There have been seven previous installations in the Tate Modern’s Unilever exhibitions series, of which I have seen four and enjoyed them all to various extents. When I first heard about the new one (Shibboleth by Doris Salcedo) I had a real sense of anti-climax. The Turbine Hall is a brilliant, magnificent space and I […]
Entries from October 11th, 2007
Inheritance tax
October 10th, 2007 · 8 Comments · Politics
I feel out of step with all this talk about inheritance tax. I have never seen it as a ‘tax on death’. That is just an emotive label pushed by the newspapers and Tories as far as I can see. If anything it is a windfall tax on the inheritors. As it happens I do […]
Tags: Taxation
Great Modern Buildings
October 10th, 2007 · 6 Comments · Life
Another thing I am enjoying this week is the Guardian’s series of pull-outs on great modern buildings – a great improvement on wallcharts of mushrooms or sharks. (I’ll reserve judgement on the booklets of speeches and interviews. I kept them all and just never got round to reading any of them) So far they have […]
Tags: Buildings·Newspapers·Town Planning
House of cards
October 10th, 2007 · Comments Off on House of cards · Politics
I'm loving the re-run of House of Cards on BBC Four as pat of their "Why Democracy?" season, eventhough I do not normally go for political drama. 1990 seems like a long time ago now, probably because it is, but this series has aged remarkably well. I doubt if many drama series from 17 years […]
Minimum Wage
October 8th, 2007 · Comments Off on Minimum Wage · Politics
I treated myself to a day without newspapers today, but Iansredlog alerted me to this story which was in the Observer. It is all about the minimum wage and whether it is set high enough, leading to this quote: What does the minimum wage say about our society? 'It's the floor beneath which nobody should […]
Tags: Trade Unions
Found
October 7th, 2007 · Comments Off on Found · Life
Last week the Broadfield Community Centre office finally found the details of the lady who bought my services at the charity auction back in August. I suppose it was inevitable, but when I called to see about going to sort out her computer the phone line was out of order. I tried again yesterday and […]
Tags: BYCC
Holbrook West
October 7th, 2007 · 26 Comments · Politics
Yesterday a few of us from Wealden UAF (well, more than a few really) went over to Holbrook West in Horsham to deliver leaflets.
Lawn
October 5th, 2007 · Comments Off on Lawn · Life
I hope the dry weather continues for another day at least. As this photo shows, I really need to get out and cut the grass.
Tags: Photos
Conference report
October 4th, 2007 · Comments Off on Conference report · Politics
At tonight’s constituency meeting we had a superb report back from our conference delegate, Brenda Smith. Not to say that she wasn’t committed before, but the experience of going to conference has boosted her enthusiasm even more. Which is not surprising really. Just her 30-minute report about the conference raised morale and spirit tonight, and […]
Tags: Conference·Labour Party
King of bongo (bong)
October 3rd, 2007 · 2 Comments · Music
Just back from seeing Manu Chao at the Brixton Academy. It was an extraordinarily good show, which was about 50% encores. One of my friends there described him at the end as the Duracell bunny of music, and its true: the energy levels the band keep up all the way through are amazing. The show […]
Tags: Concerts·London·World music
