An account of Jack Monroe’s splendid victory in a defamation case that centred on twitter.
INTRODUCTION
This is the second politics themed post in this series. In this case it deals with a defamation case that has recently been settled after 21 months. The plaintiff was food blogger and political activist Jack Monroe, while the defendant was someone who cannot be described in broadcastable language and does not deserve to have her name further publicised (the usual adjective used of her is in this context deeply offensive to trolls).
THE BARE BONES
Jack Monroe launched the case over two tweets posted a few hours apart. The defendant had the opportunity to settle out of court for a mere £5,000 but chose to fight on. This resulted in an award to Monroe of £24,000 and the defendant being ordered to pay costs totalling a further £83,000.
THE LINKS
I have three links for you about this case. First, by clicking the image below you can read Mike Sivier of Vox Political’s account (the picture is his as well):
Nathan Capone examines the implications of this verdict from a case-law point of view in this post.
Finally, for the completists among you, here is a link to the judgement in full.
PHOTOGRAPHS
As always, I finish by showing some of my own photographs.
Lot 1556 in James and Sons’ March auctionLot 1557Lot 1558
Lot 1559
This will be the last item to go under the hammer in James and Sons’ March auction.
Links to three pieces originally published on Skwawkbox.
INTRODUCTION
We are now into the politics section of my super-sharing Saturday, which will encompass this post, a post about the Monroe vs Hopkins case and will finish with a post containing the remaining political links.
1. SKWAWKBOX SWATS THE #MAYFLY
This post is merely the latest in very damning series of posts the skwawkbox has produced about Theresa May and the Surrey County Council sweetheart deal. It contains a very short video produced by Ealing Labour 4 Corbyn as well as the text. Link via the image as usual
2. SKWAWKBOX EXPOSES DESPICABLE BEHAVIOUR BY BLAIRITES
Wimbledon CLP have been threatened with suspension over a leaflet that they intended to put out regarding a proposed new school. To read the full account on Skwawkbox click on the image of the “offending” leaflet below:
3. SKWAWKBOX ON AWFUL TORY BEHAVIOUR IN LANCASHIRE
This account features stories of intimidation up to an including death threats. To read about how the Tories are trying to take control of the town of Pendle by a combination of bullying, intimidation and gerrymandering click the image below.
PHOTOGRAPHS
As usual I end with some pictures…
These maps are going under the hammer at the end of our March auction.
A science based post, with some work related pictures and a link to an online catalogue at the end.
INTRODUCTION
Welcome to the next post in this series of sharing posts. Our theme in this one is nature, and while most of the pieces I am linking to are about the present, we being with a journey back to…
385 MILLION YEARS AGO
This was when our ancestors first moved from the sea to the land. The usual reckoning is that the key development that led to this happening was to do with limbs, which would seem to be common sense. However, according to this piece on astrobio.net, there is an alternative view now being proposed that the key development was actually to do with vision not limbs. As is now my custom I am using an image to link to the full article:
Now we move back to the present, and we start with a distressing story about…
RHINO POACHING
As wild rhino numbers continue to decline the poachers whose activities are most directly responsible for this decline are becoming more brazen. This story concerns a Rhino in a zoo which was shot for its horn. The saddest aspect of this story is that the wealthy Chinese who buy most rhino horns do so based on alleged properties of the substance that are entirely fictional – this is the same stuff that our own finger nails are made of, and no one would pay big money for those. As usual, the link is in the accompanying image.
LEMURS GET HIGH(COURTESY OF WEIT AND SPY IN THE WILD)
WEIT provide an introduction to the video, which you can read by clicking here. The video itself is embedded below for your delectation:
NEUTRINOS
We end with a look, courtesy of rationalisingtheuniverse, at the neutrino. We have an image to serve as a link again:
PHOTOGRAPHS
Here to finish are some of my photographs:
The printed catalogue for the March auction is now ready. Clicking this image will take you to an online versionAppropriate for a science based post – a telescope (lot 970)
Lot 954 – a silver calling card holderCommemorative coins and medallions are frequently to be found in our sales, commemorative soap bars less so!
These last six images are of lots 977, 978 and 979 (obverse and then reverse of each of these pewter plates)
Some links relating to transport and the environment and some pictures.
INTRODUCTION
As my first post of today indicated I have a lot of stuff to share, and I am breaking it into sections. In this post I deal with stuff that relates to transport and the environment (linked by the fact that how one handles the former can have huge effects on the latter).
TRANSPORT
I start this subsection with two links from the…
CAMPAIGN FOR BETTER TRANSPORT
The first of these links, to a piece titled “What is the chancellor’s plan for transport” provides some detail on what the recent spring budget offered in terms of transport. Please click on the Campaign for Better transport logo below to read this piece in full.
The second piece from the Campaign for Better Transport is titled “show the love to transport”, which gives some detail about both the actual and potential threat posed to Britain’s transport system by climate change. Please click on the image below, which shows those London Underground stations under threat from flooding to read the article full.
Three pieces in this little section as well, starting one from Sian Berry titled “Mayors Guidance Won’t Stop Estate Demolitions”. To read this excellent piece in full please click the image below:
Next comes a piece from livescience.com titled “Carbon Dioxide is Warming the Planet (Here’s How)” which includes a short video, as well as the excellent text and the image below which I am using as the link.
My final piece in this section comes from the Guardian on how climate change battles are increasingly being fought and won in court. To read it click on the image below…
PHOTOGRAPHS
Here are some pictures to finish…
This is lot 1251 in our March auction (27th, 28th and 29th).Lot 975, same auction (two images)
Lot 967, same auctionHanse House as viewed from the riverside.The explanatory plaque.A pied wagtail neatly framed by yellow painted lines.The moon in an early evening sky (taken on Thursday).
Setting the stall out for today and some stuff about autism. Read, enjoy and please share.
INTRODUCTION
This is my first of what will be a number of posts today. I have come across a variety of interesting and important stuff over the last couple of days, and have decided that I have too much to share in one post, so I am attempting to group my links into categories. Thus a title the three main words of which begin with A, B and C – this is the first of a series of posts I shall be producing through the day, and as it is the first I shall start near the beginning of the alphabet, with some autism related stuff.
THE AUTISM AWARENESS CUP 2017
I am starting with a reminder that following its successful launch last year the second Autism Awareness Cup football tournament will be taking place at Ingoldisthorpe Social Club on June 4th. There are three links relating to this, accessible by clicking the images below: the first image will take to you to the Autism Awareness Cup homepage, the second to the Autism Awareness Cup facebook page, and the third to NAS West Norfolk Sports Co-ordinator Grant Cotton’s own facebook page:
STOP THE BAD BEHAVIOUR
This relates to a petition created by an autistic parent and aimed at Brighton & Hove Council. As well as the petition itself, which I urge you to sign and share by clicking on the screenshot that ends this section, there are two other links that go with it:
This article about social workers at Brighton & Hove being criticised for what a judge called “reprehensible behaviour”.
Although this petition is not about autism specifically I am including it in this post because autistic people are disproportionately likely to be among those confined to institutions. As with the other petition I urge you to sign and share it.
A COFFEE MORNING
This Wednesday just gone there was an NAS West Norfolk coffee morning at the Willow Tree cafe in central King’s Lynn. I was able to get there, and enjoyed it. Here are some pictures from that morning:
Making sure that everyone knew who we were.For the record the tea towels are priced £4.95 each
AN UPCOMING EVENT
On Tuesday I will be in Dereham for an event organised by Autism Anglia and ASD Helping Hands under the catchline “Help to shape Norfolk for autism”. I booked the day off work for this some time ago, because I considered that as someone is both NAS West Norfolk branch secretary and #actuallyautistic it was an absolute necessity that I be in attendance.
Links to a selection of interesting and/ or important pieces I have found in the last day or so and some of today’s photographs.
INTRODUCTION
I will be sharing various links I have found in the last day or so in this post. I also have some photographs from this afternoon.
THE GREAT BUS RIP OFF
This is my most recent find, courtesy of campaign group We Own It. They have a piece in The Mirror today which you can access here. Below is an infographic map showing the amount of money from British bus services that goes directly into the pockets of shareholders:
As a postscript to the above, the only reason the figure for East Anglia (my region) is so low is because being largely rural and hence fairly sparsely populated it does not have many bus services.
POLITICAL IDIOCY – TORIES GO AFTER SCHOOLS WITH SOLAR PANELS
Instead of sensibly rewarding those who try do their bit by using solar panels to generate some of their energy this government is hitting some of them with extra bills. Private Schools (i.e. fee-paying schools, and the sort of school to which MPs, especially Tory MPs, send their children) will not feel the effects of this because in a spectacular misuse of the English language they are classed as “charities”. State schools (those that ordinary folk attend, as a few eons ago, I did) pay business rates which means that those state schools with solar panels will be paying a combined £1.8 million in extra rates for having them.
To charge anywhere more money because they have solar panels seems utterly boneheaded to me, but to charge schools, who should be setting positive examples to their students, for having solar panels takes the stupidity to level unanticipated even by Einstein when he said “only two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity, and I am not sure about the universe”.
To read the full article that inspired this section, courtesy of The Guardian, please click on the image below:
TWO STORIES OF STELLAR DEATH
The first of these stories is a commemoration of…
SUPERNOVA 1987-A
As the second part of its name suggests it is now 30 years since the explosion of this star was witnessed on Earth, and to commemorate that anniversary some new observations have been made of the stellar remnant by the Hubble Space Telescope. To read the story in full, which comes fromibtimes.com, please click on the image below:
When a supernova collapses, if the remnant weighs more than 1.4 solar masses it continues to contract beyond the white dwarf stage to form a neutron star, which is stable between 1.4 and 3 solar masses (beyond 3 solar masses the crushing continues until all that is left is a black hole). A spinning neutron star is known as a pulsar. To read about the discovery of the new record holding pulsar please click on the image below.
DOWNLOAD A FREE POSTER FROM THE NEW SCIENTIST
New Scientistare at the moment offering everyone who creates an account on their site (it is free, and very easy, to so) a free download of a You Are Here poster showing us our place in the Milky Way. If interested, click on the edited version of my poster below, which I have reduced for this specific purpose, while making sure I still have the original.
ROCK SOLID EVIDENCE THAT WE ARE NOW LIVING IN THE ANTHROPOCENE
This is the first fruit of my creating an account for myself on New Scientist. The article, which I have linked to by way of the image below (I have also included the explanation of the image from the site) is about the 208 minerals that humans have created during their tenure on the planet (yes, the primary evidence on which the article is based is quite literally rock solid).
Mines are a good place to find minerals like this Simonkolleite – evidence of the impact humans are having on the planet
PHOTOGRAPHS
To finish this post here are some photographs I took while out walking this afternoon:
England, having won the opening match of the three match series on Friday could ensure a series victory by winning again yesterday. What follows is my account of how they did this. Cricinfo’s account can be viewed here.
WEST INDIES POOR WITH THE BAT
I missed most of the West Indies innings, but caught the closing overs. Some decent bowling from England and very ordinary batting from the West Indies at that stage meant that with a total of 250-260 (which on that pitch would have been respectable) having looked possible the West Indies ended up with a mere 225, which should not have been much of challenge for England…
A GLIMPSE OF THE 1990s
Sam Billings fell without a run on the board, but then Jason Roy and Joe Root settled in. At 87-1 with Roy having just reached his 50 England looked in full control. At that point Roy was out playing a bad shot, which seemed to trigger a time machine that transported as back to the 1990s. The England middle order simply disintegrated, that high water mark of 87-1 transmuting to 124-6, at which point the West Indies were looking like favourites.
Then, came a reminder that this was 2017 and not a revisit to the 1990s, as Chris Woakes demonstrated his continuing improvement, albeit with some assistance from the Wesr Indies fielders who dropped two absolute sitters. With the imperturbable Root in the anchor role, Woakes’ aggressive 68 not out saw England home with four wickets and an over and a half to spare (Root was 90 not out at the other end).
Here is a photographic commemoration of the England middle order yesterday…
For the uninitiated a score of 0 in cricket is referred to as a duck. And 1990s England really were as bad as all that.
SOME THOUGHTS ON THE PLAYER OF THE MATCH AWARD
Predictably enough the Player of the Match award yesterday went to Root for his 90 not out. However, while this decision is understandable I consider it incorrect. Although Chris Woakes was wicketless from his eight overs they only went for 26 runs (a rate of just over three an over compared to West Indies overall 4.5), which in conjunction with his 68 not out when England had got themselves into a big hole, should have secured him the award.
PHOTOGRAPHS
Here are some of today’s photographs for you:
The recent repaired section of King’s Lynn libraryThe frontage of King’s Lynn library.Greyfriars tower.St Nicholas from Chapel CourtAnother view of St NicholasThe Custom House from King Street
The Red Mount Chapel through the trees.
Artwork commemorating the voyages of Captain George Vancouver, New Conduit Street
A warning note courtesy of http://www.indy100.org, some stuff about public transport, some stuff about science, a link to a satirical pamphlet and some photographs.
INTRODUCTION
The title of this piece comes from an article on www.indy100.comalthough I am sharing many other things besides that, including some of my local photographs. However before I get into the main meat of my post there is one other matter to attend to:
ERRATUM
In a recent post I identified a bed of yellow flowers as daffodils. It has since been brought to my attention that they were in fact yellow crocuses. I apologise for the mistake, and please note that I am not resorting to the equivalent of putting the apology in six point type somewhere in the middle of of page 27!
TOXIC EARTH
Reading this article put me in mind of Anna’srecent post “No 17 drawing in my goals for 2017” where the drawing is about a group of people stranded in space looking for another planet to replace the one that they had to leave behind because they messed it up too badly. Click on the image below to read this important and sobering article.
A COUPLE OF LONDON
TRANSPORT RELATED BITS
I usually reserve stuff about London transport for my London transport themed website http://www.londontu.be, where indeed I shared the second piece in this section yesterday, but I felt these two bits should also be shared here.
LAURIE PENNY ON UBER
Laurie Penny has turned her fire on private cab hire firm Uber, and the result is a devastating article in theGuardian, which I hope will succeed in weaning a few people off this vile organisation. Please read the article in full please click on the image below.
TUNNEL ARCHAEOLOGY AT THE MUSEUM OF LONDON
The central section of the Elizabeth line (nee Crossrail) cuts through London on an east-west axis, and there being no space on the surface it also cuts vertically through millennia of history. It is this latter that has led to the creation of a new exhibition at the Museum of London showing the best finds unearthed during the building of the line. Accompanying this exhibition is a short video, embedded below. After the video are links to more about this and about the Museum of London.
This is a petition put together by Going to Work which calls not only for affordable affairs on our railways but also for a fully publicly owned and publicly accountable rail network. To view, sign and share the petition please click on the screenshot below:
PHOTOGRAPHIC INTERLUDE
Here are some pictures from in and around King’s Lynn:
Planning information posted near Lynnsport.
The good and the bad of Bawsey drain in one photo – it is home to many species but in spite of continued efforts to clear it is still used by uncaring human residents as a dumping ground.
This bridge crosses a stretch of the Gaywood, carrying Littleport Street across said river.
The inaugural NAS West Norfolk curry night took place on Thursday, delayed by a week due to bad weather. Although some of those who had originally booked did not make it, those who did enjoyed it.My choice – Lamb Rogan Josh. The accompaniments are boiled rice, two small poppadoms and a garlic naan. The curry was a little spicier than I would have liked but other than that splendid. The accompanying drink, included in the £6.49 price tag, is a pint of Doom Bar ale (and yes for the record I drank only the one)One of many fine pictures to adorn the wall of The Globe, and the only one I got a clear shot at.
ATHEISTS ARE BECOMING MORE POPULAR
Here is a truly international link – a Brit sharing a post written by a New Zealander about the USA. Heather Hastie has carried out a typically thorough comparison between the Pew Research Centre’s findings of three years ago and of just recently. Please read Heather’s post in full by clicking here.
A TRIO OF SCIENCE PIECES
The first two pieces in this section were initially posted on whyevolutionistruestarting with a piece drawing on the work of Pliny the in Between, who runs a website called The Far Corner Cafe, and of a doctor who posts under the name of Orac on scienceblogs, whose piece can be read here, to demonstrate that Chiropractic is not merely nonsense, but dangerous (indeed potentially fatal) nonsense at that. Jerry Coyne, creator of whyevolutionistrue (it takes its name from his landmark book of that title published in 2009), has received many hostile comments in response to previous pieces he has written that are critical of Chiropractic. To read this piece in full please click on the image below, the first in a series of five drawings from Pliny the in Between that were used to illustrate the post.
Second of the trio, again courtesy of WEIT, is a piece linking to a paper published in the journal Nature that mentions the discovery of potential traces of life in sediments that range in age between 3.77 and 4.28 billion years (the earlier end of the scale being about as early given what is known about our planet’s turbulent beginnings as life of any sort could have taken hold). To read the post in full and possibly move from there to reading the paper in Nature please click on the image below:
The third in my science trio comes from the Smithsonian and has the self explanatory title “NASA Wants the Public to Log In to Help Find Plant 9”. To read the piece in full please click on the image below.
A SATIRICAL PAMPHLET FROM UNLOCK DEMOCRACY
To read this pamphlet from Unlock Democracy in full please click the screenshot of the cover below:
SOME FINAL PHOTOGRAPHS
This set of pictures are of items that will be going under the hammer in James and Sons’ March auction, a full catalogue listing for which can be viewed here.
Lot 127Lot 128Lot 140Lot 141Lot 142Lot 143Lot 149 (three separate images joined together)149-a149-b. In the past, before the American way of reckoning up large numbers took over, a 1 with nine zeros after it was not designate one billion, but either one thousand million or one milliard, and one of the banknotes here shows that the Germans with a small difference in spelling used the same word when necessary.149-c150152153154155164170171172172-a172-b393393-a393-b393-c. When putting these together I decided to make this image the centre of the picture, thereby splitting the two sets of booklets.407 – a four piece composite image407-a407-b407-c407-d407-e – I could not resist extracting this close-up.
This post is my response to Richard Murphy of Tax Research UK’s challenge to come up with a dream cabinet. I do not quite have a full cabinet here but I do have names, positions and explanations and/ or justifications for all my choices. I will start by listing the names and positions, and will then go into a little more detail in the next section about my reasons.
THE SELECTIONS
These are the positions I have managed to fill:
Prime Minister – Debbie Abrahams
Deputy Prime Minister – Angela Rayner
Chancellor of the Exchequer – Richard Murphy
Home Secretary – Kerry-Anne Mendoza
Foreign Secretary – Clive Lewis
Business Secretary – Rebecca Long-Bailey
Health Secretary – Jo Rust
Environment – Caroline Lucas
Transport – Thomas Sutcliffe
Neurodiversity Minister – Paddy-Joe Moran (askpergers.wordpress.com)
Education Secretary – Michael Rosen
Arts – Anna Bohlin
Sports – Elizabeth Ammon (@legsidelizzy)
Scottish Secretary – Mhairi Black
Disabilities – Paula Peters (DPAC)
Science – Patricia Fara
Work and Pensions – Mike Sivier
Women and Equality – Kate Osamor
Welsh Secretary – Leanne Wood
Defence – Emily Thornberry
Housing and Planning – Sian Berry
We now move on to the the….
EXPLANATIONS/ JUSTIFICATIONS
I will take each position in the order in which they appear above:
Prime Minister – Debbie Abrahams
Debbie Abrahams has impressed me ever since she entered the shadow cabinet to the extent that I was determined to put her in a top position, and in the end I opted for the top position for her.
Deputy Prime Minister – Angela Rayner
Another who has been consistently impressive since her promotion to the front bench. From what I read of her performance on Question time when she had to contend with three very right wing fellow panelists, a Liberal Democrat and the mloderator, Mr Arch-Establishment Dimbleby (I was not able to watch for myself as I refuse to let the BBC have any of my money) she seems to have done a fine job of further underlining her credentials.
Chancellor of the Exchequer – Richard Murphy
We need his kind of economic vision as a matter of urgency, and how better to get it and than have the man himself as chancellor of the exchequer.
Home Secretary – Kerry-Anne Mendoza
Editor of The Canary and author of many splendid articles. I am sufficiently impressed by what I have seen of her that I have no doubts about putting her straight into one of the four so-called “great offices of state”.
Foreign Secretary – Clive Lewis
He was always going to feature somewhere in my dream cabinet, and I have decided that this is the right role for him.
Business Secretary – Rebecca Long-Bailey
Someone else who has said a lot of the right things since joining the front bench.
Health Secretary – Jo Rust
The Labour Party candidate for Northwest Norfolk (my constituency) at the last general election, active in many roles and a passionate supporter of the NHS. Exactly the right kind of person to take on the formidable task of repairing the ruin caused by the likes of Lansley and Hunt.
Environment – Caroline Lucas
I want environmental policy in the hands of someone who is committed to protecting the environment, and to me no one ticks that box more definitively than Ms Lucas.
Transport – Thomas Sutcliffe
I am aware that it is always risky for selectors to pick themselves, but I believe I can justify this one. I have a lifetime’s knowledge of and commitment to public transport. Although I am creator of a London transport themed website, London would actually be at the back of the queue for attention from me is at it is less badly off transport-wise than the rest of the country.
Neurodiversity Minister – Paddy-Joe Moran
Paddy-Joe is autistic, the author of several books about autism and also writes the askpergersblog. Having decided to revive the idea of this post (see here for more details) it was a question of who to select for it. I wanted my Neurodiversity Minister to be neurodiverse themselves and in the end I went for Paddy-Joe.
Education Secretary – Michael Rosen
He would bring a lifetime’s knowledge and passionate commitment to the post. Education in this country would improve massively with Michael Rosen in this role.
Arts – Anna Bohlin
I do not know whether we could persuade her to come over from Sweden, but I am sure that she would be excellent in this role and would work well with her cabinet colleagues. For more details about her consult her blog.
Sports – Elizabeth Ammon
Also known by hew twitter handle – legsidelizzy. In addition to her cricket writing and commentaries she has made some very sound political points.
Scottish Secretary – Mhairi Black
Always assuming Scotland have not yet declared indepence, I would want Mhairi Black, who is the youngest but also one of the most impressive MPs currently in the house, in my cabinet, and this would seem the ideal role for her.
Disabilities – Paula Peters
I have gone for someone who is disabled and heavily involved in DPAC (Disabled People Against Cuts) for this important role.
Science – Patricia Fara
Author of a book on the history of science, a scientist herself and an impressive speaker (I have heard her give a talk here in King’s Lynn). She got the nod ahead of Brian Cox because I decided that I wanted a woman in charge of science policy.
Work and Pensions – Mike Sivier
Author of theVox Politicalblog, carer and very knowledgeable about the misdeeds of the DWP under the Tories he would be an excellent person to undertake the task of putting this area back on track.
Women and Equality – Kate Osamor
Like several of my other choices she has impressed ever since taking her place on the front bench, and she would be well suited to this role.
Welsh Secretary – Leanne Wood
Occasionally sounds too excitable for her own good, but says a lot of good things, and I believe would do them in this role.
Defence – Emily Thornberry
As shadow defence secretary (before being moved to shadow foreign secretary) she was quite impressive.
Housing and Planning – Sian Berry
She ran an excellent campaign for Mayor of London which deserved better reward than third place (in particular, it was a travesty that she ended up behind Goldsmith after he ran such a disgraceful campaign, but also for my money Khan could have had no complaints had she won outright). This is a position I would definitely want in the hands of someone thoroughly committed to protecting the environment. To reuse a remark I originally made as a comment in response to one of Anna’s posts:
Preservation of nature needs to be at the heart of planning decisions, not an optional (and often despised) extra. Your battle in Trosa is a battle for all of us everywhere.
PHOTOGRAPHS
After all that text here are some photographs for a bit of light relief…
The first seven pictures are from yesterday – this is the East Rudham (my parents’ village) egg shop
Starting with this one my remaining pictures are from today.
Some local photographs from earlier today and some interesting links.
INTRODUCTION
I had expected to be blogging about the first ever NAS West Norfolk curry night at The Globe today, but the event had to be postponed due to the severe weather that affected King’s Lynn yesterday. In addition to the decision to postpone the curry night made because those who would have had to travel (as opposed to me strolling down the road) to get there did not feel safe doing so I have a couple of other little pieces of evidence to back my claim that the wind yesterday was the strongest I have experienced while living in King’s Lynn, which is a fairly windy town anyway. Firstly I had to retrieve one of the legs of my outside table from the roof of Artertons (this roof adjoins my balcony but is one storey lower, so to access it I have to descend to street level, ascend a fixed steel ladder to the Artertons roof, retrieve the item, descend the ladder and ascend the stairs to my own flat). For this to happen, the table top, which when the table is not in use I position covering the legs, had to be blown clear of the legs and then one of those legs had to be blown across the width of my outside space and down on to Artertons roof, and it has never happened before. Secondly, the 813th King’s Lynn Mart made what was in truth the only sensible decision they could have done, not to open yesterday evening on safety grounds, again a first in my time living in this part of the world. Therefore with a couple of links at the end as a bonus I am falling back on a staple of this blog, some local pictures taken today.
THE PICTURES
Weatherwise today has been the calm after yesterday’s storm, so after lunch I went out for a walk with only my trusty Nikon Coolpix P530 for company. Below are the highlights of this walk in picture form…
Daffodils just emerging in The WalksSigns of life in what I call the “Trivial Pursuit Beds” in The Walks
A cormorant showing its wingspan on the west bank of the Great OuseCormorant just in the western edge of the Great Ouse
A view of the town from Harding’s PitsThe Nar was so calm that these modern houses were clearly reflected in its water.A tern (probably in origin an Arctic Tern.A Moorhen
SOME LINKS
My first link is to a new petition on change.org calling on the UK government to treat hate crimes against autistic people as seriously as race hate crimes. Here is the body text of a suggested message provided by change.org:
I just signed the petition, “UK Parliament: Make autistic hate crime as punishable as racism.” I think this is important. Will you sign it too?
On a completely different note, courtesy of www.independent.co.uk here is a fascinating account of a new solar system in which no fewer than seven earth-like planets wouyld appear to be in the habitable zone around their star. Click on the picture below to read in full.
Finally to end this post, a highly amusing video. Clearly based on the classic sketch “What did the Romans ever do for us?”, this is a sketch called “What did the European Court of Human Rights ever do for us?”
aspiblog 