From DPAC comes this excellent piece about SCOPE. I have history with this charity, having volunteered at one of their shops and subsequently been ignored when I applied for a paid position with them. Please follow the link below and read this piece.
Source: SCOPE #endthebullshit!
From Richard Murphy of Tax Research UK…
Source: Thinking another world is possible is step one to creating it
An account of James and Sons April auction, a plug for a petition to honour the Hillsborough campaigners and some photographs.
The day before yesterday, at the Maids Head Hotel in Norwich, James and Sons had their April auction. Overall, the auction was a great success. Although the number of internet bidders did not equal that for the March auction, there were 180 internet bidders, and this was a one day sale whereas March had been a two day affair. I will also be sharing some other stuff, including photos, at the end of this piece.
My travel expenses have recently gone down, due to the introduction of an all-day ticket which covers travel on any Norfolk route save the Coast Hopper and costs £5.50. This did mean that I could not get to a Norwich auction as early as if I were to use the X1 route (run by a different bus company, therefore ipso facto not covered) but it was still a seriously early start, as I had to be on the first bus of the morning, at 6:10AM to arrive early enough to do everything that I had to do for the running of the auction. The run to Norwich was thankfully, save for the inevitable bottleneck near Hellesdon Hospital, a very clear one, and the bus arrived exactly on schedule.
As I have indicated, this auction was a very successful one. The principal highlights according to my method of evaluating these things were in ascending lot number order:
at £30-40, sold for £65 at £25-30, sold for £45 of Trunch, estimated at £40-50, sold for £90Here is a ’tiled mosaic’ of images of these lots – to see an image at full size click on it:
I had contrived to arrange my breaks from computer work to coincide with periods when lots of interest to me were going under the hammer. The first such lot was number 460:
This was knocked down to me for £7, and better was to come near the end of the auction…
Lot 711 was a 1904 Erie Railway pass, for which a single bid of £8 sufficed:
Construction started on this railroad in 1835, and the first run along the full length of the route, from Piermont, New York to Dunkirk, New York took place in 1851. More information about this railroad can be found here. Below is a route map:
This map comes from erierailroad.org: http://i2.wp.com/www.erierailroad.org/erie-1914-map.gif
Lot 717, a print of old London Bridge based on the earliest known drawing of that structure, which is in the Pepys collection, attracted no interest from anyone save me, and was knocked down for £5:
27 years ago 96 people lost their lives at Hillsborough football ground. Through most of this period people seeking justice for the dead faced a media and governments that were almost uniformly hostile to them, while the police force involved consistently refused to accept responsibility for the disaster. At long last, after a full inquiry and inquest into the deaths it has been established that these 96 people were unlawfully killed and that blame for their deaths lies squarely with the police. Just this morning I found out about a petition on 38 Degrees to honour the campaigners who have fought so hard for this outcome. They are far more worthy of being honoured than many who have already been honoured (As a resident of King’s Lynn I think of Sir Henry Bellingham MP, apparently knighted for the great feat of having attended the same school as the prime minister, albeit at a different time). If you share my view…
To finish, here are some more photographs…
If you have not already got a copy of this book take this opportunity to rectify the omission. For more about it see my review here: https://aspiblog.wordpress.com/2015/12/30/faith-vs-fact-book-review/…
The paperback edition of Faith Versus Fact will be available on May 17, and it will have a fancy gold band on the cover instead of the drabbish band (which was supposed to be shiny gold) that was on the hardcover. It’s about fifteen bucks in the U.S., and you can preorder it from Amazon, Amazon.ca, Amazon.co.uk, Barnes & Noble, and, as always, the audio version is available from several of those places or from iTunes.
Pre-orders are best for promoting the book, of course, but I’ll be chuffed whenever you buy it. And, as always, if you encounter me in person, I’ll be glad to sign it (or WEIT) for you.
Accounts of a public meeting about disability and a protest against the possible closure of the Fermoy Unit, enlivened with photographs. Read, enjoy and please share!
I am treating these two events together because my attendance at each was connected, and I talked about one at the other. While I had strong personal reasons for attending both events, I was also motivated by not wanting to be in a position of “when they came for me there was no one left to speak out”. I will deal with the two events in chronological order and at the very end will also share some unrelated photos.
This toom place at the Vauxhall Centre in Norwich on Thursday evening. After speeches from various prominent local campaigners came the keynote speech of the evening. This was Roddy Slorach, author of “The Politics of Disability”, talking about the ideas expounded in his book. After this there was time for contributions from the floor. It was during this period that today’s demonstration was mentioned, and more details provided by me as the second part of my own contribution following mentioning the Positive Autism Awareness Conference of the previous Friday. Here are some photos from that evening for you…
I took custody of the National Autistic Society West Norfolk Branch banners and some NAS flags yesterday evening, and worked out a way to set up the banners that was suitable for them being on a march:
We assembled at the bandstand in The Walks at 12 noon, and Jo Rust who did most of the organizing introduced a few speakers, before we set off on our march around the town. Many people expressed support for us while we marched through town, and at least one person took the trouble to express their gratitude that NAS were represented on the march. The event then finished with a few speeches outside the Majestic Cinema. Although organized by the local Labour Party and the King’s Lynn and District Trades Union Council this march was not a party political event, and Sir Henry Bellingham MP had been invited to attend and to make a speech, an invitation that he spurned. The turnout was excellent, helped by bright sunny weather (yes there was a serious nip to the wind, but this is King’s Lynn after all).
I finish this brief account with a few photos…
I start this section with a photographic message for those who have reached this part of the post…
My remaining photos are presented as a’tiled mosaic’ – to view an individual image at full size click on it…
Some highlights from yesterday and today at work.
Yesterday and today were both work days for me, and I stayed overnight in Norwich as I was attending an evening meeting in that fine city. I will not be covering said meeting in this post as I plan to write about it and about tomorrow’s protest against the possible closure of the Fermoy Unit in detail in another post. All my images today are presented as ’tiled mosaics’ – to view an individual image at full size click on it.
Thursday was all imaging for the May auction. I finished the militaria imaging before moving on to some other stuff. Here a few highlights from these lots…
After the militaria I dealt with the coin lots that were unsuitable for being scanned…
There was then a mixture of items to finish the day…
Some of the last lots in the April auction (this Wednesday in Norwich) were located, and there was some interesting stuff for the May auction to image as well. I start with some of those April lots…
Now for some of the lots for the May auction that I imaged today…
A plug for Saturday’s protest on behalf of the Fermoy unit, and a brief explanation of NAS West Norfolk’s involvement.
I have made mention of the protest on Saturday against the possible closure of the Fermoy unit previously, but was not able in that post to say anything about NAS West Norfolk involvement as that was still under discussion and I did not wish to be seen as pre-empting that discussion in any way.
The discussion is now resolved and the decision has gone the way I was hoping for. Campaigning on behalf of services needed by autistic people is part of our remit and as such not only will various people from NAS West Norfolk be in attendance on Saturday, we will have the NAS West Norfolk banner with us. Although this protest has been organised by the local Labour Party in conjunction with King’s Lynn District Trades Union Council our presence is not in any way a statement of party political views – we are going to be there because the issue is important to us and not because of who is organizing it.
Before finishing by showing the poster for the event I issue a call: anybody reading this who can get to King’s Lynn on Saturday please do so – let’s make this big!
A plug for an important protest and some highlights from today at work.
I have been at work today at James and Sons, and also a discussion has been taking place regarding a protest on Saturday. Thus this post is in two parts, starting with
The state of Mental Health services in Norfolk is already, to put it bluntly, scandalous. Therefore, I have no hesitation in urging everyone who can to be present in King’s Lynn from 12PM this Saturday to be part of this protest.
Above is a jpg of the official poster for the event.
Here are a few highlights from today at work…
An account of the Positive Autism Awareness Conference staged by NAS West Norfolk yesterday at the Duke’s Head Hotel, King’s Lynn. Read, enjoy and please share.
Yesterday NAS West Norfolk held a Positive Autism Awareness Conference at the Duke’s Head Hotel in King’s Lynn, and this post,which will be a major one is all about that event.
Some us went to the venue on Thursday evening to do a some preliminary setup work to reduce the amount that needed to be done on the day itself. Here are a few photos from that…
Those of use involved in organizing the event were required to be there by 8AM so that we were ready when the guests started arriving. I arrived bright and early (given that the venue is a five minute walk from my flat so I jolly well should have done!), and got my stall up and running. Here are some photos from before the event started…
Indefatigable branch chair Karan McKerrow opened the event and explained that the day was about being positive about autism and autistic people, mentioning both myself and Callum and what we were going to be doing during the day. Then it was time for Lynda Niles’ talk. At that stage we were operating without amplification, and I was stood at the back, but I still heard every word that Lynda said. Lynda’s talk was accompanied by slides, which show you what she covered…
One of the things we had at this event was a ‘dark den’ with a beanbag inside as the floor was quite hard. The den itself survived unscathed, but the beanbag was a different story…
Callum Brazzo, the other of two autistic adults to be on the committee of NAS West Norfolk, recited a poem he had created about autism as the next feature of the conference. I am unable to remember the exact words, but it was a splendid performance, and I sure that if you email Callum he can supply the words (perhaps you could post them in the comments section as well, Callum). Meanwhile, here he is in action…
Clinical psychologist Dr Mel Bruce and a commissioner named Sharon shared the next session, but before I move on to that, Mel has learned some excellent rules for making sessions autism friendly, and here they are…
We had a working microphone by this point, which Mel and Sharon shared, taking it in turns to speak. They introduced the ‘bucket model’ for anxiety of which much more later, talked about their respective jobs and about quite a few other things.
Karan had organised food for us, which turned out to be excellent, and thus fortified we were ready for the afternoon session, which opened with the undoubted star speaker of the event…
Anna had arrived during lunch and expressed her admiration for my photos. Anna talked about her experiences bringing up two autistic children, going on People’s Strictly (partnered with Robin Windsor) and launching Autism’s Got Talent (and successfully facing down Mr Cowell over that suffix!). Her talk was thoroughly inspiring.
Anna’s talk was followed by a short break, during which I took this picture…
The last session of the day was another joint effort, by Holly and Michelle,two of Mel’s colleagues at Starfish Plus. Their presentation went into more detail about the ‘bucket model’, and was an excellent way to bring down the curtain on the event…
My photographic stall was very successful. The event itself was a massive success. Not counting us committee members 145 people packed out the venue, every session was interesting and informative and the stalls were all fantastic.
An account of the finish of the Nottinghamshire vs Surrey game in the county championship, some quality photos and some important links.
As well as an account of a classic finish in the county championship match between Surrey and Notts I have some photos and a few links to share.
Thanks to Kumar Sangakkara and Arun Harinath in their second innings Surrey came into the final day with half a chance of completing a Lazarus like come back. Surrey’s second innings ended on the stroke of lunch with them having built a lead of 168 – just enough that things might get interesting…
Opener Greg Smith played a solid innings for Notts, but when he was out the score was 152-7 and an upset was definitely possible. However, nos 8 and 9, with a pair of genuine tail-enders to follow saw through the danger to get Notts home by three wickets. There was no play anywhere else in the country.
Owing to the nature of the day (cricket in the middle thereof), I took two walks, one in the morning and one in the evening and I have pictures from both to share…
My first link is to a piece in the Mirror which shocked me. This is a story of a school using leg gaitors to restrain a six year old autistic child.
My second link is a thunderclap “#Kidsneednature”
My next three links all relate to:
The folks at disabledgo have put out a top 10 of fully accessible attractions in London which has led me to create:
My remaining links also belong together, constituting
Sian Berry has been running the best campaign of all the contenders for London Mayor by the proverbial country mile, and today she has responded as a potential decision maker to not one or even two but three change.org petitions that I have signed. I have links below to the pages that show her very detailed and very positive responses to all three.
aspiblog 