No longer a Floating Voter #GE2017
My job requires political impartiality. I'm involved and invested in the political system that we operate in the UK. I believe passionately in democracy and participation. Not voting is an abdication of responsibility as an adult. We all owe it to each other to participate in choosing our governments and answering the big questions. The penalty good people pay for failing to participate is to be governed by others (Plato) This has always been true, and never so clear as it is now. Like it or not we are living in interesting times. In the proverbial Chinese sense. There is only one key issue in this general election, Brexit. Brexit dominates this General Election more than any other issue. It affects every single one of us, whether we want it hard and fast, soft and slow or never in our…
Cold Welcome (Vatta’s Peace) by Elizabeth Moon [Book Review]
Cold Welcome by Elizabeth Moon My rating: 4 of 5 stars Cold Welcome is the first in Vatta's Peace, a new series following on from the Vatta's War series. This first book takes Admiral Ky Vatta to a new and unfamiliar place, away from her space fleet and into a desperate survival in arctic waters after a shuttle crash. Cold Welcome - the review Elizabeth Moon at Worldcon 2005 in Glasgow, August 2005. Picture taken by Szymon Sokół. (Photo credit: Wikipedia) You don't really need to have read the Vatta's War series to get Cold Welcome. The book recaps the main elements of Vatta's War. The start scenario is that Admiral Ky Vatta is returning to her home planet of Slotter Key. She is met by the Commandant of the Space Academy that she last met when she was asked…
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