If Boris does nothing else useful in his role as Prime Minister, the reconsideration of HS2 makes him well worth the effort and worry. HS2 has been a white elephant ever since it was a one-page blue-sky suggestion twenty years ago.

The idea of upgrading a single route on the rail system from London to Scotland should have been background maintenance. Instead of that, HS2 has ballooned into a £50bn pig-trough and, given the government's overspend record on massive projects, it's... [Read More]

I am trying to find the collected plays, if such a volume exists.

I am much taken with Joanna Baillie's poems. The earlier 1790 book is on Gutenberg.

"The wild winds bellow o'er my head,
And spent eve's fading light;
Where shall I find some friendly shed
To screen me from the night?

"Ah!

... [Read More]

Toxicology tests on Sala's body showed CO levels in his blood were so great it could have caused a seizure, unconsciousness or a heart attack.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-49345186

I don't remember when I was last more... [Read More]

But apparently quite acceptable for crowd control. Really?

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-08-...PxA58JZi-yR9fA

. . . . . So anyway, here on July 4th a couple (man & woman) lit a dog on fire!! Extreme cruelty, right? The woman was arrested, and they are still looking for the man. Here's the thing. The cops say the dog was already dead, before they lit it on fire. It's a stupid thing they did, but since the dog was already dead, is that really cruelty? What Say you?

Within a 24 hour period, two mass mudering sprees occurred. Totally out of control in USA! Well it happened again, in Dayton Ohio, after happening in El passo Texas mall, another mass shooting spree! At least 29 killed, and many injured!!! It seems it will never end!!! It can never end, due to the hundreds of thousands of all kinds of guns already existing out there in our world, unfortunately many of them are owned by wackos. Adding new laws, and or revising existing laws is futile!... [Read More]

No doubt matters will become more clear with time but at the moment, https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/27/w...americans.html has me totally bemused.

Among other things, every US news report I've seen about this refers to the Carabinieri as "Italy’s military police" or "Paramilitary". Where does that notion originate? The Carabinieri are... [Read More]

I have, I think, a way forward.

The Republic of Ireland and the UK are, until Halloween, both members of the same European Union and as such have no customs border or regulation disparity with each other.

The UK will stop being a member of the EU at the end of October.

It is a political necessity that there should continue to be no restriction of the movement of goods and services between the Republic of Ireland and the whole of the UK.

... [Read More]

I have a suggestion.

There's a resonant electromagnetic frequency at which carbon dioxide dissociates into a molecule of oxygen and a very reactive free carbon atom. What the carbon atom usually does is to grab the nearest oxygen molecule and bind to it, but not if it's offered a carbon bond as an alternative.

So if we provide a transparent flat carbon substrate and beam a tuned laser through from beneath, to skim the substrate surface along the underside, all... [Read More]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISt12CEhU_g

What I find most depressing is I am not far off her age and I can't understand how someone can be so ignorant.

Now that the legal process following Operation Midland and the investigation into Sir Edward Heath has come to its final miserable end, may we persecute a few real villains?

I'm not talking about the demented idiot who made the claims and has just been found guilty of criminal invention, fraudulent theft of public funds and presumably, one can only hope, perjury and wasting police time. I'm talking about the... [Read More]

This is just plain heroic, there's no better word for it.

When the 32-year-old arrived in the Egyptian capital last week, completing his 44-day 10,000km (6,200-mile) trip, he said it was well worth it despite some nerve-wracking experiences.

And he says he has learnt a lot about himself and Africa. "I used to

... [Read More]

I note the following observation in today's Guardian.

There is no evidence that the nation thinks warmly of her, although there is respect for her tenacity, stamina and probity. It is easy to find critics of her judgment, but no one thinks she has been venal. Critics who think her principles were the wrong ones acknowledge at least

... [Read More]

Banks newly quicksettid, som weding do craue.

(Which is why I always pot out seedlings instead)

I could post the remaining observations in the new edition of Tusser's "Fiue Hundreth Points Good Husbandry" if I'm encouraged.

Another of Trump's good friends will hopefully soon be behind bars for good, this one a pedophile. It's not a good time to have been a Trump friend. Manafort is broke and in a jumpsuit, Michael Cohen is in the system, and now Epstein, There are other friends of Trump who've lost quite a bit, too. Now, all we need to do is get this disgusting rapist out of the White House.

I note the following report:

[...] Fredrik Wallin was responding to claims on website TMZ, reportedly from a US Embassy official, that walking into Kronoberg prison is like "walking into a toilet". The website had claimed the rapper is being held in a "disease-ridden" prison where the food is

... [Read More]

The extraordinary leak of diplomatic briefings from the British Ambassador in Washington to the Prime Minister's office in London coincides with the final month of access to such documents by Theresa May's very small team of political advisers. It can't be hard to work out which one has a sense of humor, I don't for a minute think it was a civil servant which is today's press deflection.

... [Read More]

and how to transfer a manuscript onto a pc so I can print it off.

yes I've been doing things the old fashioned way...I freehand my writing...but now I have to begin putting it on a website or something or other to allow others to view it for criticism etc.

does anyone have any suggestions. The publishers want to be able to see it apparently and have suggested a website for promotion and a blog style thingy that I can press print and the story comes out all... [Read More]

The general consensus in the UK is that the inevitable 2024 winner of the Presidential Election will be female, Republican and 42 years old.

Presumably this is a recognized likelihood in the America too?

Was yesterday's N Korea visit by Trump a photo-op or was it more of a resolute act to soften relations?

I give Trump credit for turning certain traditional policy norms upside down.

1- Attempting to normalize relations with NK and Russia
2- Standing up to our intelligence agencies (though I doubt he would have had they not gone after him personally)
3- being as vocal as he is on at least on one end of the corporate press (again, he appears to have done... [Read More]