Seriously? Meme
Heidi Allen MP in the House of Commons, 2 November 2017. In response to some right-winger making some typically appalling comment.
Category: Uncategorized
General Election Football Analogy
I once tried to explain the parliamentary electoral system to a teenage relative, using footballing terms. It’s not a perfect analogy, but it’s a lot more perfect than the way we choose our government.
“Imagine we’re having an election to …
Continue readingHow to organise a local council hustings event
Earlier this year I was part of a small group which organised a hustings event for a local council election here in Cambridge. We think it was a great success, and a real asset to local democracy. One or two …
Continue readingHow should an MP vote?
I’m writing this in the aftermath of the EU membership referendum, and the result is still very raw. I’m probably not alone around here in having almost all of my friends, colleagues and neighbours having voted ‘remain’, and not having …
Continue readingMy complete guaranteed predictions for 2016
Denmark: makes the news in May.
I’m sure that some of you may take these predictions for 2016 and somehow make money out of them, because they’re guaranteed**, but nevertheless, on this new year’s day, I’m going to tell you …
Continue readingParking at Stanmore for Wembley Stadium events
I’ve found in the past that relating travel and parking experiences here always seems to be useful to people, so here’s another one, this time relating to parking at Stanmore for Wembley Stadium events. This was something we tried in …
Continue readingOld views of Cavendish Avenue
I just noticed that the aerial views on Bing Maps are still showing the plot on which our house stands, before it was developed …so I thought I’d record them here for posterity. The old house really looks quite a …
Continue readingNew websites for Cambridge
I’ve made a couple of new websites recently, and I’m linking to them here to give them a small but worthwhile kick up the bum in their Google rankings. The first is a site to campaign against a local piece …
Continue readingMy Dad
There’s nothing I can say here to do justice to how much of a loss we’ve just suffered with the passing of my Dad. He was a great man, and will always be my hero. Thanks and congratulations to Lorraine …
Continue readingWhy you shouldn’t leave your passwords in your Will
So, there’s been much news coverage over the past few days concerning a survey which says 1 in 10 of us plans to leave online passwords in our will, although I’m not sure if that’s actually something which is …
Continue readingOur Experience of Moving House in Cambridge
We’ve just moved house. It’s not something anyone with a life would want to do often, if only because of the sheer chore of letting dozens of different organisations know about the change of address, never mind the pain of …
Continue readingPhoto highlights of our Canadian holiday
Alex sitting on the glass floor of the Calgary Tower observation deck
Taking the gondola ride up Sulphur Mountain in Banff
Looking up at the Athabasca Glacier coming down from the Columbia Icefields
Canoeing on Ice-blue Lake Louise
Front section …
New website for Essex golf teacher
I just made a one-page website for Roger Gray, who offers golf lessons in Brentwood. Just a sort of online business card really. I hope it helps people find him, he’s a great guy and deserves to be every …
Continue readingDawn on the Telly!
Dawn appeared on a BBC East documentary in 2000, called “Carry On Nursing..?” – here’s her ninety seconds of fame.
…
Kevin’s a lucky man
Wow. Just back from the wedding of my God-daughter Mel in Canada. To say she looked pretty would be an understatement. A really nice service and a good send-off for Kevin and Mel in the evening. Of course I wish …
Continue readingWhat happens in Vegas
Just got back from a great week’s holiday in Las Vegas. There’ll be separate posts on some of the people and places, but for now, here are the three things we heard or saw which made us chuckle the most:…
Continue readingThe Beard will be no more.
This is Laurence Marchini. I’ve known him for many years. He’s always had a beard. In fact, I suspect his Mum would confirm he was born with it. And on Saturday it’s coming off, for charidee. I am completely gobsmacked. …
Continue readingBryant Victoria Kitchen Extension – Roll the Credits
Well… it’s just about over. The floor’s down, the fitters have signed off, and Mrs R is happy with the paintwork. Apart from the splashback behind the cooker, which is being hand-carved by elves as I write, whisper it quietly …
Continue readingOne of those seminal father-son things I guess
Yes, it snowed. I’m sure it used to snow every year when I was little. Or maybe I just imagined it. Anyway, it doesn’t snow every year now. So when it does, sod the work, it’s wellies on, and out …
Continue readingThat made a big difference!
Wow. After nearly two weeks of relatively little activity while the stonemasons converted those painstakingly cut-out plastic templates into the real granite thing, it all happened today. About two billion tonnes of black shiny worktop was lugged into the kitchen, …
Continue readingThe Appliances of, er, Sciences
View from the utility room door
Allan the kitchen fitter (another top man!) has had a pretty good week. OK, it’s mainly been spent opening boxes and discarding packaging, then discovering the wrong kitchen units have been sent, but in …
Continue readingThe Extension is Finished. Now the Kitchen begins…
OK, the builders are just about done, inside at least, and Dawn has diligently done a lot of the painting (a nice creamy yellow). On Monday morning the kitchen fitter will be here. Indeed, the boxes are already arriving (below). …
Continue readingI’m not sure this guy understands the rules
Look carefully. It’s a builder working …at five o’clock. See, I told you these guys were good. Even if this guy (who will have to remain anonymous in case he gets thrown out of the builders’ union) missed the first …
Continue readingThere’s a hole in my kitchen
Of course you were all wondering what was going on inside the extension, weren’t you? No? Well, here it is anyway. Twice the kitchen! 100% less worktop and storage space (for now). The wiring is all in place for the …
Continue readingWe hit the roof
Now that’s looking like an extension. The lads done great. Windows, roof …it could almost be finished. Except for the small matter of the internals. But now the inner wall has come down and we have an idea of what …
Continue readingUp, up and away
Yay. The extension continues to soar skywards. The builders seem to be doing a great job (yeah, like I’m some sort of expert who’s qualified to judge) and they hope to be starting on the roof this weekend. Now we …
Continue readingHalf man, half robot
It’s been an odd week for Alex. After the triumph of Emma’s birthday party at the weekend, where he won a certificate for his full-on, virtuoso air guitar performance (not to mention a lorryload of fatherly pride), yesterday he had …
Continue reading
…Things begin to take shape
Well, progress might best be described as “steady” rather than sensational, but it has been raining, and the council inspectors’ lack of instant availability doesn’t help that much. However, we’ve got a lot of the brick and blockwork in place. …
Continue readingWhere’s the grass gone?
It was quite nice turf, really. But you’ll have to take our word for it. Or, if it hasn’t been updated, the evidence is at Google Maps. Now there’s just mud, glorious mud. And some nice footings. And of …
Continue readingQuick. Fill in the hole while nobody’s looking.
So when the neighbours were out at work, we blocked up the road for an hour with this huge great cement mixer, which discharged about fifty wheelbarrowloads (is that an imperial or metric unit?) of wet concrete and they went …
Continue readingThe Man from the Council he say …no.
Well it looked pretty substantial to me, but the building inspector measured the trench for our foundations, whistled through his teeth slightly, looked at the nearby growth and said: “Oh dear no, those are cherry trees. You’ll need to dig …
Continue readingWe’re having the house extended.
I knew it was asking for trouble: I said if I could have my new big telly, then Alex could have his trip to Disneyland and Mrs R could have something nice too. Oops. She opted for the new …
Continue readingThe Blog is Back!
You’ll notice there’s a 10-week gap between this entry and the previous one. You may think the reason is probably because I couldn’t be a**ed to write anything while the sun was out.
Nothing could be further from the truth.…
Gigfest!
Three gigs on consecutive weekdays – something of a record, methinks. Friday, and to the Cambridge Corn Exchange for a token dose of modern pop’n’roll, with The Zutons. Their selling point is more than just the originality of a female …
Continue readingEurovision, so much to answer for
Just when you think the Eurovision Song Contest is past its sell-by date, like every year, it comes back and provides you with some unmissable entertainment once more. Now, the idea of getting the public to vote, which has been …
Continue readingJoe Royle leaves Ipswich.
I’m delighted that Royle has gone. I didn’t want him in the first place, along with all those in the North Stand who were chanting “Royle out” before he’d even been appointed nearly four long seasons ago. In all that …
Continue readingRestaurant 22, Cambridge has a website!
Last night we ate at Restaurant 22 at 22 Chesterton Lane, Cambridge. I wouldn’t normally think this worthy of a blog entry, but there seemed to be no record of the restaurant having a website when I scoured the …
Continue readingShe will put us all to shame…
Mrs R is doing the Race For Life in June, committing herself to running 5km for charidee. Doesn’t sound much, 5 kilometres, but then I think: “Hang on – I’m really proud of myself for being able to run for …
Continue readingCambridge Folk Festival 2006 lineup announced
They’ve announced the lineup for this year’s Folk Festival which takes place in my back garden (-ish) and it’s an intriguing one. Nice to see they’ve continued the trend of the last few years by avoiding the pop acts (it …
Continue readingReal-life Simpsons intro
Just how long did this take to do? Utterly fantastic.…
Continue readingMore British than a British thing
There’s a half-decent, half-British, half-American Half Man Half Biscuit interview on Popmatters today. It says: “A big part of America’s problem, of course, is that Half Man Half Biscuit (HMHB to their friends) are so very British that, to a …
Continue readingSky+ …too noisy for the bedroom?
Well, we thought so. Full marks to Sky for agreeing to exchange our new Sky+ unit for a coventional Digibox, but really, they should warn you about this in the first place. For a start, the more recent Sky+ 40Mb …
Continue readingCambridge Folk Festival on Google Earth!
Wow! Two great discoveries today. Not only is Google Earth available for the Mac now, but the aerial shots of Cambridge were taken while the last Cambridge Folk Festival was on. Look! That’s me and me mates on that rug, …
Continue readingBaby Tips are back!
Big thanks to Jon Severn, who’d squirrelled away a copy of our Tips for Prospective New Parents which we’d written soon after Alex was born. It’s just a braindump of all the advice we wanted to give other new parents …
Continue readingBest Educational Items for Toddlers …Ever!
Alex (aged 4 and three-quarters) got given a game for Christmas from his Godfather Paul which becomes an immediate new entry in my list of “Best Educational Items for Toddlers …Ever!” It’s called Rush Hour and it’s a logic puzzle …
Continue readingIn-car iPod – let’s do one properly!
Why is it everyone seems to think that to play our iPods in the car we want some stupid bit of plastic on a stalk, with wires going in to the back of the existing hi-fi, all at great installation …
Continue readingIt started off as a match report…
…but ended up as a rant. Sorry Joe, but it was one of those teamsheets which would have caused 20,000 people to have been gleefully emptying their wallets if Ladbrokes had been offering odds on “this is going to …
Continue readingBest CDs of 2005 – a definitive list
Yeah, OK, maybe not that definitive, I reserve the right to amend this when people remind me of something obvious which I’ve forgotten. But at the moment it’s definitely, definitely this:
1. Achtung Bono by Half Man Half Biscuit
2. …
Continue readingOnsite Advertiser Sign-up: P45s for the Ad Sales team?
I’ve read loads of reports about the new Google Onsite Advertiser Sign-up facility and seen one semi-decent discussion of it, but nobody quite seems to have got it yet. Advertisers can now choose a site and say to Google: “manage …
Continue reading
Most Commented Posts
280 Comments
103 Comments
47 Comments
42 Comments
29 Comments
26 Comments
22 Comments
20 Comments
18 Comments
17 Comments