The local elections here in Crawley generated a few surprises, but little of the nail-biting excitement we are used to here. Anyone in need of entertainment at the count had to rely on a speech by Arshad Khan of the Justice party. Arshad is well-known within the town, and nothing he can says or does […]
Entries Tagged as 'Quotes'
Quote of the week – election special
May 10th, 2007 · 12 Comments · Politics
Tags: Elections·Local Papers·Quotes·WTF
Comparison of the week
April 24th, 2007 · Comments Off on Comparison of the week · Life
After working all day, then going straight out delivering election addresses it was quite late in the day before I got round to reading what should have been my morning paper, but it was worth it for the West Ham/Everton match report. describing the end of West Ham’s season and the effect it has on […]
Disillusion with Labour?
February 20th, 2007 · 16 Comments · Politics
From that book what I am reading: There was also a degree of disillusion with the political direction of the Labour Party. To the political left and the radical underground, the progress made by Roy Jenkins enacting liberal laws [*] was outweighed by a subsequent drift to the right in 1969 and early 1970: continuing […]
Tags: Books·Labour Party·Nostalgia·Quotes·Tories
Nostalgia
February 18th, 2007 · 2 Comments · Life
Nostalgia is a weapon wielded by old people to deny young people their dreams I came across that in the introduction of a book I just started reading, and I am sure it is nowhere near as profound as it sounds, but I like it. It relates to how the 70’s generation were repeatedly told […]
Unfortunate quote
February 18th, 2007 · Comments Off on Unfortunate quote · Politics
I have mentioned before how easy it is to get carried away in a planning committee, and make hyperbolic statements, but this is a classic. Broadwater Farm will be an everlasting memorial to my committee Chair of Haringay planning committee, 1967 Apparently its nowhere near as bad as it was 20 years ago, but still…
Asimov on religion
January 2nd, 2007 · Comments Off on Asimov on religion · Life
I used to read a lot of Isaac Asimov, but I barely scratched the surface – he wrote something like 500 books and I only have about 50 of them. Incidentally, how do you manage to write 500 books? Thats an average or 7 or 8 a year if you start as soon as you […]
Pretentious? Moi?
September 1st, 2006 · Comments Off on Pretentious? Moi? · Life
The death of artist Vladimir Tretchikoff has kicked off another round of discussions/arguments about whether his work was ‘real’ art or just kitsch commercial product. I do know that we had a copy of the green lady (real name Chinese Girl) on the wall when I was a kid in the 60s, so I have […]
Book review
August 4th, 2006 · Comments Off on Book review · Life
My proof copy of the book to review arrived today. The review has to be in on the 14th and the book has 600 pages in a large format. I don’t think I will have time to savour the prose if I am to finish it and write about it in a week which is […]
Consultation
July 18th, 2006 · 2 Comments · Life, Politics
I have recently finished a book called The Tyranny of Numbers by David Boyle, sub-titled ‘why counting can’t make us happy’. Its an interesting book, but possibly less than the sum of its parts, by which I mean there are lots of specific parts which are fascinating but I am not sure about the overall […]
London Transport
June 12th, 2006 · Comments Off on London Transport · Life
I know just how Martin feels – thats why I try to avoid the tube generally, and especially during the summer, and stick to the mainline trains. Now that all the trains in my region have been replaced with air-conditioned carriages with tinted glass I can feel even more smug. This would be a good […]