A Pot-Pourri of a Post

Some good links to various interesting and important items, an important infographic in among them, a couple of classic recipes and some excellent images.

Before I get into my own stuff, I have some links to share…

LINKS

I start with a series of posts about the general election that has just happened:

First up, the ever reliable Mike Sivier of Vox Political. It was also Mr Sivier who provided the introduction to the my next post, written by David Hencke. Another frequent source of good material is John P Ointon who blogs as notesfromthenorth and who provided a fine response to the general election. My final piece of election related material, given that the Tories have an absolute majority in the house on 36% of the votes cast, is a petition calling for a change in the system of parliamentary representation courtesy of change.org, accompanied by a graphic showing what the the break down of MPs would be under PR…

PR

My penultimate link is to the petition currently being run via 38 Degrees by the Save Southwark Woods campaign.

My last link is to a post from Autism Mom.

IMAGING AND OTHER STUFF

A combination of two busy and eventful days and a sleepless night in between (following the election) has meant that I have not posted recently. I revisited a classic recipe of mine this week, my own customised version of Madhur Jaffrey’s Lemony Chicken and Coriander, although rather than using thighs I used a half chicken cut into managable size pieces with the aid of ‘the world’s sharpest knife’. This recipe featured, along with another that I have not used in a very long time in my first ever blog post. Here are both recipes in a graphic…

Kitchen Specialities

The ‘PR’ graphic I put up earlier of course is based on actual votes and not on how people would have voted had PR been in force (e.g. I voted labour in the general election for a combination of reasons which would not have applied under PR – the question would have been whether to vote Green – as I did in the local elections – or for the Trade Union and Socialist Coalition, TUSC). In view of the number of people who clearly did not vote the way they had told pollsters they would, here is photographic proof that I did precisely what I said I would…

DSCN4993

I have done some interesting imaging at work this week, finishing off the May stuff and imaging one piece of stock for the June sale that needed to be protected from damage…

These five images are of the medals that feature in lot 424A in our May auction. There were two pics, one taken with flash and one without, the latter of which was treated in three different ways and the former in two.
These five images are of the medals that feature in lot 424A in our May auction. There were two pics, one taken with flash and one without, the latter of which was treated in three different ways and the former in two.

Flash No Flash - edited

???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????

No Flash

These date from Thursday, now some stuff from yesterday…

The documents that accompany the medals pictured earlier.
The documents that accompany the medals pictured earlier.
The next six images are of lot 653 in the June sale (It was mighty hard to capture every detail of something so intricate as this, hence so many pics)
The next six images are of lot 653 in the June sale (It was mighty hard to capture every detail of something so intricate as this, hence so many pics)

653a 653b 653c 653d 653e 768 768a 768b

ON SHARING

At the start of this post I shared various things from other sources, because they had made an impact on me. If you enjoyed this post I would be very grateful for you to share it, and I also encourage you to share individual items from within it if they particularly appeal to you. My final words, once rendered by the estimable Mr Bilbo Baggins as “thag you very buch” are embodied in the image with which this post concludes and apply to all who read it through to the end:

TY3

General Election and Other Stuff

As is now usual with my posts I will be starting with some links for you to follow before moving on to the main meat.

LINKS

http://blog.autism-mom.com/2015/03/the-one-thing/

https://twitter.com/LabourEoin/status/581869391802982401/photo/1

http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/ending-foodbank-britain-labours-5-point-5394101

https://homoeconomicusnet.wordpress.com/2015/03/22/university-a-free-not-a-safe-space/

https://dankeeling1.wordpress.com/2015/03/28/our-unfair-society-and-cavemen/

https://a6er.wordpress.com/2015/03/29/tories-may-not-reveal-details-of-12bn-welfare-cuts-until-after-election-politics-the-guardian/

https://johnnyvoid.wordpress.com/2015/03/29/current-benefit-sanctions-policy-is-bonkers-says-workfare-industrys-top-spokesperson/ A devastating indictment of the current benefit sanctions policy.

https://thepoorsideoflife.wordpress.com/2015/03/25/single-parent-attend-the-jobcentre-and-get-referred-to-social-services-as-a-troubled-family-new-trial-at-ashton-jobcentre/ Britain;s worst jobcentre strikes again.

http://edgeofhumanity.com/2015/01/28/faces-africa/

http://politicalscrapbook.net/2015/03/leaflet-claims-former-tory-minister-is-a-socialist-chloe-smith/ Tory desperation in the fine city of Norwich.

https://notesfromthenorth75.wordpress.com/2015/03/29/uk-general-election-2015-from-dissolution-onwards/

http://charlottehoatherblog.com/2015/03/29/interview-with-george-todica-pianist A singer interviews a pianist…

http://blog.autism-mom.com/2015/03/there-if-he-needs-it/

http://autisticeyes.com/?p=1085

http://autisticeyes.com/?p=1078

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/ukips-energy-spokesman-an-idiot-after-urging-people-to-turn-all-their-lights-on-for-earth-hour-10142008.html Just another example of UKIP at their hilarious worst.

http://autism.ehoow.net/?p=115

http://www.wikihow.com/Be-a-Good-Friend-to-Some-One-Who-Has-Asperger%27s-Syndrome

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/katie-hopkins-reported-to-the-police-for-race-hatred-by-labour-mp-simon-danczuk-after-tweet-about-pakistani-men-10142833.html?dkdk A legendary troll getting her come-uppance.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2015/03/29/lgbt-wellness-march-27_n_6959078.html

http://www.visitnorfolk.co.uk/inspire/Norfolk-great-sights.aspx Some quality images of Norfolk here.

http://www.savesouthwarkwoods.org.uk/ A campaign website.

https://you.38degrees.org.uk/petitions/save-southwark-woods The petition to save Southwark Woods.

http://www.scoop.it/t/autism-by-autism-daily-newscast

http://www.independent.co.uk/voices/comment/cameron-and-miliband-should-have-faith-in-their-bolder-policies-10142312.html The Independent on the election.

http://voxpoliticalonline.com/2015/03/30/election-choice-isnt-as-stark-as-david-cameron-wants-you-to-think/ Vox Political on the election.

http://wfdrc.tumblr.com/ The online hub of a campaign to save a vital resource for disabled people in the Waltham Forest area.

The first set of pics from today…

Mike Rosen's name on the cover of a book is generally good sign, and this book is even better than that suggests.
Mike Rosen’s name on the cover of a book is generally good sign, and this book is even better than that suggests.

?????????? ?????????? ?????????? ?????????? ?????????? ??????????

GENERAL ELECTION 2015

While I thoroughly understand and respect those who wish to vote for a left-wing alternative to labour, I urge care. By voting for a small left-wing organisation you may just end up helping the tories. In my own constituency I am faced with only two remotely palatable choices, labour or green. The fact that labour have selected an excellent candidate in Jo Rust, and the fact the only time this seat has been occupied by anyone other than Henry Bellingham since 1983 was between 1997 and 2001 when labour held it have been sufficient to sway me. I will vote labour and I will do so with a song in my heart, and I want to see a huge turnout at the ballot-boxes in King’s Lynn because that is how we will do our part to ensure that we are not saddled with another five years of Cameron and his cronies.

Here in plain text is my personal voting history in general elections…

MY GENERAL ELECTION VOTING HISTORY

  • 1997: Labour and celebrated long and hard as the government that had been in power all my conscious life was finally booted out.
  • 2001: Socialist Alliance – I was in a rock-solid labour seat at the time and could afford to vote to the left by way of protest.
  • 2005: Respect – see above
  • 2010: Liberal Democrats – my worst ever mistake in a general election, but at the time it seemed sensible. The labour candidate who had been parachuted in from Leicester then torpedoed his own credibility with a speed to rival that of a Ukipper and the only other possibility to unseat the sitting Tory was the one I voted for. Five years of betrayals later I can say with certainty that I will NEVER make that mistake again.
  • 2015: Labour – with a smile on my face and a song in my heart. We have an excellent candidate in Jo Rust, labour took this seat in 1997 (the only period since 1983 when the MP has been other than Henry Bellingham) and can therefore do so again.

Having reached this stage you deserve some more pictures…

??????????

Another vote that will be settled on May 7th - that for Britain's national bird. Here is my candidate.
Another vote that will be settled on May 7th – that for Britain’s national bird. Here is my candidate.

?????????? ?????????? ?????????? ?????????? ?????????? ?????????? ?????????? ?????????? ??????????