-Israeli", adding: "They always worked against us."
He added: "There is in England a saying that an anti-Semite is someone who hates the Jews more than is necessary."
As any educated fool knows it was Joseph Eötvösz, a Hungarian nobleman, who coined that rib tickler in the 1920s. Of course in Bradford they may laugh at little else apart from ancient middle European bons mots but I haven't heard it before.
Some Englishmen may especially dislike Jews, the Lawrencian public school homo-erotic worship of the noble desert dweller and distaste for trade and money dealers still has a toehold in the Foreign Office, but in the real England I don't come across it. We just dislike all foreigners equally.
Posted by The Englishman at 5:26 PM
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July 31, 2010
Turn On
Nods appreciatively, farts, scratches balls, demands another beer from the fridge and wonders why he won't get laid tonight...
Posted by The Englishman at 3:12 PM
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July 30, 2010
Friday Night is Music Night (Growing Old Gracefully Edition)
Posted by The Englishman at 5:28 PM
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Testing the fire resistance of Toughcord boot laces
Testing a length of Armorcord "unbreakable" lace in a pot of burning diesel. Boot laces and starter cords made from this material are available at www.toughcord.com.
It takes a lot to melt them, and they don't catch fire - as can be seen they retain their strength.
Burnt a hole in my trousers doing that - no wonder the camera wobbled!
Posted by The Englishman at 4:10 PM
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Last night I think I slipped into a timewarp...
Walking back to the car park from an evening out I came across this slice of Olde England blocking the road. Lacock village is owned by the National Trust and often used for films. What the Morris Dancers were doing there I have no idea...
Posted by The Englishman at 8:02 AM
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July 28, 2010
Punishment Fits The Crime
Penniless lorry driver is jailed for trying to sell Ritz in £250m scam
THE fraudster who tried to sell the Ritz for £250 million in a "outrageous and elaborate scam" despite the fact that he never owned it was jailed for five years.
Conman Anthony Lee, 49, promised his victims a deal on the hotel and casino in London's Piccadilly which was "too good to be true" but the building was owned by the billionaire Barclay brothers.
Sentencing him yesterday, judge Stephen Robbins: "This scam can be compared to those fraudsters who tried to sell the Eiffel Tower, Buckingham Palace and London Bridge."
BBC News - 'Happy slapping' youths detained for grandfather death
Two teenage members of a "happy slapping" gang who fatally beat a retired care worker in front of his young granddaughter in south London have been detained.
Ekram Haque, 67, was attacked in August 2009 in Tooting as he left a mosque. He died from his injuries a week later.
Leon Elcock, 16, and Hamza Lyzai, 15, had pleaded guilty to manslaughter in June at the Old Bailey.
Elcock was detained for four-and-a half years and Lyzai for three-and-a-half.
Five years for trying to separate some fools from their money, four years for killing a grandfather in front of his three year old granddaughter, a culmination of a series of gratuitous attacks aimed at Asians. (As the criminals are black this doesn't seem to be classified as a racial crime though).
As some great philosophers once said on the subject:
I hear the bells of freedom chiming
And inside my heart I feel I'm dying
Wise guys never compromise
Then they loose their rights and they act surprised
Jail really cuts ya down to size
Let the punishment fit the crime
Posted by The Englishman at 6:24 AM
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July 27, 2010
Dorset Folk Shown How It Should Be
Cerne Abbas Giant 'inspires' fertility boom - Telegraph
Now the women in the surrounding towns and villages have the highest birth rates in the country. The latest figures from the Office of National Statistics show that the women of North Dorset have on average three children each – nearly double the national average and nearly three times as much as the city dwellers of Westminster.
Standing erect for locals to see the giant could be having an inspirational effect on couples in the area said locals.
See, marrying your cousin isn't bad for fertility as long as a giant willy is waved at you...
Posted by The Englishman at 6:22 AM
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July 24, 2010
For When Failure Is Not An Option
Unbreakable Army Boot Laces - Black or Brown - 20% to Help for Heroes
I guarantee them for life. You won't regret buying them, and we are doing a tiny bit to help as well.
Posted by The Englishman at 11:15 AM
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I've got a woody this morning....
I yielded to temptation. Mine, all mine. I may be some time just stroking my precious...
Posted by The Englishman at 7:10 AM
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July 23, 2010
Early Morning Prayer - Lead me not into temptation
Off to The Game Fair with Mr & Mrs Free Market and a couple of empty slots on my ticket.
Posted by The Englishman at 5:27 AM
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Friday Night is Music Night (Something ElseEdition)
That one might be better without the video....
Posted by The Englishman at 4:51 AM
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July 21, 2010
My Sort of Olympiads
The 6th Annual Chap Olympiad 2010 in pictures - Telegraph
Chaps, bounders and cads gathered in Bedford Square in central London on Saturday for the 6th Annual Chap Olympiad, featuring sports such as Cucumber Sandwich Discus and the Martini Relay. Described as being for 'the perfectly dressed, under-achieving dandies with no interest in sport', the event is organised by The Chap Magazine
Posted by The Englishman at 6:49 AM
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July 20, 2010
RSPB Claims on Kestrel Decline Challenged
Claims that intensive farming is to blame for a sudden drop in kestrel numbers have been questioned by the rural champions, the CLA.
Reacting to an RSPB comment published in a national newspaper today (19 July) CLA South West Director, John Mortimer, said: The RSPB has - once again - gone for the knee-jerk reaction of blaming farmers for the decline rather than look at the real reasons."
The RSPB comments were published in a national newspaper after the latest Breeding Birds Survey was published by the British Trust of Ornithology. The survey, which uses information collected by volunteers and enthusiasts, recorded a 36 percent drop in kestrel numbers. The RSPB suggested it was down to “intensive farming” as well as “pesticides and cold winters”.
“The BTO report states that the kestrel population has only declined recently and that it was stable between the start of the survey in 1994 until around 2005. Clearly, farming has not become more intensive in the past five years - in fact, with the introduction of the Single Payment Scheme, the opposite is actually the case. We currently have some 70 per cent of farmland in England covered by agri-environment schemes - so it seems to be nonsense for the RSPB to blame intensification for the problem, “ said Mr. Mortimer.
And other, larger, raptors have increased in numbers. How many kestrels have been sliced in the RSPB favoured wind turbines.....
Posted by The Englishman at 7:38 AM
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July 16, 2010
Friday Night is Music Night (Even Arses Can Make Sweet Music Edition)
Posted by The Englishman at 4:59 PM
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July 15, 2010
Chilli Cook-Off Reminder - 17th July Kings Arms
Posted by The Englishman at 6:36 PM
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July 13, 2010
Camp as a row of comrades
Camping for communists | Aditya Chakrabortty | Comment is free | The Guardian
Why camping – with its shared tasks and flattened hierarchies – is an exercise in practical communism
If you want to ponce about in a tented village maybe it is. The only camping that attracts me is near solitude in the wilderness. I'm too old and fat to be a "rugged individualist" but I fail to see that a yearning to be is bringing out the inner Pinko in me.
Posted by The Englishman at 7:16 AM
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July 9, 2010
Friday Night is Music Night (Nice Young Boys Edition)
Posted by The Englishman at 6:52 PM
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July 4, 2010
Iain Dale's Huge Annual Election
It is some sort of soggy AV system where you have to list ten bloggers you would most like to sleep with and then rate them on their prowess. I never bother, but if you like this democracy stuff then go to it.
Posted by The Englishman at 7:24 PM
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July 3, 2010
Testing Boot Laces
If you don't wear Foundry Boots and start playing with hot metal, and who doesn't enjoy doing that, you will soon find your laces melted, or even better on fire! So we did a quick unrehearsed trial of the ones I sell down the barn yesterday....
Update - of course I should have done a comparison video - here is the best I could do on my own juggling angle grinder in one hand and camera in the other..I didn't manage to get as many sparks on target on the standard mixed fibre bootlace but I think the charring and weakening is quite obvious.
Posted by The Englishman at 11:43 AM
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July 2, 2010
Friday Night is Music Night (Woolly Edition)
And the original:
Posted by The Englishman at 5:45 PM
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July 1, 2010
And then the fight started..
Husbands can be jailed for insulting wives under new French law - Telegraph
Couples who insult each other over their physical appearance face jail, under a new French law making "psychological violence" a criminal offence.
But men now also have the right to report their wives verbal abuse in a domestic row.
It will apply to both married couples and cohabiting partners.
But she asked if it made her bum look big!
Posted by The Englishman at 6:49 AM
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June 25, 2010
Friday Night is Music Night (54321 The Weekend Starts Here Edition)
Posted by The Englishman at 5:46 PM
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Censored at The Telegraph
Top Gear's top 10 stunts - Telegraph
Guess how many they have? Five!
At least the Guardian managed six in their article; Top Gear: the six best comedy stunts | Television & radio | guardian.co.uk
When I pointed this earlier article out, and the shortchange at the Telegraph I was censored - wonder why?
Posted by The Englishman at 5:35 AM
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June 24, 2010
Free Paul McCartney with Bonus Carla Bruni with every packet
On youtube around 8:30pm GMT (2:30pm E.T) on Sunday, 27 of June.
Now do I get a free ticket, backstage pass and massage?
Posted by The Englishman at 2:58 PM
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June 22, 2010
The Budget Speech
George Osborne: Britain will be on 'road to ruin' without spending cuts - Telegraph
Do not, as some ungracious pastors do,
Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven,
Whiles, like a puffed and reckless libertine,
Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads,
And recks not his own rede
- Hamlet (1.3.48-52), Ophelia to her brother, Laertes.
.
I prefer the first speech I ever gave when I trod the boards as a typecast ten year old....
[Knocking within. Enter a Porter]
Porter: Here's a knocking indeed! If a
man were porter of hell-gate, he should have
old turning the key.
[Knocking within]
Knock,knock, knock! Who's there, i' the name of
Beelzebub? Here's a farmer, that hanged
himself on the expectation of plenty: come in
time; have napkins enow about you; here
you'll sweat for't.
[Knocking within]
Knock,knock! Who's there, in the other devil's
name? Faith, here's an equivocator, that could
swear in both the scales against either scale;
who committed treason enough for God's sake,
yet could not equivocate to heaven: O, come
in, equivocator.
[Knocking within]
Knock,knock, knock! Who's there? Faith, here's an
English tailor come hither, for stealing out of
a French hose: come in, tailor; here you may
roast your goose.
[Knocking within]
Knock, knock; never at quiet! What are you? But
this place is too cold for hell. I'll devil-porter
it no further: I had thought to have let in
some of all professions that go the primrose
way to the everlasting bonfire.
[Knocking within]
Anon, anon! I pray you, remember the porter.
Posted by The Englishman at 6:40 AM
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June 18, 2010
Friday Night is Music Night (Englishmen and Whips Edition)
Posted by The Englishman at 5:17 PM
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June 17, 2010
Get Off Your Arse
Brad Burton celebrates being unsubtle in his evangelising of the joys of self employment. I can't fault his message "get off your arse", it is the only way to get on. The book is fun, easy to read and certainly worth it if your are self-employed or boring everyone at work about how one day you are going to tell the boss to stick his job.
It is very much his story of how he did exactly that and the outcomes, good and bad, of doing so, mixed in with tips and instructions of how to do the same.
Having been through the self-employed mill a few times I note there is stuff he has missed. Maybe they will be in book two.
About how to smooth into being your own boss. You don't have to flounce out of cosy paid employment. You can do the research, get everything sorted and take the opportunity to leave on good terms.
It isn't all or nothing. The important trend I meet everywhere is people having a portfolio of work, a bit of this, a bit of employment, a bit of that. It offers more stability, safety and interest.
Taking on employees - don't. Well, until you are so big you really have to.
Dealing with the regulators - you will no longer have someone doing that crap for you.
And so on.
And most importantly recognising when it isn't working. Sometimes just working harder isn't the answer, sometimes the market has change, sometimes it was just a crap idea. Recognise that and walk away and start doing something else.
Everyone who goes out and earns their own living could add lots more tips, I could write a book myself. But I haven't, yet, so in the meantime I can recommend this book.
Disclosure - this is a unasked for review of a book I paid for.
Posted by The Englishman at 7:00 AM
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June 16, 2010
Monkey See, Monkey Watch
Monkeys like watching television - Telegraph
I fear even the hallowed portals of the King's Arms may be polluted by the flickering idiot box on Friday night. You let them vote, you let them come into the Public Bar, you then provide chairs, and then they demand to watch bloody girly games when men should be allowed to quietly sup stood at the bar. The rot has gone too far, I may have to be chauffeured to another establishment at this rate.
Posted by The Englishman at 6:43 AM
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Welcome Home
Protesters heckle returning troops - Home News, UK - The Independent
Protesters heckled soldiers and brandished placards opposing the war in Afghanistan during a homecoming parade for troops today.
A group of predominantly Muslim protesters gathered in Barking town centre, in east London, as members of the 1st Battalion Royal Anglian Regiment marched through the streets.
One witness said: "There were about 25 to 50 Muslim protesters carrying placards with things like 'Muslims Against Crusades' and 'British Soldiers Go To Hell'.
I think we all know what the correct response should have been.
Posted by The Englishman at 6:38 AM
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French Useless - It's the Truth
Former minister Chris Bryant: French is a useless language - Telegraph
A former Foreign Office minister described the French language as "useless" as he called for more young people to learn Mandarin and Arabic.
I always thought he was completely wrong on everything, I was wrong, it is about time someone said the truth even if it upsets the Tories who worry about "insulting" the French. That isn't a worry, that's a duty!
Posted by The Englishman at 6:29 AM
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June 15, 2010
Beyond Policing
Middle class not entitled to 'universal service' say police - Telegraph
Chief Constable Patrick Shearer said manpower would be increasingly focused on crime hot spots, suggesting middle-class suburbs will have to deal themselves with ‘petty’ offences such as vandalism.
He admitted his remarks may appear “quite frightening” to the public but police need to target their resources on the areas where they are most needed and not those where their presence is most requested.
"Deal themselves with petty offences", "quite frightening" to the public offending scum around these 'ere parts, I think is what he meant.
Posted by The Englishman at 6:37 AM
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June 14, 2010
Death Rates and Data Sharing
Download the data behind Sarah Boseley's surgery statistics investigation | News | guardian.co.uk
A major freedom of information trawl by the Guardian has found that death rates around the country in routine surgery to prevent a swollen artery from bursting are very variable - and that many hospitals are well above the national average.
The Guardian investigation also reveals that hospitals carrying out more operations have lower death rates than those that do few. More experienced surgical teams appear safer. Leading vascular surgeons argue that AAA operations should be concentrated in larger centres that do at least 50 procedures a year and the many smaller units should be closed. Reorganisation was planned to begin this year in London for that purpose, but Health Secretary Andrew Lansley has put all hospital closures on hold.
Here's the full data from our investigation. What can you do with it?
• Get the data
Good investigation, excellent idea to pass the data out to the crowd, is this how journalism will work in this new age?
Posted by The Englishman at 6:20 AM
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June 12, 2010
Proven Pussy Attracting Perfume
Jaguars obsessed with Calvin Klein scent | Environment | The Guardian
Calvin Klein's Obsession for Men has proved a hit with jaguars in the Guatemalan jungle.
The discovery was made by the Wildlife Conservation Society's Bronx zoo in New York. In an attempt to draw cheetahs to camera traps, it experimented with 23 different scents. Estée Lauder's Beautiful detained the cats for two seconds on average, Revlon's Charlie lasted 15.5 seconds while Nina Ricci's L'Air du Temps managed 10.4 minutes. Obsession for Men's musky scent scored best: 11.1 minutes.
Scientists are using the cologne to lure the elusive big cats to hidden cameras in the Maya biosphere reserve.
Ann Gottlieb, who helped create the scent, told the paper: "It's a combination of this lickable vanilla heart married to this fresh green top note – it creates tension."
The cologne also had synthetic "animal" notes like civet, a musky substance secreted by the cat of the same name, giving it particular sex appeal. "It sparks curiosity with humans and, apparently, animals."
Pah, "lickable vanilla heart"? - I'll stick to a quick spray of Boar Mate...
BOARMATE™ is an aerosol containing synthetically produced 'boar odour' (5[alpha]-androst-16-en-3-one). This compound has an odour identical to that produced by the boar's submaxillary glands; the same odour that a sow reacts to by "standing" when she is ready for mating.
BOARMATE™ was developed as an aid to the farmer to overcome difficulties...
..... it typically creates a dominant, intimidating, aggressive aura. Therefore, pheromone products containing this are likely to project an aggressive alpha impression (either alpha male or female), which might help you to be the centre of attention and be noticed more. Since alpha aggressiveness is often associated with sex and good mate choice, this pheromone can create a sexual vibe and increase sexual tension. To cause members of the opposite sex to become slightly intimidated by you can be attractive, so this pheromone helps in this regard too. Androstenone has also been known to cause people to act more respectfully and polite to the wearer.
Be sure to wear an adequate cover fragrance over or near any androstenone applications, this pheromone has quite a pungent stale sweat/urine smell in high concentrations.
An over dose (OD) of andostenone can cause:
Headaches
Bad smelling applications
Aggression from other members of the same sex
An aggressive mood in the wearer
Members of the opposite sex to be overly intimidated, leading to no or even negative reactions.
Maybe I'm overdoing it.....
Posted by The Englishman at 10:33 PM
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No Through Road Off The Straight And Narrow
Nearly got lost and went the wrong way on the way home this morning....
Posted by The Englishman at 4:21 PM
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June 11, 2010
Chilli CookOff 17th July 2010 King's Arms All Cannings
Bring your BBQ, Free to Enter, Cash Prizes - or just come and taste.
Details 01380 860328
(I'm entering Mr du Toit's Texan Recipe...)
Posted by The Englishman at 5:05 PM
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Friday Night is Music Night (Hound Edition)
Apologies - couldn't find one without an intro, it is worth the wait.
Posted by The Englishman at 5:02 PM
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Saville Fixes It
Bloody Sunday killings to be ruled unlawful | UK news | The Guardian
The long-awaited report into the Bloody Sunday massacre will conclude that a number of the fatal shootings of civilians by British soldiers were unlawful killings, the Guardian has learned.
Lord Saville's 12-year inquiry into the deaths, the longest public inquiry in British legal history, will conclude with a report published next Tuesday, putting severe pressure on the Public Prosecution Service in Northern Ireland to prosecute soldiers.
Another one of Tony Blair's expensive ideas that will come back to haunt us. Sod'em all, especially the fat cat lawyers who have milked the taxpayer to produce this farrago of nonsense. Not one of them is fit to polish a pair of boots. I hope they will be pleased with themselves with the trouble they will cause.
Posted by The Englishman at 6:20 AM
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June 10, 2010
Thursday Night is Music Night (100 Today Edition)
Chester Arthur Burnett (June 10, 1910 – January 10, 1976), better known as Howlin' Wolf, was an influential American blues singer, guitarist and harmonica player.
Only by pure chance did I notice it was his 100th today - when if there was any justice in the world his, and his followers, music is all that would have been played today.
It doesn't get much better
Posted by The Englishman at 9:26 PM
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June 9, 2010
No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money
EVEN MORE BOOKS PUBLISHED IN 2009:
The number of new books published in the UK in 2009 was 133,224, an increase of 3.2% over the previous year’s total of 129,057..the number of English-language titles recorded by Nielsen Book as having been published somewhere in the world (excluding UK and Ireland) rose to 604,768 in 2009.
The increases can be accounted for in part by growth in print-on-demand (POD) and digital product, which we expect to continue to increase in the future.
The characters who are going to an early grave | Sam Jordison | Books | guardian.co.uk
The squeeze on mid-list authors has been a big story in publishing for years now. It's impossible even to keep track of which authors have dropped off the radar. Publishers don't announce it, and the last thing most writers want to do is broadcast the fact they can no longer get published. Yet, it seems reasonable to estimate that dozens (maybe hundreds) are disappearing every year
So "mid-list" writers can't get paid to write books that don't sell very well but get "favourable reviews". Is it a conspiracy against them and culture or is the world trying to tell them something?
Posted by The Englishman at 6:49 AM
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June 8, 2010
Today's Recipe
http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/carrotsglazedwithcum_80467
Yum yum URL
UPDATE - The BBC has changed the URL, can't think why, to http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/carrots_glazed_with_47422
Posted by The Englishman at 12:30 PM
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June 7, 2010
Link Catch Up
I get so much good stuff which I really enjoy and much appreciate but sometimes I fail to weave it into the daily narrative..so to catch up:
National SocialAccounts here - Door there - Please pick up a P45 on your way out.istMarketing Centre a strategic partnership between the Department of Health in England and Consumer Focus (formerly the National Consumer Council) have just launched an online Social Marketing Planning Guide and Toolbox. This practical planning guide seeks to help you to develop and deliver effective solutions to behavioural challenges, drawing on best practice in social marketing. The guide sets out six key stages to the social marketing planning process: a broad framework for you to work within as you develop an approach that suits your needs. The National SocialistMarketing Centre will be running its second social marketing summer school from 7th-11th June in Bled, Slovenia. Building on the highly successful 2009 school, it will bring together practitioners from around the world. The programme has been designed for people working in areas such as public health and environmental protection, as well as NGOs and anyone who wants to gain social marketing expertise in a concentrated time period. Participants will gain a thorough understanding of social marketing through interactive workshops. They will leave the school with the skills and expertise to implement their own programmes. Consumer Focus is the statutory organisation campaigning for a fair deal for consumers in England, Wales, Scotland, and, for postal services, Northern Ireland. We are well-resourced to use these powers and campaign on the issues that matter most to consumers. In fact, with 170 staff, we’re the largest and the best-resourced advocacy body in the history of the UK consumer movement. We are not an advice agency nor are we a statutory regulator. Other bodies such as Consumer Direct, Citizens Advice, local authority trading standards and the Office of Fair Trading play these roles.
National Fox Welfare Society
Childs unbreakable plastic mugs, Great gift idea for the fox fan in your family or circle of friends. - Good luck with those....
And finally Text Drugs to 80801 - saves going out for them.
Posted by The Englishman at 9:20 PM
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June 6, 2010
Tales from the Sangar
With Mrs E away I indulged in a little home improvement on Friday, this is the new view from the spare room.
+ That is the canal at All Cannings in the near distance, range about 800 yards.
This is pure coincidence...
Fire crews to the rescue of sinking canal boat at All Cannings (From This Is Wiltshire)
Fire crews came to the rescue of a sinking canal boat yesterday evening after it sprang a leak as it travelled along the Kennet and Avon Canal at All Cannings, near Devizes.
It just "sprang a leak"....
Posted by The Englishman at 7:29 PM
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Der längste Tag
Posted by The Englishman at 9:57 AM
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A solid argument for optimism
Unlike the Moonbats who are frotting at the mouth about this book I have actually read it, but then I also actually read him on sex; The Red Queen
The book could do with a touch of tighter editing, but once he gets into the swing it is a story you must read. You will know the conclusions other commentators have given to it, big state bad, free trade good. Things will get better despite the actions of government and well- intentioned fools.
It is a heavy solid book so buy a copy to take with you on your travels, once you have ingested the lessons in it you can then use it on any passing fool or politician; if they refuse to learn its lesson by reading it then its weight can be used to persuade them by imparting a lasting impression on them.
I may need to get mine reinforced.
Posted by The Englishman at 9:11 AM
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How Boringly Middle Class Are You?
Dear, dear Iain thinks he is an Oik for failing this test, he likes to imagine it makes him all roughty toughty Sarfend style. I think it just means he is still a horny handed son of the soil.
Of course we don't go to the bloody opera/ballet, full of ghastly people in penguin suits they bought themselves.
Cleaner? They may be someone from the village who "comes in" - of course you wouldn't call this paragon "a cleaner". Hackett and Barbour - don't make me laugh, like turning up at a shoot with an over and under.
Horses? Sort of in that they tend to be around when meeting chums at the point to point or out slaughtering something.
No idea how much a bottle of wine costs, wine comes in cases.
Of course one wouldn't tell people which school one went to, people just know.
Shop? Someone buys stuff at a grocer but I'm not completely sure who or where.
Supper instead of dinner? What a stupid question, they are completely different meals, a good evening has both.
Kiss cheeks, sounds like what Peachy Fluff used to do at school - see above.
Aga - is that one of those Spanish shotguns? The kitchen has a range of indeterminate age and name.
Poncy bloody tea, do you want a thrashing? It just has to be hot, dark and sweet, talking of which;
Prosecco, I seem to remember losing my wallet and getting the clap from one of these when a few of us went ashore in some Italian port.
Hummus, ask the gardener.
Posted by The Englishman at 7:48 AM
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June 4, 2010
For When Failure Is Not An Option
Unbreakable Army Boot Laces - Black or Brown - Free P&P
£9.99 - 20% of the final sale price will support Help for Heroes
Brown or Black and a choice of three lengths;
54" 137cm 9 - 10 pair eyelets
63" 160cm 10 or more pairs of eyelets
72" 183cm 10 or more pairs of eyelets (wider widths)
No matter what job you do, Armorlace™ is made to last. Our patent pending technology uses stronger-than-steel fibers that are specially woven and treated to create the most abrasion, chemical, and UV resistant boot and shoe laces in the world.
Armorlace™ is made with the same material used for heavy industrial strength Armorcord™ starter cords. These laces not only last, they lace up tight and never slip. So once you put on your boots, Armorlace™ will stay put and stay comfortable.
(Disclaimer - this is an advert if you hadn't guessed - I have been using the laces for a year and liked them so much I am now selling them and the unbreakable starter cords - if you want to learn more contact me)
Posted by The Englishman at 5:16 PM
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Friday Night is Music Night (Go Go Girl Edition)
Posted by The Englishman at 4:58 PM
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June 2, 2010
Did you miss me, yeah, when I was away?
Anglesey Holiday
The dreaded long weekend is over. It is refreshing to drop back forty years to Anglesey, and even better to watch English bowmen at work at Beaumaris Castle but the best bit was enjoying the drive home on the A470. A fantastic road, it almost made me wish for a bike.
Posted by The Englishman at 7:08 AM
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May 28, 2010
Friday Night is Music Night (Summer Holiday Edition)
Enjoy the holiday weekend...
Posted by The Englishman at 4:30 PM
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In Defence of Home Ownerism
Put capital gains tax on all homes | Oliver Kamm - Times Online
Our culture is deeply imbued with the belief that owner-occupation is not just a choice but a virtue.
Leave aside his specious arguments about how ownership ties people down (I think, but haven't got the figures, that owners are more mobile in moving than council tenants) and his tired old cliche about how boring property conversations are, it is important to point out that property ownership is a virtue, a very English virtue.
Owning your own corner of this land imbues responsibility, cohesiveness, care and respect. All virtues, I would add ambition, thrift and family to the list.
Some abacus bashers may bang on about super duper fancy taxes that would crush the curse of Land Values - I think proposing any new tax is dangerous, it only encourages the politicians - but they ignore the wider prosperity that home ownership brings. And while living in communal blocks may suit our European friends it isn't the Anglo Saxon way and Home Ownerism should and must be defended as an Englishman's right to own his own castle.
Posted by The Englishman at 7:18 AM
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Safeguarding Vital Jobs in Scotland
A SCOTTISH Government agency created to get youngsters off the dole was last night criticised for spending more than £500,000 of taxpayers' money on a branding exercise at a time when Scotland is struggling with youth unemployment.
The Skills Development Scotland agency was attacked for earmarking £260,000 for 2010-11 plus £295,000 for the following financial year to publicise itself through new signs, new letterheads and corporate advertising.
The row blew up after Scottish Labour leader Iain Gray told MSPs that Skills Development Scotland was re-branding itself as Scotland The Works under a £555,000 "visual identity transition" and was planning to spend £1.68m marketing its new name.
Ministers said there was no name change and other costs were used to promote vital, job-creating services.
Job-creating, certainly. Vital, absolutely, the last thing Scotland needs is herds of pony tailed graphic designers out on the streets frightening the women and children when they can be safely chained to their Apples designing "visual identities". I'm happy to dip into my wages to help pay for this conservation scheme.
Posted by The Englishman at 6:57 AM
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May 27, 2010
Independent Testing Results of Armorlace and other boot laces
Independent Testing Results of Armorlace and other boot laces
Posted by The Englishman at 9:01 AM
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May 25, 2010
Reach out and touch
Americans outgunned by Taleban’s AK47s - Times Online
The future of the standard issue infantry rifle used by American troops in Afghanistan is under review amid concerns that it is the wrong weapon for the job.
With its light bullets the M4 rifle lacks sufficient velocity and killing power in long-range firefights, leaving US troops outgunned by the Taleban and their AK47 Kalashnikovs and the old Russian SVD sniper rifle.
The reassessment echoes the shooting lessons that Britain learnt in the 1839-1842 war in Afghanistan, when they discovered that their Brown Bess muskets could not reach sharpshooters firing heavier-calibre Jezzail flintlocks. The Russians, too, had problems when they occupied Afghanistan in the 1980s: their AK47s failed to match the Second World War bolt-action Lee-Enfield and Mauser rifles used by the Mujahidin.
The US experience, in contrast, was gleaned in Vietnam. The early standard rifle was the M14, which fired 7.62mm rounds but was judged to be too heavy in jungle warfare and was replaced by a lighter-firing rifle that became the M4.
British Forces face the same dilemma but the Ministry of Defence said yesterday that there was no plan to review the SA80A2 rifle...
So the M4 is outshot by the AK-47, which was outshot by the Lee Enfield, the solution is obvious. Go back to the Lee Enfield, and no need for any wussy short model either. And don't forget the bayonets...
Posted by The Englishman at 7:39 AM
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A Suitable Diet
The ethics of veggie cats and dogs | Environment | guardian.co.uk
This week is National Vegetarian Week, the annual celebration of all things vegetarian. Taking the veggie option has never been easier for people, but what about vegetarian pets?
I used to have a dog that all he wanted to eat was vegetarians, hippies and lay-abouts...
Posted by The Englishman at 7:03 AM
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May 23, 2010
Mobile Cash Machines
Wiltshire Police increase cost for speed workshop
From 1 June the cost of the course will rise from £60 to £80.
Wiltshire Police said more than 14,000 drivers had chosen to attend the course in the past year.
Official Answer: Because they just want people to drive safer and the money isn't a factor.
Unofficial Answer: Britain's speed camera system is run by more than 40 regional road safety partnerships, made up of representatives from police, courts and councils.
The partnerships are funded by the Department of Transport, which demands that each region gives target figures for the number of motorists they plan to catch speeding over the next year. If these targets are not met, then Whitehall cuts the size of its funding.
This has the effect of making the local partnership set low targets, rather than risk losing cash by falling short of predictions. And that is good news for the Government, since the system is geared so that any extra fines go to the Treasury.
But as the Wiltshire Safety Camera Partnership knows they are going to catch more motorists than their quota the local unit has no interest in sending those "extra" fines to the Treasury. But if they run a workshop then the motorist doesn't pay a fine, he pays the Wiltshire Safety Camera Partnership who get to keep the money, apart from having to rent a cheap room and whiteboard...
No that is silly - I must keep repeating the "Wiltshire Safety Camera Partnership are not interested in the money..."
Posted by The Englishman at 7:58 PM
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Dog Day
Nice sunny day so all the windows open, Mrs E out in the garden, a chance I thought to mend a couple of bits of furniture by sticking the bits that had fallen off back on.
Hoof glue is the only stuff to use, but when simmering it on the stove you really need all the windows open, it smells... just like boiling up very dead horses would smell.
I use an old sardine can so there is no washing up. Mahogany all glued the tin was put out on top of the wheelie bin to cool.
Ten minutes later I look out and the dog is licking it out after climbing up to get it and dribbling it as he carried his trophy back to his bed.. He now has hoof glue all round his whiskers and smells, and the house smells, and the dog bed smells...
I'm in the dog house again, but at least he hasn't barked all day...
Posted by The Englishman at 7:53 PM
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Voices From The Grave - Review
Here, in a dramatic break with the unwritten laws of paramilitary omerta, two leading figures from opposing sides reveal their involvement in bombings, shootings and killings and speak frankly about how differently their wars came to an end.
In extensive interviews given to researchers from Boston College in America, they spoke with astonishing openness about their turbulent, violent lives. With their deaths, their stories can now be told.
Brendan Hughes was a legend in the Republican movement. An 'operator', a gun-runner and mastermind of some of the most savage IRA violence of the Troubles, he was a friend and close ally of Gerry Adams and was by his side during the most brutal years of the conflict.
David Ervine was the most substantial political figure to emerge from the world of Loyalist paramilitaries. A former UVF bomber and confidante of its long-time leader Gusty Spence, Ervine helped steer Loyalism's gunmen towards peace, persuading the UVF's leaders to target IRA and Sinn Fein activists and push them down the road to a ceasefire. Alone of all the Unionist groupings in Northern Ireland, Ervine's UVF was the first to spot the IRA's readiness to end its war.
For David Ervine, the UVF's war ended in victory as Northern Ireland's place in the United Kingdom was made more secure than ever before. For Brendan Hughes, the IRA had met defeat, its leaders exchanging power and prestige for the goal of an Irish Republic. These are the voices of truth; of two men who had nothing to lose by telling the truth, and as such they make a significant contribution to historical understanding.
Voices from the Grave by Ed Moloney is not an easy book to read, not because it is not well written but because it is crammed thick with detail and revelations that make you stop and think. The press has loved some of the revelations but I found the exposure of the minutiae more interesting than what Gerry Adams said to whom when.
While is comforting for many of us to have simplistic views of The Troubles, if you want to understand the past, and future, then read it.
Posted by The Englishman at 6:50 AM
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May 21, 2010
Confined to Barracks
No supping of ale for me tonight, not after last week.
Have you ever seen a flap sprinkler on an irrigator?
Have you ever leant back to let loose half a gallon of Mr Wadworth's best that is due for recycling?
The sheer unstoppable relief.
Have you ever been given a nice thick leather belt from Texas?
The sort of belt with a buckle that one undoes to ease the pressure of said half a gallon before one gets home.
The sort that has a thick flappy bit that hangs down once undone.
I have.
That's why I'm not allowed out tonight.
Posted by The Englishman at 1:51 PM
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May 19, 2010
The Home of Harrumphing
Sweet subsidies turn sour in E16 - Times Online
Question: which constituency has received the most farm subsidies from Brussels over the past decade? Answer: leafy East Ham in the East End of London, because Tate & Lyle’s Silvertown sugar refinery is there. Such figures could not be issued before the election and so this odd fact has just been released, leading to much harrumphing on political blogsites.
Sound familiar?
Posted by The Englishman at 6:43 AM
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May 18, 2010
An Hereditary Freeborn Englishman
That is the only document I have about my birth or where I came from; many years ago I saw another with a surname on it, but whose that was I don't know. And I don't intend to find out any more.
I'm a freeborn Englishman, untroubled by genetics, proud of my family and culture.
Heredity
1. The genetic transmission of characteristics from parent to offspring.
2. The sum of characteristics and associated potentialities transmitted genetically to an individual organism.
Hereditary
Appearing in or characteristic of successive generations.
Derived from or fostered by one's ancestors.
Ancestral; traditional
Posted by The Englishman at 7:54 PM
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It's my Birthday and I'll cry if I want to
Happiness begins at 50 claims new research - Telegraph
Stress, anger and worry fade after the landmark birthday when we begin experiencing greater daily joy than younger adults, it is claimed.
So only one more year of being a grumpy sod...
Posted by The Englishman at 10:34 AM
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Try Saying No
Are you an Asker or a Guesser?
We are raised, the theory runs, in one of two cultures. In Ask culture, people grow up believing they can ask for anything – a favour, a pay rise– fully realising the answer may be no. In Guess culture, by contrast, you avoid "putting a request into words unless you're pretty sure the answer will be yes… A key skill is putting out delicate feelers. If you do this with enough subtlety, you won't have to make the request directly; you'll get an offer. Even then, the offer may be genuine or pro forma; it takes yet more skill and delicacy to discern whether you should accept."
Neither's "wrong", but when an Asker meets a Guesser, unpleasantness results. An Asker won't think it's rude to request two weeks in your spare room, but a Guess culture person will hear it as presumptuous and resent the agony involved in saying no. Your boss, asking for a project to be finished early, may be an overdemanding boor – or just an Asker, who's assuming you might decline. If you're a Guesser, you'll hear it as an expectation. This is a spectrum, not a dichotomy, and it explains cross-cultural awkwardnesses, too: Brits and Americans get discombobulated doing business in Japan, because it's a Guess culture, yet experience Russians as rude, because they're diehard Askers.
But Guessers can take solace in logic: in many social situations (though perhaps not at work) the very fact that you're receiving an anxiety-inducing request is proof the person asking is an Asker. He or she is half-expecting you'll say no, and has no inkling of the torture you're experiencing. So say no, and see what happens. Nothing will.
Of course us English are the ultimate guessers, never asking except in the most apologising way and then only if we already know the answer: "Would you mind awfully if I could pour myself another cup of tea? I really hope it isn't too inconvenient if I park my gunboat here?...
But some of us are practising saying No, but sometimes it comes out all wrong. "Can I count on your vote this election?" provoked a most unseemly response from me, for which I apologise.
Posted by The Englishman at 6:57 AM
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Join Us Against The J Arthurs of Hackney
CentreRight: Invitation: Become a Hackney Citizen
The local Labour Politburo is being acting as they are wont to do, your help is requested.
49 years ago today I was born in South Hackney so I'm already a citizen....
Posted by The Englishman at 6:53 AM
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May 14, 2010
Friday Night is Music Night (Rose Smith Special Edition)
I posted the video sometime ago, chosen partly because it is the only one I can find featuring the loveliest of the Ikettes - Rose Smith.
My toiling in the blogyard was all made worthwhile when, out of the blue, Rose Smith sent me a nice comment, followed by this email:
I have just started my research into that whole rock experience, and perhaps I can land something that would be interesting to place on your blog. In the meantime, I will look in often to see what's going on in your world.
Kind regards,
Rose Smith
(Ikette Rose)
P.S. You may post whatever I send from now on (although it will be sometime out), starting with the note above or paraphrase it for me. Attached is a pix to put with it. I don't take pictures that often.
Pictures below the fold. I'm still stunned.
Posted by The Englishman at 5:50 PM
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May 13, 2010
200 Years of Hunting at the Castle
+ One picture is dated 1st May 1810, the next 9th March 1927 and the final one 20th January 2009.
(The hunt didn't meet here in 2010 because of the snow)
Posted by The Englishman at 6:49 PM
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May 7, 2010
The Suppurating Bishop
YumThe free cheese board at the pub tonight included some Stinking Bishop left over from St George's Day, spread on a Dorset Knob it was heavenly ecclesiastical bukkake pleasure, and the beer was good as well.
Posted by The Englishman at 11:32 PM
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Friday Night is Music Night (Walking the Dog Edition)
One of many covers
Posted by The Englishman at 3:51 PM
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May 2, 2010
Don't Vote Lib Dem in Salisbury or The Vly Gets It
Liberal Democrat Nick Radford says "It's a silly tradition, symbolic of many things that are wrong with politics. It's not what people want to hear and I'm against it on principle."
Farmers Boys has the music, the words are below.
Liberal Democrat Nick Radford might be a slimy little creep who cares nothing for the traditions of Wiltshire nor the nod to the honourable history of the fighting Farmer's Boys but I hope the voters of Salisbury bear that in mind as they vote
The Vly
T'were on a jolly summer's day,
the twenty fust of May,
John Scruggins took his turmut hoe,
with this he trudged away,
Now some volkes they loike haymakin',
and some they vancies mowin'
But of all the jobs as Oi loike best,
gie Oi the turmut 'oein.
The Vly, the Vly-
The Vly be on the turmut,
Tis all me eye,
For Oi to try,
To keep Vlys off them turmuts.
The fust place as Oi went to wurk;
it were wi' Varmer Gower,
Who vowed and swore as how Oi wer
'-a virst class turmut oer;'
The second place Oi went to wurk,
they paid Oi by the job,
If Oi'd a knowed a liitle more,
Oi'd sooner bin in quod.
The Vly, the Vly-
The Vly be on the turmut,
Tis all me eye,
For Oi to try,
To keep Vlys off them turmuts.
The last place as I went to wurk,
they zent ver Oi a mowin'
Oi sent word back,
Oi'd sooner get the zack,
than gie up turmut 'oein',
Now all you jolly varmer chaps,
what bides at 'ome zo warm',
Oi'll now conclude my ditty wie a wishing you no 'arm.
Posted by The Englishman at 11:17 AM
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April 27, 2010
Pavement Vermin
Scientists say shoppers could learn a lot from migrating geese - Times Online
A study of pedestrian behaviour in a busy high street has shown that shoppers are inefficient. Unlike more competent species — such as ducks and geese — which form streamlined groups to increase their velocity, humans trundle along in a way that cuts their average speed between stores by about a fifth.
Our problem is that we fall into U or V-shaped formations so we can chat with our companions, but this slows both our progress and that of people coming the other way. We are clearly more concerned with chattering than arriving at our destination
The idea that shopping is some sort of leisure activity is bizarre and incomprehensible, and when I do venture to town the gaggles on the pavement frustrating my purposeful striding from boot-maker to wine-merchant is enough to make my normal placid bonhomie evaporate.
But now it is official, they are "as geese", but stupider, and deserve to be treated as such. Is there a closed season?
Posted by The Englishman at 6:45 AM
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April 21, 2010
A Loyal Toast
Happier Days....
Posted by The Englishman at 8:03 AM
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April 18, 2010
Off the bone
An Australian publisher has had to pulp and reprint a cook-book after one recipe listed "salt and freshly ground black people" instead of black pepper.
Damn, It will have to be roast beef for lunch again now....
Posted by The Englishman at 7:31 AM
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April 16, 2010
Friday Night is Music Night (Just Like Eddie Edition)
Edward Ray Cochran (October 3, 1938 – April 17, 1960)
On Saturday, April 16, 1960, at about 11:50 p.m , while on tour in the United Kingdom, 21-year-old Cochran, died in a traffic accident in a taxi (a Ford Consul, not, as widely quoted, a London Hackney carriage) traveling through Chippenham, Wiltshire, on the A4. The taxi crashed into a lamp post on Rowden Hill, where a plaque now commemorates the event (no other car was involved). Cochran was thrown through the windscreen, suffered severe head injuries, and was taken to St. Martin's Hospital, Bath, but died at 4:10 p.m. the following day. Songwriter Sharon Sheeley and singer Gene Vincent survived the crash, Vincent sustaining injuries that would shorten his career and affected him for the rest of his life.
Posted by The Englishman at 12:31 PM
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April 9, 2010
Friday Night is Music Night (Hesitation Edition)
Posted by The Englishman at 5:21 PM
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A Stiffy Arrives - So I'll Make the Most of It
Adam Smith Institute Bloggers' Bash 2010: A plague on all their houses?
Dear blogger,
On Thursday, 29th April, we will be holding our annual Bloggers' Bash. Details are as follows:
Speakers:
Paul Staines – Guido Fawkes' blog
Tim Worstall – It is all obvious or trivial except…
Perry de Havilland – Samizdata.net
29th April 2010, 6.30pm to 8.30pm
Plentiful beers & lagers will be served
23 Great Smith Street, London, SW1P 3BL
RSVP: events@adamsmith.org
Feel free to extend this invitation to any friendly bloggers that I might have missed, and if you feel inclined, it would be great to see it promoted on your blog.
See you there.
Posted by The Englishman at 7:35 AM
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April 2, 2010
Good Friday Night is Music Night (God Edition)
Posted by The Englishman at 5:00 PM
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Cockleshell heroes
larger
The Devizes to Westminster International Canoe Marathon is running along my moat at the bottom of the Lower Forty, hundreds of people hanging off the bridges, cars parked everywhere and brave idiots trying to paddle 125 miles, some non-stop.
A bracing walk past them, a cheery wave and then home for a hot cup of "optional cocoa" or kye.
One of the Navy’s best kept secrets, the recipe for Kye (AKA Kai).
This recipe is enough for two people (in most cases).
1. Break a small bar of plain dark chocolate into pieces.
2. Place pieces in a saucepan with one mug of hot water.
3. Heat up until the chocolate has melted.
4. Add one tin of condensed milk.
5. Bring to the boil and serve in mugs.
6. Add copious amounts of sugar to taste.
When out at sea, on look-out watch,
The hours pass slowly by,
But maybe someone brings to me
A mug of steaming kye
Posted by The Englishman at 10:04 AM
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April 1, 2010
Soccer Mumsy Boy
Cautious rejoicing replaces Rooney Anxiety, with injury almost good news - Times Online
The future of the world depends on his recovery....
I have a vague knowledge of who this Rooney is, Liverpudlian round ball chaser, I have no idea where or what he was playing in or why it is important.
Does that make me ignorant?
Interestingly of all the blogs I read I can't think of a single heterosexual blogger who seems to be interested either, so I think I'm probably in good company.
Posted by The Englishman at 6:47 AM
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March 30, 2010
There's Something About Claudia
Claudia Winkleman will replace Jonathan Ross as Film 2010 presenter - Times Online
The Times' front page is adorned with this picture and the momentous news that Claudia is to replace Ross on some television program.
As my copy dries out on the AGA there is something worrying me about the picture. Is it a trick of the light or is she paying homage to a celluloid classic?
Decoding the picture choices of sub-editors is always fun.
.
Posted by The Englishman at 7:12 AM
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March 29, 2010
Zappa, Montana - Are You In The Gang?
Conformity afflicts all ages – adults can just hide it better - Times Online
Because of its associations with rebellion and standing out from the crowd, pop music is especially adept at making people feel that they are asserting their individuality yet are part of a crowd. Disney, in particular, has finessed this contradictory message in recent years. The success of the music in Hannah Montana is predicated on its ability to make pre-teen pop fans this way. As adults we might think ourselves above such manipulation, but we all take succour in the thought that there are other people who like the music that we like. We all want to fit in somewhere. Even people who hate all music have Frank Zappa.
Umm, maybe sounds better after a trip to the greenhouse...
Posted by The Englishman at 7:02 AM
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March 27, 2010
Today I have mainly been eating trees
Hawthorn - Crataegus laevigata is also known as Midland Hawthorn or May. The Bread and Butter Tree is another name, derived from farmers' practice of nibbling on the leaves and flowers in order to take the edge off their hunger before breakfast.
Umm, I think the tiny leaves would go nicely with some salty roast lamb. One to try.
Posted by The Englishman at 10:40 AM
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March 26, 2010
Friday Night is Music Night (Benefits of Clean Living Edition)
"after the gig they all went home, had a mug of cocoa and went straight to bed"
Posted by The Englishman at 6:03 PM
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March 24, 2010
Google Exposes @ Myth
Where it’s @ — symbol time forgot becomes modern icon at a stroke - Times Online
“The @ symbol is now part of the very fabric of life all over the world,” said Paola Antonelli, senior curator of the Department of Architecture and Design. “It has truly become a way of expressing society’s changing technological and social relationships, expressing new forms of behavior and interaction in a new world,” she said.
Google has never heard of an @, so I don't believe it exists.
@Can't trust anything you read without checking.....
Posted by The Englishman at 7:46 AM
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March 17, 2010
Best Drive in Wiltshire?
I can't think of many better drives than the one I did today, anywhere in the world. Enjoy looking round with Google StreetView. (It is a shame they haven't got the pedestrian view from the terrace in Shaftesbury or from the Pub's balcony.)
Posted by The Englishman at 11:13 PM
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March 16, 2010
Shopping Channel
My Firearm Certificate is up for renewal and so I have been browsing for what additions I should ask for. I feel a need for a P14...
Posted by The Englishman at 7:30 AM
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March 12, 2010
Friday Night is Music Night (From The Dusty Archives Edition)
Posted by The Englishman at 5:29 PM
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March 5, 2010
Friday Night is Music Night (No MGs Edition)
Posted by The Englishman at 5:05 PM
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February 26, 2010
Friday Night is Music Night (Life under the Tories Edition)
Sexually provocative music videos should be banned until after 9pm - Times Online
Alan Johnson, Home Secretary, said: “We have already committed to a number of the recommendations in this report.
“Changing attitudes will take time but it is essential if we are going to stop the sexualisation that contributes to violence against women and girls.”
Posted by The Englishman at 5:54 PM
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February 20, 2010
Currant Affairs - The Truth Emerges.
All my life I believed that Currants - the dried ones - were one of the trinity of dried grapes we used in cooking. The big daddy being the ubiquitous Raisin, with the sweeter more approachable Sultana on his right hand side and Currants occupying the unexplainable ethereal role which no one can really explain.
I felt pretty damned stupid when deep in my cups I was expanding on this theory when a know-it all said; "Currants, grapes? Duh, there is a clue in their name what they actually are. Like currants man, Ribes, black, red, white, currants..."
It is not often I am wrong so I slunk off silently.
I has taken me six months to face up to my ignorance and look them up, and hah! Dried Currants aren't currants at all, they are dried Black Corinth Grapes aka Zante Currants. Currant bushes are named after the Currant, or Corinth , grape.
Now all I have to do is remember who put me down as a know nothing and shove a currant bun into his face.
Posted by The Englishman at 7:21 AM
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February 19, 2010
Friday Night is Music Night (Early Edition)
Dear, dear old Leggy...
Posted by The Englishman at 6:24 AM
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February 17, 2010
Cat Blogging - Aaaarrrh!
Celebrity chef Beppe Bigazzi upsets viewers with his cat casserole - Times Online
A top Italian food writer has been suspended indefinitely from the country’s version of the television programme Ready Steady Cook for recommending stewed cat to viewers as a “succulent dish”.
He said that for optimum flavour the meat should be “soaked in spring water for three days” before being stewed.
Filthy animals, I wouldn't want to eat one of their mangy corpses. Though I do know of a Lusitanian blogger who is fattening up a few.
Posted by The Englishman at 6:54 AM
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February 12, 2010
Friday Night is Music Night (Boom Boom Edition)
Posted by The Englishman at 5:22 PM
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February 6, 2010
The Game
I'm going under the wire this afternoon to escape to The King's Arms to watch the game with some ethnic friends.
UPDATE - What a great game to watch;
Posted by The Englishman at 8:56 AM
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Today I have mainly been planting these
+ No, not baby Stens, it is my Open-arse Orchard - it will be worth waiting for them to mature and blet.
More on Open-arses here: The Art and Mystery of Medlar fruit and Jelly
Posted by The Englishman at 8:48 AM
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February 5, 2010
Friday Night is Music Night (Get a Haircut Edition)
Posted by The Englishman at 5:01 PM
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February 1, 2010
And now, the end is here....
FREE MARKET FAIRY TALES: Someday;& that day may never come…
Vale, lacerte!
Posted by The Englishman at 8:23 AM
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January 29, 2010
Friday Night is Music Night (Fifty Years of Wanda Edition)
Posted by The Englishman at 4:53 PM
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January 27, 2010
This knife of Sheffield steel This is England
Disappearing acts: Making a Sheffield pocket knife | guardian.co.uk
More and available here
Posted by The Englishman at 11:59 PM
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January 22, 2010
Friday Night is Music Night (Doing it Greek Style Edition)
Posted by The Englishman at 3:19 PM
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January 21, 2010
Judging by the cover of the book
Whenever I see a picture or video of someone in front of a bookcase I always strain my eyes to see what books they have. It is as instinctive a way of judging as a dog sniffing a lamppost.
I'm not going to fall into that trap here. I noticed these two piles of books in the spare room, waiting to be put away on the bookshelves. I recognise some of them, but where do the rest come from? Whose are they? Which ones are mine?
Posted by The Englishman at 5:18 PM
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January 17, 2010
Because I'm worth it
+Some kindly soul seriously suggested today that I ought to have "a bit of work done" on my eyes, what were they suggesting? That I look old? Nothing that a bit of slap wouldn't cover....
Posted by The Englishman at 8:17 PM
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January 10, 2010
The Law of Hi-Vis Usefulness
The cleaner the Hi Vis clothing worn the less useful the person wearing it.
Freshly pressed new items on senior officers being interviewed on the news will be met with a chorus of "Tosser" from me.
Posted by The Englishman at 5:25 PM
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January 9, 2010
My Way Home Tonight
"Like a puffed and reckless libertine,
Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads,
And recks not his own rede."
Posted by The Englishman at 4:19 PM
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January 8, 2010
Frosty Tonight
So at nine this evening I realised Mr FM wasn't going to make Friday night at The King's Arms, he only has a Land Rover. Luckily I have some Japanese thingy which would get me there and back. So I told Mrs Englishman to put on her hat and coat as I was going out and so would be turning off the heating. My solicitude for her comfort seems to have fallen on stony ground. The kennel is bloody cold.
Posted by The Englishman at 11:10 PM
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I'm in a Prime Position in the Blog Charts
Cision - Cision Top 50 UK Blogs
I'm not worthy!
Posted by The Englishman at 6:07 PM
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Friday Night is Music Night (Cold Edition)
Posted by The Englishman at 4:42 PM
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An accurate definition of the word "delicate"
Man's penis removed from pipe - Telegraph
The anxious man aged about 40 gave hospital staff no explanation about how the pipe got stuck after he turned up on Tuesday morning.
The firefighters used a four-and-a-half-inch grinder to cut the pipe from around the man's penis and it took about 30 minutes...his penis was left bruised and swollen but otherwise unharmed
Seven firefighters helped in what a spokesman said was a ''delicate operation''.
I always use the Oxy-Acetylene gear to cut pipes, it would have been quicker.
Posted by The Englishman at 6:53 AM
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January 6, 2010
I've been out and about today
Started first time, no easy-start, no heater plug! The air conditioning was a bit brisk at times though.
Posted by The Englishman at 5:15 PM
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January 5, 2010
I am just going outside and may be some time
There's probably more to come - Times Online
The big freeze seems to defy all the logic of a warming world, but this is just part and parcel of the wild fluctuations in weather that can happen naturally.
Much of the blame for the wave of cold enveloping North America, Europe and Asia lies in the North Atlantic. An unusual layer of cold water has developed over the ocean, cooling the air and leading to a blockage in the weather pattern, with a huge area of high pressure centred around Greenland and low pressure towards the sub-tropical Azores islands.
It is unclear why the North Atlantic seas are so cold......
I'm driving half way across England this morning, and hopefully back later, for a meeting with a group about their ten year management plan. It majors on how they and their interests will respond to "Global Warming". What do I tell them?
Posted by The Englishman at 6:14 AM
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January 4, 2010
Leave the Hunting Act alone
FREE MARKET FAIRY TALES: Be very very careful what you wish for?
...the antis got their ban & fox hunting has continued pretty much as before; therefore everyone is happy.
If a new Tory administration were to repel the ban, at least for a time, the fox hunters will be happy. But when the socialists next have a parliamentary majority & that dark day will surely come in time, what exactly will they do? Of course they will ban it again but this time the legislation won’t be so full of holes that you can drive a pack of hounds through it. Just a thought you understand but just sometimes, a classic English fudge is possibly the best of all outcomes
The Hunting Act is also welcomed by many landowners as the only legislation that can be used to curb the activities of our Subaru driving freelance scrap-metal liberating lurcher owning friends.
Posted by The Englishman at 6:58 AM
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January 3, 2010
Friday Night is Music Night (Voice and Guitar Edition)
Posted by The Englishman at 5:13 PM
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Make Up Your Own Headline
What an anti-climax: G-spot is a myth - Times Online
Scientists at King’s College London who carried out the study claim there is no evidence for the existence of the G-spot — supposedly a cluster of internal nerve endings — outside the imagination of women influenced by magazines and sex therapists.
Beverly Whipple, emeritus professor at Rutgers University, New Jersey, dismissed the findings of the British study as “flawed”, saying the researchers had discounted the experiences of lesbian or bisexual women and failed to consider the effects of different sexual technique.
I'm not brave enough to comment.
Posted by The Englishman at 8:34 AM
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December 25, 2009
Friday Night is Christmas Music Night
Posted by The Englishman at 7:52 AM
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December 24, 2009
Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht
Not the video I was expecting, but lovely.
Posted by The Englishman at 6:55 AM
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December 23, 2009
Since I put the lights up the neighbours haven't visited
Tonight we sing the old songs!
Posted by The Englishman at 6:56 AM
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December 22, 2009
All to look forward to
Posted by The Englishman at 6:50 AM
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December 18, 2009
My Father's Ax
Today I have mainly been fitting a new hickory handle to my Father's ax, and touching up the edge for sharpness. Of course it would have been cheaper and easier to buy a new one but I was taught how to swing an ax with this one, a skill very few people seem to have, and even with a new handle it is still his old ax, and I have some work for it planned.
(Axe with an e is some god-damned frenchification by effete Cambridge graduates and bloody spell checkers.)
Posted by The Englishman at 8:13 PM
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Friday Night is Music Night (Not Bad for White Boys Edition)
Posted by The Englishman at 5:01 PM
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December 15, 2009
Modern Beat Combos
Pop albums: highlights of 2009 - Telegraph
The Duke & The King Nothing Gold Can Stay (Loose) Bold, poetic singer-songwriter
Jamie T Kings & Queens (Virgin) 21st-century mash-up of punk, folk and hip hop
Arctic Monkeys Humbug (Domino) Rich, dark desert rock underpinning clever songs
The Felice Brothers Yonder Lies The Clock (Team Love) Ripe, rich Americana, archaic yet utterly contemporary
U2 No Line On The Horizon (Island) Ambitious future rock with moments of startling beauty
A Camp Colonia (Polydor) Dark, ironic, romantic, Gothically ambitious songwriting from Nina Persson’s side project
The XX XX (Young Turks) Minimalist boy/girl left-field pop filled with erotic longing
The Antlers Hospice (French Kiss) A dissection of the death of a relationship shifting from distorted, ambient noise to explosive psych rock
Gurrumul Gurrumul (Skinnyfish) Hypnotic melodies and other-worldly voice of blind Aboriginal singer-songwriter
One EskimO One EskimO (Little Polar) A gem of 21st-century easy listening, chill out with soul
Nope not heard any of them, and proud to say it.
Posted by The Englishman at 7:00 AM
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December 13, 2009
Tonight I may be found lying on my back in the middle of a field
Posted by The Englishman at 5:47 PM
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December 11, 2009
Friday Night is Music Night (Extra Cold War Edition)
Posted by The Englishman at 11:45 PM
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Friday Night is Music Night (Chilly Out Tonight Edition)
More to take me back to my youth...
Posted by The Englishman at 5:04 PM
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December 10, 2009
Catty Libertarian Blog Review
taw's blog: What is libertarianism - blog edition
The mangy cat took the following list of "Top 20 Libertarian blogs", with top 5 posts ignoring extremely short ones which just link somewhere else, and other funny/unrelated posts. List is very UK-centric, but it doesn't matter.
Guido Fawkes
Devil's Kitchen
Old Holborn
Obnoxio the Clown
Underdogs Bite Upwards
Tim Worstall
Samizdata
Boatang & Demetriou
Dick Puddlecote
LPUK Blog
Last Ditch
Constantly Furious
Anna Raccoon
Freedom to Choose
Rantin' Rab
Plato Says
Charles Crawford
An Englishman's Castle
Frank Davis
Oxford Libertarian Society
...the posts I've seen were just so bad that of 100 I've checked I cannot point a single one that had any new insights or was interesting in any way. Few even pass basic sanity tests - not just by being contrarian - contrarian posts are much more interesting to read than ones that repeat the conventional wisdom - but by simply not having any idea what they write about.
Did I mention I don't like cats?
Posted by The Englishman at 6:33 PM
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December 4, 2009
Friday Night is Music Night (Never Bettered Edition)
The Ikettes in this clip feature the lovely Rose Smith, Pat Arnold, or P.P. Arnold as she later became known, and also Ann Thomas.
If only you knew how I suffered to bring you the best - researching this I accidentally clicked on Celine's version, I have been pouring caustic soda on my eardrums and scrubbing them with six inch nails to try to eradicate the horror from my memory.
Posted by The Englishman at 5:01 PM
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November 24, 2009
150 Years Old Today
On the Origin of Species: Chapter XIV, Recapitulation and Conclusion
"There is grandeur in this view of life, with its several powers, having been originally breathed into a few forms or into one; and that, whilst this planet has gone cycling on according to the fixed law of gravity, from so simple a beginning endless forms most beautiful and most wonderful have been, and are being, evolved."
Posted by The Englishman at 7:22 AM
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November 20, 2009
Friday Night is Music Night (Another Typical Night at The King's Arms Edition)
Posted by The Englishman at 5:23 PM
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November 18, 2009
www.data.gov.uk
Put in your postcode, out comes the data | Tim Berners-Lee and Nigel Shadbolt - Times Online
....The Cabinet Office has also launched a developer’s version of a website — known as data.gov.uk — which will be publicly launched at the start of next year. It is home to more than 1,100 datasets ranging from traffic counts on the road network, through reference data on schools to the Farm Survey. More than 1,000 people are helping us to put the site through its paces.
We have demonstrated that we can integrate a whole range of data about your postcode — ranging from crime statistics to recycling, from travel times and timetables to adult education and healthcare provision. We have shown that freeing data is practical and economic to do....
Openly available public data not only creates economic and social capital, it also creates bottom-up pressure to improve public services. Data is essential in enabling citizens to choose between public service providers. It helps them to compare their local services with services elsewhere. It enables all of us to lobby for improvement. Public data is a public good.
All a bit scary but if it is public rather than a state secret I feel a bit reassured.
Posted by The Englishman at 7:01 AM
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November 15, 2009
Recipe of the Day - Traditional Mincemeat
The countdown begins - this morning I'm making the mincemeat for the Christmas pies. Basically Mrs Beeton's Recipe downsized and made easier.
Suet seems to come in 200g packs these days, so as I'm lazy I have changed all the other ingredient amounts to match one pack (bloody metric). If you have the time use the recipe linked above if not there is no excuse for not making this.
200g Beef Suet
400g Mixed Fruit with peel
100g of Beef steak (raw minced)
200g of diced cooking apple
bit of nutmeg, squeeze of lemon, some lemon zest.
A large splash of brandy.
Mix them all together, squeeze into a sealable jar and leave for at least a couple of weeks; make it now for Christmas and you will be mouthing my name in thanks as you eat the best Mince Pies ever, and cursing as you will never be able to face a shop bought one ever again.
Posted by The Englishman at 8:09 AM
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November 13, 2009
Friday Night is Music Night (Harmless Old Hippy Edition)
Posted by The Englishman at 4:51 PM
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November 9, 2009
Timmy Elsewhere
Have you got permission to read this? | Tim Worstall - Times Online
Worstall celebrates the liberty we had, especially to gather together and form a club.
I was a guest at a Remembrance parade in the Midlands over the weekend, and along side the Gurkha and British servicemen there were any number of clubs and organisations represented, from Brownies to Buffaloes, market traders to merchant seamen. All remembering the fight for that liberty.
Posted by The Englishman at 7:32 AM
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November 7, 2009
That Time Of Year Again
We are off to spend the weekend in Barracks with old friends; Remembrance Parade tomorrow morning. Don't Forget.
Posted by The Englishman at 8:16 AM
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Oiling your root, for the sake of your body
My guest last night left Wiltshire convinced the locals are touched after the late night conversation at the bar descended into an argument as to the difference in taste between ringed and julienned carrots. Simple folk who can't taste the difference were relentless mocked.
Maybe I shouldn't have then brought up the arguement that carrots should be cooked whole and then cut because it started to get ugly then...
I have checked and found evidence to prove me right - and also another snippet of advice...
Carrots are best boiled whole - read the research
...mix carrots with a little fat, such as butter or olive oil. Not only does it enhance the taste, but because many important nutrients from plants are fat-soluble you'll actually absorb fewer of them if your diet is low in fat
So more butter on my carrots for my health's sake!
Posted by The Englishman at 8:04 AM
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November 6, 2009
Pub News
With Mr FM in Scotland I'm relying on the kindness of a reader to transport to the delights of the King's Arms tonight.
Last night I was at The Red Lion East Chisenbury. Bloody fantastic - book a meal there. The Salted Almond Ice Cream with the Chocolate Fondant will live in my memory for a long time.
Posted by The Englishman at 5:13 PM
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Friday Night is Music Night (Take Me Edition)
Posted by The Englishman at 4:58 PM
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November 5, 2009
Remember, Remember the Fifth of November
And happy wedding anniversary to me. Mrs Englishman deserves a medal for putting up with me for 15 years. Thanks Love!
And once more for the sheer joy of it!
Posted by The Englishman at 6:05 AM
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November 3, 2009
Bletted and my first taste of an Open-Arse, I'm converted!
"Wineskins of brown morbidity, autumnal excrementa ... an exquisite odour of leave taking".
Open Arse - Common Medlar (Mespilus germanica)
My tree has fruited and the first fruits are rotting, bletting, nicely. Until they turn to a soft brown goo, like apple sauce, inside the starfish opening they are not edible. I tried my first one yesterday and found out what I have been missing all these years. Wonderful.
This white top writeth myne olde yeris;
Myn herte is mowled also as myne heris —
But if I fare as dooth an open-ers.
That ilke fruyt is ever lenger the wers,
Til it be roten in mullok or in stree.
We olde men, I drede, so fare we:
Til we be roten, kan we nat be rype;
Posted by The Englishman at 6:31 AM
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November 1, 2009
1st November Post
Nov 1st posts from the past; 2004
and this from 2003
Today it is blowing a gale and the rain is sheeting down the windows - The roast beef has been in the bottom oven of the AGA all night and smells superb, the Claret is chosen, the Stilton is breathing, the fire blazing; so I'm not going out to update the photos.
Posted by The Englishman at 8:49 AM
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