A link to a petition concerning bullying/ disability hate crime at Brentwood County High School.
I have featured this petition here before. The latest is that there are 4,500 signatures, but Harry remains off school as he will not go back until the bullies have been expelled. The headteacher is currently refusing to meet Harry’s family, and they have reported the attacks Harry has suffered as disability hate crime. If you have not already done so please sign and share the petition by clicking on the screenshot below:
A personal account of the opening day’s play in Dhaka, and a photographic walk concentrating on trees. Some interesting links at the end.
As well as my view on the opening day’s play in Dhaka which I listened to earlier this morning this post contains details of a walk around King’s Lynn that I took after play had finished and some interesting links.
A wonderful opening day in the second Test Match between Bangladesh and England in Dhaka has finished with England 50-3 in response to Bangladesh’s first innings 220. When Tamim Iqbal and Monimul Haque were speeding along at four an over Bangladesh seemed to be headed for much for than 220, but Tamim’s dismissal shortly after completing a sparkling century triggered a collapse from the high water mark of 171-1 to 220 all out, Moeen Ali picking up five cheap wickets. The loss of Cook (captaining the England test team for record equalling 54th time), Duckett (just starting his international career) and Ballance (who has not been batting long enough lately for anyone to see what kind of form he is in) meant that by the close Moeen Ali was batting, and with some assistance from the weather he and Joe Root managed to hang on.
In some ways this match has similarities with Old Trafford 1902, when a lightning century from Victor Trumper (who reached the landmark before lunch on the first day) gave Australia a strong start which was then hauled back. Australia had a brief mid innings revival on that occasion and reached 299. England lost early wickets but then two middle order batsman, Len Braund and Stanley Jackson steadied the ship, the latter reaching one of his five test hundreds (all scored against Australia in England), and England were a mere 37 behind. A magnificent second innings bowling performance from England saw Australia all out for 86, and when England in pursuit of their target of 124 reached 92-3 the game appeared to be done and dusted, but then England panicked and started losing wickets, Clem Hill took a spectacular catch along the way, and suddenly debutant Fred Tate found himself going out to bat at 116-9 – he snicked one four, survived two further deliveries and was then comprehensively bowled to give Australia victory by three runs. If this match is as close I will be delighted, and as I stated in an earlier post, I will be particularly delighted if said close result goes against England because I believe that a victory against top table opposition for Bangladesh will be good for cricket as a whole.
To finish this section, although Bangladesh are pretty new to international cricket, Dhaka under its old name of Dacca has a much longer connection to the game, being one of the few cities to have hosted home games for two different countries. Going back further still, Bransby Beauchamp Cooper who played for Australia in the first ever test match in 1877 was born in Dacca.
I got the idea for doing a walk in which I focussed mainly on trees at this transitional time of year from Anna, who put this post up recently (I recommend that you check the comments as well!). This then is my version of a tree walk…
As this first set of pictures, taken from my outside space show I don’t have far to go to be able to see trees:
Heading across Baker Lane Car Park towards the Purfleet which I was then going to follow the Great Ouse provided these pictures:
Since I wanted to be in that vicinity to photograph trees on the other side of the river anyway I took one non-tree related photograph before heading along the river, and this set of pictures actually features a second. This stretch ended with a brief diversion from the river front to skirt Bole Quay.
After skirting Bole Quay I briefly rejoined the river front, before leaving it by way of a path through Harding’s Pits.
From Hardings Pits I headed by way of the South Gate to Seven Sisters where I entered the parkland area.
I headed from Seven Sisters to the Band Stand, and the from the Band Stand to St John’s Walk, which I followed until I left the parkland heading in the direction of the train station:
Even after leaving the parkland there were a few more photographs:
My first is a little gem from travel vibes on twitter, introducing the word thalassophile (not all readers of this blog are on twitter, and this is a goodie).
First the definition: Thalassophile (n): Lover of the sea, ocean. Here are the real reasons for posting this, the accompanying pictures:
Next come two autism related links:
My next link is to a campaign to secure better working conditions for Uber drivers (and now is a particularly good time to pile on the pressure as Uber have just taken a hit in court). Click here for more details and to support the campaign.
I give the final word to Britain’s youngest MP, Mhairi Black, here hammering Concentrix – and managing to be very funny in the process:
A link to a very important petition accompanied by a short video – please sign and share. Also some stuff relating to the appalling decision to approve a third runway at Heathrow, some photos and a few other links.
The main purpose of this post is to share a very important petition posted on change.org by autism advocate and anti-bullying campaigner Kevin Healey. I also have some other links that have come to my attention this morning and a few photographs.
Kevin’s petition relates to the case of Harry Gosling, which is covered in detail on the site. Please visit, sign and share the petition here. There is also a short video embedded below:
The title of this section refers to the appalling decision by the ‘Mayhem’ government to approve a third runway at Heathrow Airport. I have three links to share in this section, starting with this one to a an article in the Guardian outlining just how expensive this crazy project will be even in purely monetary terms.
My other two links relate to the upcoming by-election in Richmond triggered by Zac Gioldsmith’s decision to resign and stand as an independent in protest at this awful decision (a gesture that in no way redeems him for the disgusting London Mayoral campaign he chose to run). They express differing opinions as to whether or not Labour should stand:
My own opinion: I do not think that Labour should stand a candidate in this election – I would recommend that they, the Greens and the Liberal Democrats get together and stand a single anti-Goldsmith candidate who can help to deliver a final damning verdict on Goldsmith by making his current status as an ex-MP permanent (the Conservatives have already said that they will not field a candidate against him, because, although this bit is unstated by them, they know perfectly well that any such candidate would lose).
Just a few photographs this time…
I have three more links to share to end this post. My first, from New Zealand blogger Heather Hastie, is about the current state of healthcare in the US. You can visit this post, which is chock full of solid sense, by clicking the infographic below:
Same Difference have produced a post to alert people to a new dirty trick that the DWP have come up with.
Finally, this piece ends where it started, with autism, in the form of this post on The Mighty about the pressure on autistic people to attempt to act normally.
Marking my first year on twitter, also mentioning autism advocated Robyn Steward and Kevin Healey and livened up with plenty of pictures.
As well as marking one year since I set up my personal twitter account I have a few other things to cover, and of course have some pictures to liven things up.
A year ago (plus half an hour for the seriously pedantic among you) I set up a personal twitter account, @aspitweets. Here is a link to the first tweet I posted back then:
It has been an amazing year, as I am closing on 3,000 followers. It has also been very beneficial to this blog, reaching people that I would never have reached without twitter.
On Thursday Robyn Steward, an internationally renowned autism advocate gave a talk at Churchill Park Complex Needs School, half a mile from the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, King’s Lynn which I was lucky enough to attend, having been invited by West Norfolk National Autistic Society branch chair Karan MacKerrow. The talk was exceedingly interesting, but rather than regurgitate it here I direct you to Robyn’s website so you can see it in her own words. Although one has to be careful about taking pictures in a school, I have some photos from the evening…
My second Autism related piece is less happy. Kevin Healey recently contacted his MP, Paul Farrelly, about the bullying he was suffering. Unfortunately, rather than helping or offering any sort of support all this MuPpet came up with was a suggestion that Kevin should get off twitter, failing to note that for Kevin twitter is a vital communication tool. Kevin has responded by launching another petition, directed specifically at Mr Farrelly, which I urge to you to sign and share.
Yesterday was devoted to imaging for our sale on November 25th at Fakenham Racecourse. The last lots will be catalogued and ready for imaging by November 8th, and the plan is for the catalogue to be available by the 15th (i.e ten days before the auction). Assuming that the lotting is done promptly the imaging will be no problem…
A post created in support of Chris Packham, and therefore featuring nature. I also have some important links and a great infographic for you.
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.
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…
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:
https://www.change.org/p/bbc-don-t-sack-chris-packham
Please sign the petition and share this link!!
I wish to draw our attention to two things coming up in the near future:
I have a few other links I wish to share, starting with two that should both make unpleasant reading for the…
My remaining links are all connected with…
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.
Although various social media organizations have verified Kevin Healey, twitter have still yet to do so, and Kevin’s petition about the issue is still running.
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 the last few days, with some excellent pictures, some important links and a great infographic courtesy of Dr Lisa Sulsenti.
My last blog post was about my cousin Olivia’s wedding on Saturday. This post tells of Sunday, Monday and today, with plenty of pictures. Also, I have some links and infographics to share. Talking of sharing, I hope that some of you will choose to share this post as well.
While possessed of precisely zero architectural appeal, the Kegworth Hotel and Conference Centre is clean and comfortable…
I have plenty of good pictures from inside the hotel…
My bedroom had some pictures as well…
My cousin Richard and his fiancee Ida are off to her native Sweden soon, and he had the idea of a farewell pub lunch at the Plough in Normanton on Soar. Eventually after a few cancellations, 12 of us were there for this excellent meal, which we ate outside overlooking the river itself, much used by boats and birds…
I have lots of splendid pictures from this event, and both the food and drink were magnificent.
I travelled back as a passenger in my aunt’s car, since we live very close together in King’s Lynn. Taking pictures while in transit is not easy, but this one worked…
After helping my aunt to unload her car I walked back to my flat by way of another river on which boat travel is not unknown, the Great Ouse…
Knowing the effect that such a busy weekend would have on me I had taken the precaution of booking this week as leave to enable myself to have some quiet time. Last night was a group meeting for KLASS (more on this in a future blog post), but apart from that it has been a very quiet couple of days.
I have as usual plenty of links to share with you, starting with…
From 38Degrees by way of Green Party leader Natalie Bennett, comes a petition entitled “Celebrate suffragettes not serial killers”. I quote the opening paragraph of their explanation and urge you to sign and share:
“A new museum gained planning permission by promising ‘the only dedicated resource in the East End to women’s history’, but has now been unveiled as a venue dedicated to the violent crimes of Jack the Ripper”.
A shocking story of religious persecution from Patheos in which a seven year old was the victim, merely for telling a classmate that they did not attend church
My next story concerns a police officer who is already facing a lawsuit for handcuffing children in a very dangerous way, and should as the story makes clear be suffering more than that (defo a jail term measurable in years for this crime).
My next link is to a petition calling on Lego to produce toys that show disabled people in a positive light.
Now, a sad blast from the past. Unbelievably Kevin Healey is still suffering impersonation on twitter and still apparently receiving no protection – please either sign and share the petition if you have not already done so or keep on sharing it to apply pressure to twitter.
I found my last link by way of the aforementioned Natalie Bennett, and it is to a story in the Yorkshire Evening Post about a crackerjack plan for a disused railway viaduct in Leeds.
Dr Lisa Sulsenti has produced this infographic providing guidelines on fireworks…
As well as my title piece and accompanying photographs I have some cracking links to share with you.
In a classic application of Murphy’s Law today is dull and grey, immediately following several bright sunny work days. Not that unappealing weather meant that there was nothing to photograph – after being dry for some time the fountain in The Walks had water in it and was functioning as it should…
Just beyond that was a “Trivial Pursuit” type arrangement of flower beds, one half of which I captured for posterity…
The squirrels were not in the least deterred by filthy grey skies either…
The ducks and moorhens were enjoying the waters of the upper Millfleet as it flows through the parkland…
The younger generation were also in evidence out on the water…
Arriving at the river bank by way of Hardings Pits I took a shot looking towards the town…
Walking past the anti-flood wall near old Boal Quay I was gratified to spot this blackbird at quite close quarters…
My last shot was taken at the jetty now in its second summer of service, and hosting a single boat today…
I found this shocking story of institutionalized abuse (I can call it nothing else), by way of twitter and I have already made contact with the author and subject of the story, Jennifer Msumba who posted it on her blog Here is an infographic for you…
My second autism related link concerns Kevin Healey of the National Autistic Society and his continuing effort to get twitter to protect him properly. That perennial source of fine material Huffington Post is running an article by him about cyber-bullying. For some time, Kevin has been running a petition via change,org to put pressure on twitter to do the right thing.
The petition calling on Playmobil to produce toys that show disabled people in a positive light has succeeded in persuading them, after gaining more than 50,000 signatures. As well as celebrating, the organisers are using this as a springboard for tackling their next target, Lego. To view, sign and share this new petition please follow this link.
A couple of crackers in this mini-section:
1)Dan Keeling on how the rich stay rich and the poor stay poor.
2)This gem from kittysjones.
The dailyinspirationblog have come up trumps with this piece about Aristotle.
Patheos, who feature regularly in the links section of this blog, are here again, this time with a report on a particularly egregious piece of legislation which will cause the adoption rate in the state of Michigan to plummet.
My next link to share comes courtesy of thepoorsideoflife and concerns new targets for DWP compliance interviews.
My next and penultimate link is to a piece from handandmouse which combines slamming George Osborne with arguing cogently for Jeremy Corbyn to be on the ballot paper for the Labour leadership election.
To end this section here is a link to a piece in the Lynn News about how the town will be celebrating the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta.
I hope you have enjoyed this blog post and will be inspired to share it.
Here are a few random pics that I choose to share…
As well as my main piece, I have some very interesting and important links to share, several infographics and of course lots og high quality pictures.
The weekend is upon us. I am particularly looking forward to being able to actually listen to some of the test match, having not been able to do so either yesterday or today. England’s policy of stacking their team with batting paid off at first as they were able to recover from a disastrous beginning (30-4) to reach a respectanle 389, significant contributions coming from Stokes, Root, Buttler and Moeen Ali. The downside of the selection policy, a lack of serious bowling options (for all his position at no 8, and hence officially being selected as a front-line spinner I do not rate Ali a serious bowler) is being cruelly exposed by the Kiwis, who are currently 235-2.
I have three infographics to share with you today, two on the Human Rights Act and one on poverty…
First up, an article published on Huffington Post by Kevin Healey.
Next we have a petition from change.org calling for the manufacture of disability toys.
An important link for those with an interest in mental health.
A very important and challenging piece about GPs, in the form of an open letter, courtesy of julijuxtaposed.
A wondeful post about a beautiful corner of Cornwall complete with stunning pictures, from smallbluegreenwords.
My final offering in this section is a piece from Cosmos Up about life on exomoons.
To finish along with my hopes that you will share some or all of this post are some photos…
For those who do not know the form with this blog, I will start with the bit that gives the post it’s title, I will also be sharing some good links and as part of the post there will be pictures…
I did not get to see much of the Hanse festival because of being busy with stuff for the Great Centenary Charity Auction, of which more in later posts. However, I got a few good pictures, and got to take part in a community breakfast outside the guildhall.
There was a very enjoyable concert in King’s Lynn Minster, featuring music from composers with Hanseatic associations (Handel, Telemann, Bach etc). As part of this, the group playing the music had been working with children at Whitefriars School, and had developed the catch line “Crazy composers making music for you and me” which added an extra element to the festivities. Here are some more photographs…
Just a few links today. First of all, following on from a piece about a music performance, here is something from Charlotte Hoather. Having devoted this post to a community celebration, the Hanse Festival, here is a piece from a community coming together in the effort to save their library, the folk of Hale, Greater Manchester. The Independent occasionally provides good stuff, and this piece about cavemen and gender equality is an example. Last and in the chief place is a link to a wonderful open letter to Katie Hopkins written by Kevin Healey.
I hope to have all enjoyed this, and that you wlll share either the whole post or this bits that you have particularly enjoyed. My final remark comes in pictorial form:
This post will be in three parts. First of all I have a very important link to share, then I will be writing about the Borough Council elections, and finally I will say something about the Test Match that finished late last night our time with two full days unused.
A HYPER-IMPORTANT HYPERLINK
This link is to a radio interview with leading autism campaigner Kevin Healey. Please listen and share!!
BOROUGH COUNCIL ELECTIONS
In King’s Lynn we have two decisions to make on Thursday, who to vote for in the general election and who to vote for in our borough council election. I have already made clear, both here and on my twitter feed who I will be voting for in the general election, and I will say no more in this post than that it would be folly for anyone in King’s Lynn who considers themselves even remotely progressive to vote for anybody other than Jo Rust. I have not previously mentioned the Borough Council elections, because I had not formed a definite conclusion. The game changer that has prompted this post was the following from our local Green Party…
TEST MATCH HUMILIATION FOR ENGLAND
Not long after 10PM our time last night the final test of the series between England and the West Indies ended (with two days unused) in a defeat by five wickets for the visitors. England’s batting was woefully inadequate with the exceptions in the first innings of Cook who ground out a century and Ali who made 58. 123 all out at the second attempt when seeking to build on a lead of 68 tells its own tale of woe. The other problem for England was lack of a serious spin option (Ali, the ‘front-line spinner’ recorded match figures of 2-110 from 22 overs on a turner). If Adil Rashid was not the right option on this pitch he never will be.
Whoever they go for, and wherever they find them, England need a genuine front-line spinner (and not a batsman who bowls being bigged up) and they need one as soon as possible. A spinner who takes only two wickets in the match and goes for five an over on a turning pitch does not deserve to be described as such. It was not just the number of runs being leaked but the deliveries off which they were being hit – frequently short (including a substantial ration of rank long hops). Wilf Rhodes, a great spinner a century ago, used to say talking about the length he bowled “Ah were nivver hooked and Ah were nivver cut”
Congratulations to the West Indies on being able to take what was handed them on a plate.
Now for a few more pics…
aspiblog 