James Fox is interviewed about his career in 1968Another post that suggests I should have called this blog Twentieth Century Boy. Click on the photo of James Fox here to be taken to an interview with him on the British Film Institute site. There you will see it billed like this: Happy and relaxed dialogue with the then 28-year-old actor, covering his rise to fame and plans for the future. After his role in The Servant (1963), James Fox was in demand. This interview, filmed four years later, has the young star in affable mood, freely admitting his lack of planning, love of California and thoughts about his ... (more) |
A successful visitI recently arranged for Sunniside History Society members to visit Ravensworth Castle in Gateshead. The trip took place on Saturday. The Castle was a stately home designed by John Nash (who designed Buckingham Palace when the Prince Regent was around) but it was partially demolished in the late 1930s and then more substantially in the 1950s. Fragments survive including the stable block and (more) |
Brazilian footballer falls down hole celebrating goal that was then disallowedThe judges are unanimous. Our Headline of the Day Award goes to the Guardian. (more) |
To paraphrase Shakespeare' 'something is rotten in the state of Britain'In Hamlet, the Prince memorably says, "Something is rotten in the state of Denmark". When looking at the economic mess we are in, I think we can safely say that about how much of big business and finance operates in the UK today. Corporate life and responsibility - or the lack of it We have seen, for decades now, a string of scandals which can only undermine our faith in how public and private corporations operate in our country. One of the most egregious examples is that of the, publicly-owned, Post Office, which saw ordinary people go to prison for ... (more) |
How Bodhana Sivanandan became British women's chess champion at the age of 11Not only does Britain have a 17-year-old chess champion, it also has an 11-year-old women's champion. Yesterday Bodhana Sivanandan won a play-off with 14-year-old Trisha Kanyamarala to claim this crown. The women's title goes to the highest placed woman in the British championship, which is open to all. The two had tied, so a play-off was needed to separate them. You can see Bohdana win the tense decisive second game in the video above. The first had ended in a draw. Bodhana is a positional player, with a wonderful instinct for where each piece belongs. Shreyas Royal, who won the ... (more) |
Lib Dems fight to save independent scrutiny of the NHSEmbed from Getty ImagesThe Liberals Democrats are fighting government proposals to reduce independent scrutiny of the National Health Service. Some of them were opposed by Andy Burnham as recently as last November, when he was still mayor of Manchester. A press release from the party explains our concerns about its new Health Bill: The Government's Bill will remove the duty for the NHS to cooperate with the Care Quality Commission and provide key safety data, will remove automatic 'safe space' protections for whistleblowers, and result in the closure of local healthwatch organisations, which provide independent advocacy for patients and uncover ... (more) |
Born to be a Refugee...As a geoscientist, I spent years writing technical reports about sedimentary rocks, each one telling a story of millions of years old. My imagination travelled through time, reconstructing glaciers, seas, channels, deserts, and floodplains to understand how landscapes evolved. Yet nothing in my scientific work prepared me for writing a far more personal story, the story of my friend Iyad from Gaza, and the cause I have carried in my heart since childhood, across countries and continents. I met Iyad more than twenty-five years ago in Paris at the Cité Universitaire Internationale, a beautiful residence where students from around the ... (more) |
Good start but....It seems that Andy Burnham has got off to a good start. I had previously thought of him as something of a lightweight but his performance since becoming PM has made me revisit my opinions on him. This is of course the honeymoon stage of his premiership. We saw with Starmer and Brown that honeymoons can be shortlived. It will be interesting to see how long Burnham's last. Nevertheless I get the (more) |
Reform figures in Wales linked to far-right social media networksIn the least-surprising news of the week, Nation Cymru has conducted an investigation, which has found that Reform politicians in Wales are regularly interacting with far-right social media accounts, including amplifying disturbing content and posts that target a prominent female Plaid Cymru figure with abuse. The news website says that their investigation examined the online activity of senior Reform figures in Wales, including their interactions with prominent extremist groups and individuals, finding that a significant number of Reform Members of the Senedd followed Facebook groups that shared racist content: The investigation also found that some official Welsh Reform branch accounts, ... (more) |