New mauve/blue blog colour scheme

I've just updated my colour scheme, replacing the turquoise/beige theme with a photographic header banner, which I have been using (or most of it at any rate) for the past two or three years. That basic colour scheme was chosen because it did not have any particular association with any of the British political parties.

The new mauve/blue colour scheme is also, I think, pretty neutral in British political terms, but is designed to reflect the heathery and blue hues of the Highlands of Scotland, where I live. I've also decided to replace the photographic header banner with a purely textual image in an effort to de-clutter my template, apart from including a 'vanity shot' of my face (*). I think some more work in this area is required to give my page an even cleaner and simpler look, but there are a few basic design issues with my template (the way the left and right columns are currently arranged in a series interlinked tables, for example, even though little of this is apparent to the viewer), which I must think about before making any further changes.

What do you think of the changes so far?

(*) Although a lot of excellent blogs are effectively anonymous I have always taken the view that one should be prepared to identify oneself publicly with one's views, even though I understand that for some people this may have personal or professional repercussions. Ultimately, however, I consider all such dissimulation to be a 'cop-out' and I assess such blogs accordingly. That's just the way I look at things.