Two Great Manifestos

Covering the Labour and We Own It manifestos.

INTRODUCTION

The two manifestos to which I refer are those the Labour Party and the We Own It Campaign. In this post, which as a purely political post features text that alternates between red and green I will share links to some of the posts that the Labour Manifesto has already generated, and links to both manifestos and some of my own thoughts. 

THE WE OWN IT MANIFESTO

This is a must-read document about public ownership. At the end of the document there is a link to click to enable you contact your candidates to ask them if they will support these measures – I have just done so. As a sampler, here is the section on Railways:

Railways

As a coda to the above I point out that most of our railways are in the hands of profit making arms of other countries state owned railways – the Dutch state owned railway by way of Abellio operates more track in this country than there is in the whole of the Netherlands.

THE LABOUR MANIFESTO

I recently shared the draft version of this manifesto with you, The final version was released yesterday, and is every bit as good as expected. The screenshot below shows the scope of the document. Please do read it in full – primary sources are always better than secondary, even on those occasions when the authors of the secondary sources don’t have axes to grind.

LM

MORE ON THE LABOUR MANIFESTO

In this section I will share four links to posts concerned with the Labour Manifesto:

  1. Richard Murphy of Tax Research UK first response was this post, titled “Labour has delivered a good manifesto for the UK“
  2. Following up on the above post, Prof. Murphy has also produced the following, titled “How to pay for renationalisation“
  3. The Skwawkbox have produced a piece that combines commenting on the Labour Manifesto with showing the sheer desperation of the Tory response to it. This post also has an excellent accompanying graphic, reproduced below:
    con fake news grinder.png
  4. Jeff Goulding on RAMBLINGS OF AN ORDINARY MAN has produced a splendid piece titled “Labour’s manifesto: a triumph of leadership and hope over cynicism and despair“, a very detailed analysis accompanied with some excellent pictures, one of which I reproduce below:

JUNE 8TH

I have no objection to tactical voting where such represents a chance to be rid of a Tory. In certain seats, notably Brighton Pavilion which they already hold and the Isle of Wight among others I would unhesitatingly call for a vote for the Greens, given that they have stepped aside in no fewer than 30 seats to improve Labour chances there and that I have a great deal of time for the Greens. In my own constituency of North West Norfolk there is only one way for any progressively minded person to vote – for Labour Candidate Jo Rust. Make sure you use your vote on June 8th.

PHOTOGRAPHS

Just a few photos to end this post:

1107
Lot 1107 in James and Sons upcoming auction.
1107-a
1107-a – A Northern line train of 1956 stock.
1107-b
1107-b: The last two items in the album.
DSCN6727
Mama duck with her brood, the Gaywood River near Beulah Street.

A Little Bit of Many Things

A mixed bag of stuff – hope you enjoy it.

INTRODUCTION

Much of this post will be sharing finds from elsewhere, but there will also be some pictures of my own. I will be starting with politics,  moving from there on to transport, then some science and finishing up with some stuff about autism. Other than in this introduction most of the text will be coloured, and links as usual will be in bold and underlined. 

POLITICS

There is a particular reason why I am mixing red and green in this section and priveleging green by having it come first. The Greens have pulled out of a number of seats in the upcoming general election to make Labour’s task easier. These seats include at least one held by a current cabinet minister. I urge Labour to reciprocate by at the very least not fielding a candidate in Brighton Pavilion (the only seat currently held by the Greens), and preferably also by leaving a clear field for them on the Isle of Wight, and in a few other seats that the Greens are particularly targetting. In my own constituency of Northwest Norfolk Labour is the only party with a chance of unseating the Tory, and I will thankfully be able to vote Labour with a smile as they have very sensibly reselected the excellent Jo Rust as their candidate. My first two shares are both about Labour’s plans to deal with tax avoidance. The two pieces in question are:

I conclude this section with a reference to Labour’s manifesto, now in the public domain. I have read the document in full and urge you to do likewise by clicking here. As both an aperitif and a lead-in to the next section of this post I reproduce the transport section:

Labtrans

TRANSPORT

A brief section, containing two important links. The first, from the Campaign for Better Transport is titled “Improving air quality: buses are key to success“ and details precisely how serious an issue air pollution is in the UK and how buses can help solve this.  The second piece I am sharing in this section comes from livescience.com and has the self-explanatory title “New Battery Could Power Electric Cars 620 Miles on Single Charge“.  Below is a picture of the battery taken from that article.

 

An illustration that shows how the new electric battery is stacked like a ream of paper.

Credit: Fraunhofer IKTS. 

SCIENCE

I have three recent finds to share, all courtesy of the Guardian. The first of these another link in the chain of whale evolution, published under the headline “36m-year-old fossil discovery is missing link in whale evolution, say researchers“. Here is the picture:

Two Mystacodon selenensis individuals diving down to catch eagle rays along the seafloor of a shallow cove off the coast of present-day Peru.

From water creatures we move to ancestors of flying creatures, with this piece titled “Dinosaur tail trapped in amber offers insights into feather evolution” again accompanied by an excellent picture, reproduced below:

Having covered water creatures and the ancestors of air creatures we finish with land creatures, and the largest fossilized footprints ever discovered, with a diameter of 1.7 metres. These dinosaur footprints are located near Broome in northwestern Australia, a place I visited in 2006. The largest creatures living there these days are crocodiles which at an absolute peak might grow to a body length of six metres. The article is titled
“World’s largest dinosaur footprints discovered in Western Australia” and accompanied by some good pictures, one of which I reproduce below.

The prints indicate enormous animals that were probably around 5.3 to 5.5 metres at the hip.

The prints indicate enormous animals that were probably around 5.3 to 5.5 metres at the hip. Photograph: Damian Kelly/University of Queensland/EPA

AUTISM

I have several pieces to share in this section, starting with two from americanbadassadvocates as follows:

My next share is from visualvox and has the self-explanatory title “Done with that autism spectrum “disorder” business“

I finish this section with a link to piece from thesilentwaveblog. There is another very recent post from this same blog that will be featuring in the post I shall be producing for my birthday. As a clue I will tell you that due to the particular number it will be I am calling this birthday the “Douglas Adams Birthday”. Today’s link is to a post titled
“Asperger’s / autism and microaggression” with the picture reproduced below:

PHOTOGRAPHS

Just a few photographs today, mostly of items going under the hammer at James and Sons next auction (full catalogue available here):

359
Lot 359 – five images.

359-a359-b359-c359-d

1134
Various cigarette card lots, all in the 1100s

1133113211311149118911061191119011961193

DSCN6542
A 2016 £2 coin, commemorating the 350th anniversary of the Great Fire of London, the first I had ever handled (taken just before I handed over as part of a bus fare).

 

 

 

 

Why and how I blog

Some excellent ideas and advice on setting up a blog from one of my favourite bloggers…

Laina Eartharcher's avatarthe silent wave

Not too long ago, I received an email from a friend who passed along a forwarded message from a new WordPress user about how to go about starting up a blog and promoting it. Interestingly enough, this friend mentioned my name to this person (which is totally fine with me; I was surprised–in a good way–and honored).

Well, eager to help and share, I typed up what could be considered a small e-book in response, and emailed it back. My friend asked me if I would consider making a blog post out of my reply; the funny part is, I had already copy-pasted the email I sent into a separate file, to do exactly that: share it with others.

I meant to share it on my one-year anniversary of blogging, but I had forgotten, and lined up several other posts for publishing. Then I got to thinking howit might be…

View original post 2,431 more words

Politics, Nature and Autism

A mix of politics, nature and autism.

INTRODUCTION

This is a collection of interesting things I have seen on the internet recently. They are grouped broadly in three categories, the second of which includes a few pictures I took today.

POLITICS

I start this section with an important open letter from Make Votes Matter. Below is a screenshot of the beginning of the letter. This is formatted as a link so that you can add your name to the open letter should you wish to:

Open Letter

My only link in this section, which forms a natural segue to the nature section, is to a thunderclap organised by Team4Nature and tagged #VoteForHopeVoteForChange. Below is a screenshot which also functions as a link:

voteforchange

NATURE

I am going to start this section with another thunderclap, before sharing a couple of recent posts from Anna that caught my attention and finally ending this section with some of my own photographs. 

THUNDERCLAP: 30 DAYS WILD

This one has been launched by The Wildlife Trusts and the screenshot below links to it:

30dayswild

ANNA’S POSTS

The first of the two recent posts from Anna that I am sharing is titled “Which Future Do You Wanna Give The Next Generation?“. This post contains both Swedish and English text, and is in particular focused on the campaign to Save Trosa Nature. Here is Anna’s picture from that post:

The second post from Anna is titled “Old Tjikko” and starts by introducing us to the world’s oldest tree (9,500 years old since you ask). It concludes with a marvellous tree infographic which is reproduced below:

Time now for some…

PHOTOGRAPHS

These were all taken today…

DSCN6510
Other than moving the tree pic to the top of the pile (see the end of the previous section for clarification) these are in the order in which they were taken (tree pic was no 6 originally).

DSCN6506DSCN6507

DSCN6509
This one is a bit blurry because it was taken very quickly.

DSCN6508DSCN6511DSCN6512

DSCN6514

DSCN6515DSCN6516

AUTISM

I saw this article on www.independent.co.uk today and knew I would have to share it. It is titled “People with autism can hear more than most – which can be a strength and a challenge“, and the content lives up to the title, more of it being devoted to pointing up the strength than the challenge. I offer both a screenshotted quote and a picture by way of aperitif:

quote

adam-mandela-walden.jpg

I end this post with yet another reference to the rainbow coloured infinity symbol that Laina at thesilentwaveblog introduced me and many others to. The version below is an envisaged centrepiece for the front cover of the 2018 Calendar (see this post for more on my calendars) and features my name in white text incorporated into the symbol and the addresses of this blog and my London transport themed website in each loop:

Personalised symbol-page-0

 

Black and White Railway Cigarette Cards

A whistle-stop tour of some railway themed cigarette cards.

INTRODUCTION

This post is dedicated to the last of four lots that fell my way at James and Sons’ April auction (all exceedingly cheap – uncontested minimum bids in each case), lot 1186 which was a stout booklet of railway themed cigarette cards. This set dates from 1938.

PAGE BY PAGE THROUGH THE BOOK

DSCN6476
I have organised these images showing pictures first and then the text on the reverse for each page, except for a couple where I forgot to photograph the text.

DSCN6477DSCN6478DSCN6479DSCN6480DSCN6481DSCN6482DSCN6483DSCN6484DSCN6485DSCN6486DSCN6487DSCN6488DSCN6489DSCN6490DSCN6491DSCN6492DSCN6493DSCN6494DSCN6495DSCN6496DSCN6498DSCN6497DSCN6499

SOME CLOSE UPS

I also took some close ups of particular cards that caught my fancy. 

CLOSE UP 1: LONDON UNDERGROUND STOCK

This prototype was not adopted on a large scale – the 1938 stock that came into service just after these cards were produced did not have the frontage that this stock did (I travelled on 1938 stock in my childhood, since the last specimens were only withdrawn from service in 1985, and even after that a few were used to run services on the Isle of Wight Railway). My estimate from the picture is that this particular train was somewhere near Southgate when it was photographed. There is a carriage of 1938 stock on display in the London Transport Museum, Covent Garden.

DSCN6504DSCN6505

CLOSE UP 2: A LONDON UNDERGROUND SIGNAL ROOM

Even in 1938 most signals on London Underground were automatically triggered by trains, but there is human input as well…

DSCN6500DSCN6503

CLOSE UP 3: TWO TRAINS IN ONE

The sheer quirkiness of this appealed to me:

DSCN6501DSCN6502

CLOSE UP 4: THE FFESTINIOG RAILWAY

This relates to my previous post. You will notice that the spelling on the cards is ‘Festiniog’. This is a reflection of anti-Welsh prejudice at the time (the Ff beginning is a Welsh language formation). For the low-down on today’s Ffestiniog Railway please visit their website.

DSCN6517DSCN6518

 

 

Railway Postcards and an ‘Autism Roundel’

Showcasing some railway themed postcards I have recently acquired and unveiling a personalised roundel.

INTRODUCTION

Hello and welcome to this post which focuses on some postcards I have recently acquired very cheaply at auction. 

THE RAILWAY POSTCARDS

I won two lots of railway postcards at James and Sons’ last auction. The first of these lots to end up in my possession was…

LOT 1015: FOUR BLACK AND WHITE CARDS

Three of these cards were of London and North Eastern Railway (LNER) locomotives while the fourth was of a railway station, tentatively identified in the catalogue as Ardley. Further research on my part revealed that the station is in point of fact Ardlui, a tiny dot on the map near the northern end of Loch Lomond. Here are some pictures of the cards:

Railway cards B+WKing ArthurEmpire of IndiaLNERLocoArdlui Station

While I was pleased to acquire these cards, especially at that price, the lot that meant most to me was…

LOT 1017 – TEN COLOUR CARDS
OF THE FFESTINIOG RAILWAY

These cards had a particular resonance because I have travelled on this railway many years ago. It is a very narrow (1 ft 11in) gauge heritage railway which runs to about 40 miles.

Ffestiniog Railway Map

Here is a promotional video from the official website of the Ffestiniog Railway:

Before I show the postcards, here is a link to the Wikipedia page for the Ffestiniog Railway.

Ffestiniog-Railway-07419u.jpg

Now for those postcards, starting with the official image that everyone saw:

1017

Now here are the pictures of these cards taken in my own home:

Ffestiniog Railway
All ten postcards in one shot.
Ffestiniog Railway 1-3
Postcards 1-3
Ffestiniog Railway 4-6
Postcards 4-6
Ffestiniog Railway 7-10
Postcards 7-10
Ffestiniog Railway I1
Individual pictures of each postcard…

Ffestiniog Railway I2Ffestiniog Railway I3Ffestiniog Railway I4Ffestiniog Railway I5Ffestioniog Railway I6Ffestioniog Railway I7Ffestiniog Railway I8Ffestiniog Railway I9Ffestiniog Railway I10

THE AUTISM ROUNDEL

This is based on an autistic spectrum symbol that I found out about courtesy of Laina at thesilentwaveblog (see this post for more details). I was thinking about coming up with a suitable logo for my London transport themed website, and considered the possibility of using the rainbow infinity as the disk part of the famous London Underground roundel. If I decide to go with it, this is what my personalised roundel looks like:

Roundel 1

 

 

Infinity and a New Autism Symbol

Introducing aspiblog followers to a new autism spectrum symbol, with grateful acknowledgement to thesilentwaveblog.

INTRODUCTION

I hope you have noticed a rather dramatic change to the header of this blog! The rest of this post is devoted to explaining the reason that I have adopted that particular header. Before going on into the main body of the post I am going to point out that is this post will be featuring coloured text the distinction between ordinary text and links is the usual in such circumstances – links are underlined and in bold.

INFINITY

Many mathematicians have written about infinity, including Georg Philip Cantor who demonstrated conclusively that not all infinities are equal. As one who has read plenty about infinity and who is autistic the symbol that now forms the header of this blog has a particular resonance…

THE DISCOVERY

This morning when I was going through my emails I came across a reference to a blog post on thesilentwaveblog titled “Autism Spectrum symbol?“. Naturally I read it with some enthusiasm, starting with the explanation of why the puzzle piece is unacceptable (it was chosen by others, not us, and it is associated with a hate group who masquerade as an autism organisation). Then came the symbol itself, a rainbow (or spectrum) coloured infinity symbol, as shown below.

Autism Symbol.jpg

BACKING MY JUDGEMENT

Having been thoroughly impressed by this symbol, and believing it important to walk the walk as well as talking the talk I set about using it as the base for a new header for this blog, and came with putting the name of the blog inside the symbol, one half in each loop, and one half green and the other half red. My new image before I increased its size to the necessary width for a header was this:

Aspiblog

I hope this rainbow coloured infinity and customizations of it such as mine for this site blow the tainted puzzle piece right out of the water. I await feedback with interest.

 

Science and Nature

Some of the best science and nature related pieces I have recently come across.

INTRODUCTION

Having started the day with a science related squib I finish it with a full length post concerned with Science and Nature. As this is a post where all the text will be the same colour please not that links are in bold and underlined. Before proceeding here is a list of all of today’s previous posts:

PART ONE: A VARIETY OF SHARES

I am building up for big finish by dealing with everything else first in a single section. I am going to start with…

A REPORT FROM SUMOFUS.ORG

The campaign group sumofus.org have produced a definitive report to the effect that we do not need bee killing pesticides to feed the world. For detailed information on where we are with the fight to save bees please click on the graphic below:

sumofus.jpg

THUNDERCLAP: #GARDENS4NATURE

Yes another thunderclap for those of you who are on social media to support. Click on the screenshot below for more…

Gardens4Nature

THE EDEN PROJECT

The Eden Project in Cornwall, of which I have very fond memories, has just added to its laurels by winning VisitEngland’s award for Inclusive Tourism. Thus I have two links, each accompanied by a screenshot to share:

  1. The disabledgo blog piece detailing this latest success for the Eden Project.
    Eden Project VisitEngland award
  2. The Eden Project’s own website.

A LEGAL WAY PAST PAYWALLS

I am indebted to WEIT for this. It is an app that is free to download. For more details please visit the WEIT article on this:

PART 2: SOME FANTASTIC EVOLUTION MEMES

I found these on twitter by way of their creator, whose twitter name is Lord Cropes. Below is the particular meme which caught my attention:

EvolutioninAction

This is just one of 129 memes of this type that he has created, and you can view all of them by way of the website pinkheretic.com. Here is one more to further whet your appetite:

PART THREE: PHOTOGRAPHS

I finish with some of my own photographs:

Moorhen + chicks
An adult moorhen and two chicks
Moorhen and chicks
Adult and two chicks close together
Moorhen chick
Close up of a chick

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Political Pieces

INTRODUCTION

For this piece, probably my penultimate one of the day I shall be sharing some of the  best recent political pieces that I have read. Most of these pieces are naturally about the election campaigning that is happening in this country, although I will be starting with one of the exceptions.

HEATHER HASTIE ON FGM

This one has already had a lot of attention, including a mention on the massively followed whyevolutionistrue blog, but it merits every last bit of attention it gets. New Zealand blogger Heather Hastie has produced a post that is long on facts and short on hysteria which is aimed to tackle those such as HuffPo who seek to deny the connection between Islam and the vile practice of FGM. The post is titled “Making Excuses for Islam and FGM“. Here is a screenshot of the section of the post that relates  to Britain:

HHonFGM

TWO PICTURES FROM
THE ELECTION TRAIL

This comes to you courtesy of The Canary. The two pictures show Jeremy Corbyn interacting with potential voters and Theresa May talking at carefully selected factory workers who were under instructions to ask no questions and not to talk to the press. I recommend you to visit the post, titled “Two pictures which sum up this general election better than a million words [IMAGES]“.

Two pictures which sum up this general election better than a million words [IMAGES]

A TACTICAL VOTING WEBSITE

There has been much talk of tactical voting, and some action, notably from the Greens who are not standing against Rupa Huq in the marginal constituency of Ealing Central & Acton, having received assurances from her on three significant topics. There is a webiste, called stopthetori.es which you can visit for guidance on who in your area is nmost likely to topple the Tories. Below is a screenshot of the information they have for my own constituency:

TV

VOX POLITICAL IN TWO MOODS

The #Gidiot (real name Gideon George Oliver Osborne) is stepping down as MP for Tatton (he faced a ‘Hamiltonian’ exit – named for Neil Hamilton, turfed out of Tatton in 1997, if he had not). His replacement is no other than Esther McVey, known in certain circles as “Fester McVile”. In a vileness contest Osborne is the bronze medallist of this trio, while the contest between McVey and Hamilton for the top spot on the podium is a close one. I hope that the good folk of Tatton recall precisely how vile their new Tory candidate is and respond the way British voters often do to parachuted in candidates. This horror decision in the north has been matched in the South by Zac Goldsmith being selected as Tory candidate in Richmond. Mike Sivier of Vox Political has produced a detailed piece \about the Tatton decision titled “Tatton Tories have found someone as vile as George Osborne to replace him: Esther McVey“. 

Esther McVey: Her return to the media spotlight means I can use this evil-eyed image of her again.

On a lighter note, and still with Vox Political, here is a piece titled “Let’s play the Theresa May ‘general election’ drinking game!” Here is a screenshot of the end of the post:

TMDG.jpg

Autism Acceptance Revisited

A post sharing some of the best recent stuff about autism from the true experts – autistic people.

INTRODUCTION

As this is an Autism themed post and we are still in the month of April my text will all be in #RedInstead. Links will be in bold and underlined. 

AUTISM ACCEPTANCE

Autism acceptance is about people accepting us for who we are, focussing on the positives and on our abilities, not on our limitations (both perceived and actual, though the former are both much greater and much more important in terms of the effect on us). The Art of Autism recently put up and excellent post about this titled “THIS BEAUTY QUEEN’S MESSAGE IS AUTISM ACCEPTANCE“. I offer this screenshot as a tempter:

AOA

ABA THERAPY = CHILD ABUSE

ABA stands for Applied Behaviour Analysis, and is still recommended in certain circles. Those who were subjected to this as children and have subsequently written about it are unanimous in condemning it. It would appear based on this sample that the most frequent outcome of ABA therapy is that an autistic person ends up an autistic person with Post Traumatic Sress Disorder. I link to two very substantial pieces by a former practitioner of ABA who has learned the error of her former ways, with thanks to Rachel Rainey who put me on to these two pieces today. The pieces posted by madasbirdsblog are:

  1. The original mea culpa piece titled “I ABUSED CHILDREN FOR A LIVING”
    MC
  2. A follow up piece provoked by a response defending ABA, titled “I ABUSED CHILDREN AND SO DO YOU: A RESPONSE TO AN ABA APOLOGIST“. This piece is very long (over 9,000 words) but I recommend you read it in full. My screenshot comes from just after the start of the post, and I hope muy reasons for this choice will be obvious:
    ABAdetailed.jpg

A NEW FIND WITH A
GREAT “WHAT IF?” PIECE

  1. This next piece was originally published in May 2016 but is still absolutely relevant. From a blog called autnot and titled “If the world was built for me” it does precisely what you might expect from the title. The screenshot below is from the end of it:

If.jpg

ERIN HUMAN’S ABLEISM SERIES

Regular visitors to this site will know that I have been greatly impressed by Erin Human’s series of posts focussing on ableism. I am delighted to share with you two new posts in this series:

  1. A piece titled “Is there a cure for ableism?” which tackles ways in which this scourge can be dealt with.
  2. Under the title “Ableism Therapies” a post which lists some important links:

‘AWARENESS’ IS NOT ENOUGH

Some of you may have noticed that unusually for a post of this nature I have yet to mention thesilentwaveblog. Fear not, I conclude the business part of this post with a link to a post titled “Awareness’ is not enough ~ Part 3: Talk is cheap.  Please take action“.

PHOTOGRAPHS

BRCHB1
Another railway themed horse brass. I will be doing a piece connected to this on my London transport themed website eventually. This first picture is formatted as a link to the website of the Buckinghamshire Railway Centre.

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