So I agreed to go with a friend to a local tidal river today and test out her new/old kayak. Let’s not think about the fact she bought a kayak she couldn’t life onto her car or lift off so she needed someone to help, let’s concentrate on the warm evening and the kind river…
Month: July 2024
From Our Own Correspondent
I recall Alistair Cooke’s ‘Litter from America’ which was required listening when I was growing up. It was only later that I learned he was a Republican and liked to tell you how good the houses were his children had bought. But he was recognised by the US for his decades of explaining the US…
Cloudstrike Falcon
So as I write the AI enhanced cyber security programme Cloudstrike’s Falcon, used across the world, has failed an update and business and individuals are finding life harder than yesterday. According to the news the one bit of good news is that this is not a deliberate attack on the system but a faulty bit…
The Strange World of Dog Walking
No matter what you know about dogs you should always follow the wishes of the owners. But argue about the benefits if a harness over a collar, No matter what places you go get to know the dog before you let them off the lead. You’re taking the dig walking, not vice-versa. The age of…
Edward Thomas
Adlestrop Yes. I remember Adlestrop— The name, because one afternoon Of heat the express-train drew up there Unwontedly. It was late June. The steam hissed. Someone cleared his throat. No one left and no one came On the bare platform. What I saw Was Adlestrop—only the name And willows, willow-herb, and grass, And meadowsweet, and…
So That’s How It Happened
Many time we read history and we think ‘how did they fall for that’ when we think about the terrible leaders that have taken power and then betrayed their electorate. The promises that were never going to be kept. Part of the appeal being the way they pander to the immediate experiences of the electorate…
Generational changes
Listening to Round the Horn, a radio comedy programme in the UK of the 1950s, and then listening to a roast of modern celebrities on TV it is obvious that humour has not just released itself from a wish to be sexually provocative but not daring to be anything but suggestive, to today when crudity…
Roll On Conspiracy
We kill our saints and suffer our tyrants. It is an old adage but in the light of the shooting of Donald Trump I can hear the conspiracy theories now. The shooter was set up to wound not kill and thought he would live. The shooter was seen on ranges and wouldn’t have missed. The…
Animal Farming
George Monbiot has, apparently, called to end the vast majority of animal farming. I think a lot of ecologically thinking people want to do this because it takes so many more resources that could be utilised for better framing, to bring up animals and murder them. In fact the best reason to stop this cruelty…
Drug Addicts
There are, of course, several reasons why people become addicted to certain drugs. From my brief experience with my cousin who was a cocaine addict for a decade and a friend who died of an overdose at 18, I can see that very gentle, empathetic people can become addicted. Hard-nosed people may find it more…