This evening I took Chrystal into Crawley town centre for a Labour Party fund-raising dinner. I was supposed to be taking Jayne, but her hip was playing up so Chrystal was a last-minute substitute. The guest of honour was John Prescott. He was full of praise for Laura Moffatt and Gordon Brown. Not quite so […]
Entries from December 11th, 2009
Expenses confusion
December 10th, 2009 · 3 Comments · Politics
I am a little confused by the Argus’ story about Sussex MPs’ expenses. It says: By contrast, Hove MP Celia Barlow did not claim a penny under ACA during the year, after giving up her second home and commuting to and from her constituency, while Crawley MP Laura Moffatt’s claim of £38.70, for an outstanding […]
Tags: Expenses
Burning bodies
December 10th, 2009 · Comments Off on Burning bodies · Life
The headline on the Argus website is “Sussex crematoriums to generate electricity” but the full URL for the story is http://www.theargus.co.uk/news/4779646.Sussex_crematoriums_to_generate_electricity_from_bodies/ I think I have a fairly rational, science-based readership here so I probably don’t need to labour the point about all the total point-missing in the story and comments.  Suffice to say, they are […]
Tags: Local Papers·Science
Thames Town
December 9th, 2009 · Comments Off on Thames Town · Life
I found out about this town in China via Chris Applegate on Twitter.  It looks like a sort of large-scale Poundbury-type project. Be interesting to see what their Swedish, Dutch, German, Spanish and Italian towns look like. The whole thing sounds like somebody doing the World Showcase bit of Epcot on a massive scale with […]
Tags: China·Town Planning
Brighton podcast
December 9th, 2009 · 2 Comments · Life
I took Frankie out to another comedy show tonight. Something a bit different this time – Richard Herring and Andrew Collins doing a live recording of the Collings and Herrin Podcast in Brighton. To be honest, I was a bit disappointed.
Are people in West Sussex stupid?
December 9th, 2009 · 2 Comments · Politics
Or is it just that the council thinks they are?  Not my question but one, apparently, posed by Iain Dale. Full details where I found out about it on Owen’s new blog.
Tags: WSCC
Elf n Safety gone mad
December 8th, 2009 · 1 Comment · Life
In the local paper this week there is an article by Francis Maude, complaining about the “burden” of health and safety. I think most sensible people know that having protection against serious injury or death at work is a good thing – although most employers will recognise that it can be expensive, which is why […]
Tags: Health and Safety·Newspapers
Blame Zeus!
December 5th, 2009 · Comments Off on Blame Zeus! · Life
I expect to be posting here rather less often for the forseeable future, thanks to a bargain purchase of Master of Olympus and Master of Atlantis for about six quid altogether. According to the package the games contain over 200 hours of gameplay which works out at about 3p for an hour’s entertainment.
And then there were three…
December 5th, 2009 · Comments Off on And then there were three… · Life
Frankie and his fiancee have found a house to rent privately, and Charlie has moved in with them to help with the rent and fill the place up. Its good for them to all be independent now, but this place is starting to feel empty now with only the girl at home. Jayne isn’t taking […]
Passing the test
December 4th, 2009 · Comments Off on Passing the test · Life
The Crawley News is reporting (though not on its website) that it is harder to pass your driving test in Crawley than anywhere else in Sussex.  This is backed up by statistics showing that the pass rate is lower than elsewhere. Of course this could just mean that drivers in Crawley are worse (it might […]
Tags: Driving·Local Papers
