Please read this splendid post in full (be warned there is some strong language in there that you would not normally see on aspiblog), share it and also sign and share the petition to which it links.
Just what the Fuck has Iain Duncan Smith on fellow members of the Conservative Party? Thanks to John Pring at Disability News Service, we know this excuse for a man in charge of the DWP has LIED AGAIN. This time not only to us the people and the media, but also to his own Party!
This round of Lies is regarding the ‘success’ of the Disability Confident Campaign which, claims” the government is working with employers to remove barriers, increase understanding and ensure that disabled people have the opportunities to fulfil their potential and realise their aspirations.” John, via freedom of information requests has revealed, contrary to IDS claims at last years Tory Party Conference that more than 1,000 employers” had ‘signed up’ to the campaign, the reality is fewer than 400 actually joined, and only 68, are currently “active partners”!! The article is…
An account of working on various things in connection with James and Sons’ next auction (Tuesday October 6th, action starts at 10AM).
INTRODUCTION
This brief post is about James and Sons next live auction. Regular readers of this blog will recall that it was scheduled for September 30. Events intervened, and the date was changed to Tuesday October 6th, but all is now back in order.
THE PREPARATIONS
We thought that all the gremlins had been dealth with when the first batch of catalogues arrived back from the printers until someone glancing at the inside of the catalogue just after they had arrived in the shop noted that something was amiss in about a nanosecond and had put a finger on the problem in not much longer. Unbelievably, although the cover was right the listing was the August listing reproduced in its entirety. Fortunately, the printers did not argue over whose mistake it was (the evidence against them being absolute) and set about rectifying the mistake. Even more fortunately the speed with which a certain individual (one of those advantages of autism mentioned in this post) had spotted the problem meant that none of the faulty catalogues had even been put in envelopes, much less posted. The catalogue is also available for viewing online.
A MAMMOTH EMAIL CORRESPONDENCE
Most of Thursday at work was taken up with dealing queries about the upcoming auction. There was one individual who had sent requests for images of every banknote in lots 590-8 inclusive, each of which was a whole album full of said items. Here is a sample image which just happened to be the last note of the last lot in this list…
FILLING IN THE GAPS
Also in the last fewf days I have been filling in the remaining gaps in the imaging (in most cases gaps that were there because the lots had not actually been assembled – they were bulk coin lots in the main). Here a few highlights…
With this lot, the box merited attention at leats as much as the coins within.
Not a bulk coin lot – a late description change.
This also necessitated a late change of description on the online catalogue.
GETTING THE WORD OUT
Principal among yesterday’s tasks was getting an email out to our online customers about the auction. I prepared the text part of the email using word, assembled a montage of a few of the better images and once I got the go ahead sent it out. I conclude this post by sharing the images and the text with you.
This is how I assembled the six foregoing images into a montage.A JPG of the original word document, created by screendumping and cropping.
An account of developments in Lib-Dem world since I published my “Open Letter To Tim Farron”
INTRODUCTION
This can be thought of as a follow-up to my “Open Letter to Tim Farron”. Yesterday and today have seen some further developments that I believe warrant commenting on.
THE WIDENING REALITY GAP
Both Tim Farron and Sir Vince Cable have spoken of large scale defections from Labour to the Liberal Democrats. Meanwhile, IRL the first defection has happened – Councillor Jennifer Churchill switching allegiance from the Liberal Democrats to Labour. I have two versions of the story for you to check out:
Meanwhile, also IRL, the number of people who have joined the Labour Party since the result of their leadership election was confirmed now exceeds the total membership of the Liberal Democrats. For more on this and other numbers associated with the Labour leadership election check out this piece from labourlist.
I also note, courtesy of Politics Home, that Mr Farron, who previously awarded the Liberal Democrats 2 out of 10 for their performance in the coalition (a mark that to me seemed generous) has backtracked on that. I also note, courtesy of The Guardian, that Mr Farron would apparently go back into coalition with the Tories in 2020 should that possibility arise. This latter practically beggars belief given that being in coalition with them from 2010-15 well-nigh destroyed the Liberal democrats as a party. In the 2015 General Election people who actually wanted Tory policies voted for the real thing rather than a poor imitation, and people who did not want Tory policies were not going to trust the Liberal Democrats, so voted for other parties. To even be considering another Con-Dem coalition as a possibility in these circumstances seems to me to allow only two possibilities:
Mr Farron has taken leave of his senses.
Mr Farron is in actuality a saboteur trying to complete the job of destroying the Liberal Democrat party that five years of being handmaidens to the Tories started.
What is emerging from the Liberal Democrat conference is proof positive, from the horses mouth, that they cannot be considered in any sense of the word to represent any sort of opposition to the Tories. For that people must look elsewhere.
AN IMPORTANT PETITION
Jeremy Corbyn has been under constant fire from the right, including supposed party colleagues of his for some time. It is time that the media, and more especially right-wing Labour politicians recognised the triumph of a man who garnered more than three times as many votes as any of their chosen candidates could muster and stopped seeking to do him down. Please sign and share the petition.
I conclude thIS part of this post by sharing this, just in from politicalsift.
PHOTOGRAPHS
For those who have read this post through, here are some pictures from the last couple of days to enjoy…
I received an email from Tim Farron inviting me to join the Liberal Democrats. This post is my response.
INTRODUCTION
I have today received an email from Tim Farron suggesting that I might be interested in joining his party, the Liberal Democrats. What follows is my response…
THE OPEN LETTER
Dear Mr Farron,
I am responding to your email of this lunchtime inviting me to consider joining your party.
While it is true that I voted Liberal Democrat in the 2010 General Election this was for a very specific reason: The Labour Party candidate had made himself impossible to vote for by making as virtually his opening remark of the campaign a comment about Gordon Brown being Britain’s worst ever Prime Minister – which as a candidate standing on behalf of Mr Brown’s party was clearly unacceptable. I did not believe that anyone other than your party’s candidate had a chance of challenging the sitting MP Mr Bellingham (Con), so I voted Liberal Democrat as a desperate tactical measure.
A lot has happened since that General Election, including five years of your party acting as handmaidens to the Tories. In the General Election of earlier this year I was proud to vote for the Labour Party candidate, Jo Rust, and if she is the candidate again in 2020 I will vote for her again. At the same time of the same day I voted for both the Green Party candidates in the local elections.
While I agree wholeheartedly with your assessment of the Labour Party performance over the Welfare Bill, there has been a new leader elected since then, and I am liking what I see so far. I will refer to two recent happenings here:
On Friday, Mr Corbyn missed a rugby match to which he could have had free tickets because he was busy helping his constituents (a surgery that ended up running for seven hours). As far as I am concerned someone who puts his constituents ahead of a rugby match deserves applause. The second thing I wish to refer to is that Mr Corbyn has now revealed plans to renationalise the railways (these were mentioned in his manifesto in the leadership contest, which I read in detail). I offer you this infographic that I picked up on twitter:
On the question of how credible Mr Corbyn is: I do not think that the leader of a party who crashed from 62 MPs down to 8 or an ex-MP (Sir Vince Cable) are in the strongest position to raise such a question!
There is one other reason you might have thought I would be willing to join your party, which is that one of the many petitions which I have signed happens to have been created by a Liberal Democrat (it was calling for a worldwide ban on FGM). I signed the petition in question because I am in full agreement with its aims, not because of who created it.
To conclude, not only am I not remotely interested in joining your party, I am unable to see any circumstance in which I will ever again vote for them – reputations are hard earned and easily lost.
My mother Ruby Urbacz age 59 was found dead at her home on the 6th September as a result of a heart attack. She had been admitted to hospital a 01/08/15 for chest pains where they found she had had three minor heart attacks. Even though my mother had poor mobility , type 2 diabetes, very basic numeracy and literacy skills and mental health problems including depression, she was deemed “fit for work” by the DWP. She was put on JSA and hounded to show evidence of looking for a job she struggled to write a shopping list and thus constantly worried about money and if her benefits would be stopped.
Her benefits were stopped without without any investigation as she missed her jsa appointment whilst in hospital, after her discharge she had received no money for five consecutive weeks of the…
An explanation of why I have not published a post since Sunday morning and details of some upcoming posts, with a couple of ‘aperitif’ picttures
JUST SO YOU KNOW
My last published post was on Sunday morning, and as I will probably not get another full post up before tomorrow I thought a few words of explanation were appropriate (I do not like having big gaps between posts). Sunday was Heritage Open Day, and because I was at work yesterday and will be again today to get the imaging done for our next auction I have not yet had time to edit all the photos I took from Heritage Open Day. So, upcoming on this blog for definite are:
Tomorrow: At least one, probably two posts about Heritage Open Day
Thurs AM: Heritage Open Day continued
Fri AM: Heritage Open Day continued
Saturday: If I have not already done so I will finish the multi-post account of Heritage Open Day, and I will be putting up another of my London Underground posts, this time covering the Bakerloo line.
I leave you with a couple of pictures…
The brochures produced for the occasion.The stairs down into the first attraction that I and my companions visited on Heritage Open Day – an old air raid shelter.
A short post mainly devoted to sharing links, but with some photos also included.
INTRODUCTION
This is a brief post, principally to share some interesting and important links, At the end, there will be a few photos from in and around King’s Lynn.
LINKS
Today’s link’s divide naturally into two sections, starting with…
#JezWeDid
Yes everyone – #JezWeCan is now #JezWeDid – Jeremy Corbyn not only won the election outright in the first round, he did so with an absolute landslide, leaving even the 57% achieved in the first round by Tony Blair when he won the leadership behind him. I have three links that relate to this news…
If you are a former ILF recipient, living in the Waltham Forest Council area can you please email us at mail@dpac.uk.net, or if you know someone who is, could you please ask them to contact us.
An account of imaging at James and Sons with a focus on Railwayana, some links to pieces posted on whyevolutionistrue and a few general links.
INTRODUCTION
The mesalliance of subjects indicated by my title is brought about by the fact that I only have time for a very quick blog post, and the two things I most want to share are pictures of some interestinfg railwayana that will be in our next auction and a number of superb pieces that whyevolutionistrue have produced recently.
RAILWAYANA
I have had a particularly busy time imaging autcuion lots over the last few days, because the other person who regualrly does imaging was involved in a car accident (the car accident stats for Norfolk make grim reading because the lack of a proper public transport infrastructure and the prevalence of poverty mean that people start driving at the first available opportunity and are often using cars that are not really road worthy) is consequently off sick. Thankfully, albeit with a rejigging of work days for next week, we are on track for completing the catalogue by the end of Tuesday, which means that by the back end of next week printed copies should be available, and an online listing should be ready to view.
The two lots that especially caught my eye in and amongst the vast quanrtity of stuff I have been imaging were numbers 51 and 52, and I conclude this section with full photo galleries for both lots…
Lot 51 is this antique railway mapThe remaining seven images including this one are of lot 52
A FANTASTIC FIVE FROM WHYEVOLUTIONISTRUE
This blog, the title of which comes from a marvellous book by Jerry A Coyne has been in tremendous form just lately, with the pieces I am sahring merely the cream of a spectacular crop…
Next an absolute crackerjack titled “Religious Freedom In A Nutshell” and accompanied by Ambrose Bierce’s classic definition of a Christian: CHRISTIAN, n. One who believes that the New Testament is a divinely inspired book admirably suited to the spiritual needs of his neighbor.
A post created in support of Chris Packham, and therefore featuring nature. I also have some important links and a great infographic for you.
INTRODUCTION
I am producing this post to offer public support for Chris Packham, who has been targeted by group of hunters/shooters/fishers who call themselves the Countryside Alliance. I hope that you will all enjoy it and that you will share it.
NATURE
It will not be news to followers of this blog that I take a great interest in nature. One of the reasons why living where I do works for me is that as well as having the amenities of a town centre on my doorstep I have open green space within comfortable walking distance and a river with all its associations even closer at hand. The combination of the fact that I do not drive and the scandalous state of public transport provision for out of town areas mean that I have to live in a town centre.
Most days I get out for a walk, and I usually get some good pictures (there is only one kind of shooting that I am interested in, and my weapon of choice is a Nikon Coolpix P530). Here are a few highlights from today…
The first four pictures are from yesterday.
This snail, on the path through Hardings Pits, has a very interesting coloured shell.
An unusual drake, with a white front and a black bill.
Just in case any of you are not already familiar with him Chris Packham is a naturalist and nature photographer who sometimes presents stuff on the BBC. I included a link to his official website in my introduction, and repeat that here.
The claim made by the Countryside Alliance is that he has violated BBC neutrality. Frankly I would regard being targeted by this group as something to be proud of, and I am adamant in saying that the BBC should stand by him. I finish this section by including the full link to a petition to tell the BBC not to sack Chris Packham:
I wish to draw our attention to two things coming up in the near future:
Heritage Open Day, which is this Sunday, and no fewer than 57 sites in King’s Lynn will be opening their doors for the occasion.
November the 4th marks the 125 anniversary of the opening of the City and South London Railway, the oldest deep level tube railway in the world. Those familiar with this blog can probably work out what aspiblog will be doing to mark the occasion!
I have a few other links I wish to share, starting with two that should both make unpleasant reading for the…
I will start with a link to the website of the West Norfolk branch of the National Autistic Society. Their most recent newsletter includes this quote: “a member has pointed us towards www.autcraft.com the online version of minecraft for people with autism”. As the member who provided the information I am delighted, but I must also assign credit where it is really due – I only happened to know about Autcraft because Autism Mom has written about it in a number of blog posts, such as this one.
My last link is the twitter account through whose good offices I located an infographic in the “Never mind gold, that’s platinum” class with which I shall end this post. They are called identifor and the infographic is this:
An account of a coffee morning organised by NAS West Norfolk, some photos and some important links. I draw your particular attention to the levitycropscience crowdfunding issue.
INTRODUCTION
As well as my title piece I have some photos from the King’s Lynn area to share, some important links and a platinum quality infographic.
A MUCH ANTICIPATED COFFEE MORNING
Having received more than one email from my friends at NAS (National Autistic Society) West Norfolk about this coffee morning I was hoping for a decent event. From my perspective the rest of the story involves three elements..
THE WALK THERE
With the event due to start at 10AM I set off from my small town centre flat at 9:15AM and headed for the Scout Hut on Beaulah Street by way of Bawsey Drain and Lynn Sport. It was grey and uninspiring, but there was the odd photo worthy moment…
I don’t all that often include pictures of ducks, but this was a particularly fine specimen and there was not much else to command attention at the time.
AT THE EVENT
I was pleasantly surprised by the number of people who had shown up – in total there were 14 of us present. One of the others, who I had not previously met, noticed the fact that i had a camera and had snapped off a few pictures, so I provided her with details of my blog, twitter account and email address, which she gratefully accepted, along with the explanation that all my best pictures are on the blog.
One of the two posters on the wall of the upstairs meeting room at the Scout Hut.
Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves, and I felt that this was a good start to what is intended to be a series of such mornings (and Karan, who organised the event, mentioned having people come to give talks in the future, which I also approve of).
The other wall poster – might be though of as ‘zooming out’ from the subject matter of the first.
THE WALK BACK
For the walk back I completed the circle by going via KES (King Edward VII Academy) and the train station. The only picture worth sharing that I was able to get was on the way out, heading down the stairs.
I look forward to more events like this in the future!
SOME LOCAL PHOTOGRAPHS
Yesterday was a sunny day, and I got some fine photos, the best of which I now share…
My first four pictures related to classic local landmark, Greyfriars Tower, with two information boards…
This up-tower shot……And this external shot, taken from next to the the projector that displays a light show on the walls of the tower.The next five pictures are of a remarkably coloured butterfly that was just near the Greyfriars Tower, in the Peace Garden.
A westering sun reflected off the Great Ouse yesterday evening.
King’s Lynn landmark no 1 – the Custom House
With two local landmarks pictured above this an opportunity to draw your attention to Heritage Open Day, this coming Sunday, when no fewer than 57 places of interest in King’s Lynn will be open to the public, some for the only time of the year.
I have previously mentioned that the UK is currently being investigated by the UN for human rights abuses because of the way the Scameron government treats disabled people. Courtesy of samedifference I can now tell you that there are no fewer than 41 issues that prompted this and provide this link (already widely shared on twitter).
While I have been producing this blog post I have received information about a crowd-funding campaign to support an autistic crop scientist, about which I shall be producing a full post sometime soon. For the moment, to prepare you, here is a link to levitycropscience.
A PLATINUM INFOGRAPHIC
This, from politicsbeginner comes this superb infographic about Kim Davis:
A FINAL WORD
I hope you have all enjoyed this post. I end with a request: please share widely. Even if you choose not to share the whole post, please share at the minimum the stuff about levitycropscience.
aspiblog 