Author Archives: James - Page 29
Snap Election – Some Analysis GE2017
London skyline, with Big Ben (Elizabeth Tower) in the background. (Photo: James Kemp) Yesterday's unexpected announcement of a snap election for 8 June is an interesting development for the UK government. It makes complete sense when you view things with a Conservative party lens. The Conservatives are massively ahead in the polls. The Labour party clearly aren't united enough for an election (especially as it is three years early). It deals with the jibes that the Prime Minister has no electoral mandate (whether you believe those claims or not). Caveats on Polls Opinion polls have significant margins of error. I've blogged about this previously several times. Mid term polls are especially prone to large errors. Voters blatantly misdirect pollsters, or simply change their minds on the day. Either way the apparent 25 point Conservative lead over the Labour part doesn't…
Dominion by C.J. Sansom [Book Review]
Dominion by Sansom My rating: 4 of 5 stars I was recommended Dominion by a couple of friends after my review of the TV version of SS-GB. Dominion is a huge tome, it's 700 pages long, and my first thought was that it probably needed some more editing. However I found it an easy and compelling read. Sansom's style is more descriptive than others I've read, but the extra detail adds to the flavour of the story. The title has multiple interpretations. Britain is a Dominion of nazi Germany, the key protagonist works for the Colonial Office liaising with the Dominions. Dominion - the review Unsmiling, Chamberlain (left) and Hitler leave the Bad Godesberg meeting, 23 September 1938. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) Dominion takes a far more believable point of departure for its alternate history than SS-GB does. In Dominion Lord…
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Today’s post is over there
I've even away from home for a bit, and largely offline other than with my phone. I did write a blog post on another blog, but it's rather hard to reblog here on a phone. Instead here's a link, comments on the other place please. Negotiating 101, or how to understand Brexit without looking like a total idiot
Decoding Assignment Questions – Three Steps to Success
If you want to get a good grade in your open university tutor marked assignment (TMA) then you must answer the assignment questions. I've written about the other steps to getting awesome assignment marks before. However a few more tutorials, and some painful personal experience, has shown that I need to revisit answering the assignment questions. Three Steps to Decoding Assignment Questions Read the assignment questions closely Identify the thinking or cognitive skills Pick out appropriate theories from the assignment questions 1. Reading the Assignment Questions Closely The people that write our assignment questions are very careful in their use of language. They pick the words to give us clues, and they use them precisely. So spend some time reading the question and make no assumptions about what you are being asked to do. Break the assignment questions into each…
Hell No! I won’t go! – World Poetry Day 2017 [Poetry]
English: The RedBalloon office - an example of an open plan 'Bullpen'-style office. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) World poetry day was yesterday, and it prompted me to write some poetry on the train home. This first draft is provisionally titled "Hell no! I won't go!". The inspiration for this poetry is a proposed series of office moves to bring our teams into fewer buildings. Many colleagues have been grumbling about moving office. This is intended to be a comic take on it and bears no relation to any real reason people may have cited. All this is purely imaginary, and I hope it brings a wry smile. Hell No! I won't go! The bosses have decided. We will be better together, in a new office. The new office is where everyone will be. Enjoying their coffee, except for me, I commute…