May 2013
17 posts
“Getting the reissue together has been a really interesting project for me,...”
– The Mountain Goats | News Archive | Requiem for Red Southern Curl
“Facebook users should be both smart and selective about what they like. The act...”
– How “Like Farming” Facebook Scams Work | Facecrooks.com | How to Avoid Facebook Scams
“Green is R.E.M.’s Songs of Innocence and of Experience , and while it should be...”
– R.E.M. - Green (25th anniversary edition) / Releases / Releases // Drowned In Sound
“To be clear, five of the six “surveys” cited by the Department of...”
– Michael Gove revealed to be using PR-commissioned puff-polls as “evidence”
“Until a few hundred years ago, most people believed human history was cyclical -...”
– BBC News - A Point Of View: Leaving Gormenghast
“It has become so well-used in the journalistic ecosystem that it is on the edge...”
– BBC News - Turning a scandal into a ‘-gate’
“To the outsider, the Nottingham accent might make the person speaking it sound...”
– Aah Ter Talk Notts - Nottingham Culture - LeftLion.co.uk
- also, the Wikipedia article on East Midlands English is good: “Those who speak traditional regional dialects are not trying unsuccessfully to speak Standard English. East Midlands English follows a series of distinct grammatical...
“All language has grammar, otherwise it wouldn’t be language. Grammar is...”
– Michael Gove and ‘correct grammar’: let me explain this slowly | Michael Rosen | Comment is free | guardian.co.uk
- everything in this article, but the quote above in particular.
“We are constantly creating and recreating our narratives of identity,...”
– Writing, Time Machines, and Memory | Play
“In the last few weeks, I have had messages from people saying that I should not...”
– Tesco’s treatment of its workers shows why we must stop subsidising it
- I have to admit that the phrase “[I] am a Conservative trade unionist myself” completely stopped me in my tracks.
“Protecting children on the net is a responsibility of their parents in the first...”
– BBC News - Censoring Facebook: Social network’s violent video dilemma
- lots of food for thought in this report. I picked the above quote because it illustrates something I’ve referred to in conversation several times so far this year, regarding the way ‘systems’ handle...
“Residents were astonished when they woke up and found new signs with their...”
– From Muriel to Leirum: tenants get their street’s name flipped back-to-front - London - News - London Evening Standard
“People find birdsong relaxing and reassuring because over thousands of years...”
– BBC News - The surprising uses for birdsong
- a blackbird has recently taken to perching on the TV aerial outside our flat and I’ve been enjoying its song, so this is timely.
“I have never forgotten that conversation. It showed Thatcher conscientious to a...”
– Mental health and Mrs Thatcher: “All due to a lack of personal drive, effort and will”
“There are ten rules in the law as defined by Sandemose, all expressive of...”
– Law of Jante - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
“The discontent that people might reasonably feel against bankers, capitalists...”
– UKIP: the victory of the ruling class
“Music has emancipated me, pornography has emancipated me, people, lovers. And I...”
– Savages - Silence Yourself / Releases / Releases // Drowned In Sound
April 2013
31 posts
“I’ve saved my favourite graph until the end. This is the share of income, after...”
– Did the left win the 20th century? | Flip Chart Fairy Tales
“Excel fans are often treated pejoratively. “‘You can’t learn...”
– BBC News - The mysterious powers of Microsoft Excel
“… the last five years of economic prediction have told us one thing: No...”
– BBC News - The mysterious powers of Microsoft Excel
BBC News - 1913: When Hitler, Trotsky, Tito, Freud... →
“Margaret Thatcher biographer John Campbell says the choice of readings and hymns...”
– BBC News - Author’s notes on Thatcher funeral service
“There are at least six major pieces of [UK] legislation that have a role to play...”
– BBC News - Who, what, why: Can police stop protests at Margaret Thatcher’s funeral?
Chatham in Kent is in the 'affluent' South East... →
medwaybroadside:
Yes, it’s the Mail. But do read, this is important stuff
For me, the ‘affluent South East’ angle is a red herring. There are always trends and anomalies (i.e. exceptions that prove the rule?).
Chatham has many parallels with stereotypically ‘northern’ (English) experiences, e.g. the specific job losses and the more general sense of uncertain future...
“In his workshop he shows me a strip of tonewood from a tree at least 350 years...”
– BBC News - Stradivarius trees: Searching for perfect musical wood
“There are no official organisers of Saturday’s protest, which is the...”
– Ex-miners to join the anti-Thatcher protesters in Trafalgar Square | Politics | The Guardian
- love this for many reasons, including: a) the longevity of the original idea/commitment, outlasting its originators and now manifest into reality; b) ‘no official organisers’ is another...
“After two days on the road, this much is clear: driving around the UK to assess...”
– Thatcher’s death has Britain peering back through time | Politics | The Guardian
“Study the historian before you begin to study the facts. This is, after all, not...”
– What Is History? - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- as well as studying A-level History, I attempted (and failed) S-level Historiography. I’ve just been reminded of EH Carr’s ‘What Is History’, which was one of the key texts. I think I’d like to re-read it.
“Until home brewing was legalised in the US in 1979, enthusiasts considered...”
– BBC News - US craft beer: How it inspired British brewers
“It’s a one-line joke with all the subtlety of a Hitler moustache scribbled...”
– Thatcher Ding Dong! chart campaign is puerile – but the best protest available | Music | guardian.co.uk
- also, “Tasteless this campaign may be, but it’s freedom, democracy and market forces in action.”
“Antiaris toxicaria is notorious as a poison for arrows, darts and...”
– Antiaris toxicaria - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- echoes of my former fascination with mercury, which is also poisonous and also associated with communication.
“While conceding that there was a case for “a tightening around...”
– The part of the Blair piece the Tories don’t want you to read
“Thatcher’s unwavering belief in the invisible hand of the market meant...”
– Clearing up the mess that Margaret Thatcher left | Frances O’Grady | Comment is free | The Guardian
“If the intention was to transform the industry by bringing in Ian MacGregor from...”
– BBC News - Margaret Thatcher dies: More tributes from Wales and legacy debated
“Historians will one day explain how Thatcher was just another pragmatic...”
– Margaret Thatcher in perspective | Jack of Kent
“In the last analysis, though, her stock in trade was division. By instinct,...”
– Margaret Thatcher: the lady and the land she leaves behind | Editorial | Comment is free | The Guardian
“So, here is a company that has somehow managed to carry on producing an overtly...”
– The curious history of the kitchen mixing bowl
“Almost nobody who isn’t a mega-star anticipates much in the way of actual “I...”
– In a follow up to question about buying at shows and the breakdown of payment, how does Spotify work for you? If I listen to your albums on repeat all day, do you get paid multiple times? Is Spotify a good thing for you and the band?
- part of John Darnielle’s response to the above question.
“Whatever the Daily Mail and others might like us to think, the existence of a...”
– Scroungers, scumbags and soaring welfare costs | Flip Chart Fairy Tales
- recommended reading, particularly for the graphs and figures, which tell the real story (e.g. unemployment benefit accounts for just 2.6% of the entire UK welfare bill)
“Self-doubt is very important. You should question yourself and ask how you can...”
– Helen McCrory: ‘I used to think sexually charged roles were exploitative. Now I’m in my forties, I think it’s art’ - Profiles - People - The Independent
“… in three years of regularly asking people what they think about the...”
– We have to talk about why some people agree with benefit cuts | John Harris | Comment is free | The Guardian
Virgin launch new jet with see-through glass floor... →
Of all the “if only…” April Fool jokes, this is the one that NEEDS to happen.
“Any glance at our society makes it obvious who’s run up all the debts; the poor,...”
– The poor spend all the money. Isn’t it obvious? - Comment - Voices - The Independent
March 2013
24 posts
“Just look at the figures. In the 1960s, we were drinking 160 litres each a year...”
– BBC News - Why are the French drinking less wine?
“We often come across half-baked decisions taken in the name of health and...”
– BBC News - Canvey Island school bans triangle shaped flapjacks 