"The dividends are a comin' in"
I've just been to the mailbox to retrieve LOADS of junk mail and a few more relevant things - a few more dividend statements and a couple of investment statements. This is the time of year when a lot of companies declare their interims and cumulatively they can be quite 'interesting'. The investment statements, whilst not exactly great, are a lot better than they were in the spring so, at least on paper, the news remains pretty good. As a long-term investor I don't pay too much attention to short-term movements, whether up or down, but there's no denying it is much better to be aware of a slight upward trend rather than the reverse! Now, breakfast for me and the 'doggette' is my mission - yes, I know it's not exactly day-break (even in these semi-arctic latitudes!!), but I tend to be late-ish to bed and late-ish to rise, or a least it is when I get going properly for the day.
Blogging from the Highlands of Scotland
'From fanaticism to barbarism is only one step' - Diderot
Wednesday, 5 November 2003
Guy Fawkes and the 'Gunpowder Plot'
Yesterday was the 398th anniversary of the arrest of Guy Fawkes, whose plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament had been discovered before it could be carried out. Nowadays, this plot is commemorated by fireworks on the evening of 5th November, as well as by the burning of a ‘guy’ (or effigy of Guy Fawkes) atop a bonfire of wood and whatever other inflammable material can be found. Since moving to live in Nairn about three years ago, I've noticed that there is always a pyre of wood on the beach, made out of driftwood (this is less than about 100 yards from my windows so it would be good to get a good view of it burning - I imagine safety rules prevent this). My childhood memories of this evening are very good – apart from the apples obtained by ‘ducking’ for them on Halloween on 31st October, there always seemed to be toffee apples as well, a particular seasonal treat.
However, this evening I’ll make sure that I’m indoors before it gets too dark and with all the curtains and blinds drawn. Personally I love to see fireworks go off, and where I live, overlooking a large open links close to the sea and next to a cricket pitch, I get a superb view of any fireworks being let off in many parts of the town. However, my dog Tara has a completely different viewpoint! She is, like most dogs, terrified of fireworks and the noise and flashes they make, so it is kinder to protect her from them. I’ll take her out for the last walk of the day quite late in the evening, when I hope all the fireworks will have been used.
There’s some more historical background about the ‘Gunpowder Plot’ and Halloween here, if you want to read more about it.
Yesterday was the 398th anniversary of the arrest of Guy Fawkes, whose plot to blow up the Houses of Parliament had been discovered before it could be carried out. Nowadays, this plot is commemorated by fireworks on the evening of 5th November, as well as by the burning of a ‘guy’ (or effigy of Guy Fawkes) atop a bonfire of wood and whatever other inflammable material can be found. Since moving to live in Nairn about three years ago, I've noticed that there is always a pyre of wood on the beach, made out of driftwood (this is less than about 100 yards from my windows so it would be good to get a good view of it burning - I imagine safety rules prevent this). My childhood memories of this evening are very good – apart from the apples obtained by ‘ducking’ for them on Halloween on 31st October, there always seemed to be toffee apples as well, a particular seasonal treat.
However, this evening I’ll make sure that I’m indoors before it gets too dark and with all the curtains and blinds drawn. Personally I love to see fireworks go off, and where I live, overlooking a large open links close to the sea and next to a cricket pitch, I get a superb view of any fireworks being let off in many parts of the town. However, my dog Tara has a completely different viewpoint! She is, like most dogs, terrified of fireworks and the noise and flashes they make, so it is kinder to protect her from them. I’ll take her out for the last walk of the day quite late in the evening, when I hope all the fireworks will have been used.
There’s some more historical background about the ‘Gunpowder Plot’ and Halloween here, if you want to read more about it.
Today is ‘Blogday’
BBC Radio Scotland is launching its ‘Blogday’ today in preparation for a programme on the subject of blogging in Scotland, which is to be broadcast early next month (I think on 5th December).
A number of ‘blogs’ by people living in Scotland have been selected for inclusion, of which my little ‘blog’ is one, but we are asked to post normally (if indeed posting a blog at all could be considered ‘normal’!) throughout the day so that a snapshot of a day in the life of a group of bloggers can be used as the basis for the programme. Apart from anything else, the list of those bloggers taking part will prove useful to me in identifying some worthwhile places to visit from time to time. My own existing links to blogs are deliberately relatively few, and very much US-based, but it is always good to learn about other worthwhile blogs – specially those closer to home. The producer of the programme, Margaret Telfer, has launched her own blog as part of the experiment and it can be found at littleblip.co.uk and the list of participating bloggers can be found here.
BBC Radio Scotland is launching its ‘Blogday’ today in preparation for a programme on the subject of blogging in Scotland, which is to be broadcast early next month (I think on 5th December).
A number of ‘blogs’ by people living in Scotland have been selected for inclusion, of which my little ‘blog’ is one, but we are asked to post normally (if indeed posting a blog at all could be considered ‘normal’!) throughout the day so that a snapshot of a day in the life of a group of bloggers can be used as the basis for the programme. Apart from anything else, the list of those bloggers taking part will prove useful to me in identifying some worthwhile places to visit from time to time. My own existing links to blogs are deliberately relatively few, and very much US-based, but it is always good to learn about other worthwhile blogs – specially those closer to home. The producer of the programme, Margaret Telfer, has launched her own blog as part of the experiment and it can be found at littleblip.co.uk and the list of participating bloggers can be found here.
Atkins Low Carbohydrate Diet - Week 20
This was the first full week since I moved from 'Induction' to 'Ongoing Weight Loss' and even with the potential for slippage, as I was away for the weekend, I had a pretty good result whilst still on step 1 of the OWL carb ladder as I lost a further 0.6kg (1.4lb) in the past week and my weight is now (as at Sunday 2nd November) 71.4kg, a reduction of 26.6kg since I began (or 58.7lb) - I now have 6.4kg (14.1lb) to reach my target of 65kg. Once again, measurement indicators for the week show moderate, but steady, reductions:
- waist down a further 0.2 inches to 33.3 inches (total reduction so far 11.7 inches);
- hips down 0.3 inches to 40.5 inches (total reduction so far 8.0 inches);
- thighs down 0.1 inches to 23.2 inches (total reduction so far 5.3 inches).
As I have been on OWL step 1 (max. 25g carb a day), I have been enjoying some of the cooked vegetables I haven't been able to have for several months (broccoli, asparagus, French beans, etc), and even a medium tomato every couple of days, plus small additional amounts of salads. I’ve decided to proceed in the coming week to step 2 (fresh cheeses, such as cottage cheese and mozzarella for example), beginning 3 November, with a max. of 30g carb a day, rather than by-passing that for nuts, which is stage 3 of the ladder. I’ll reserve that treat for the following week!
It remains my target to move to 'Pre-Maintenance' by mid-December, when I hope to have only 7-8lb left to lose, and the remaining target loss over the following 3 1/2 months to about end-March 2004, when I’ll enter the ‘Lifetime Maintenance’ phase.
As well as posting a weekly summary of my progress on ‘Atkins’ here, I also post a more detailed diary in the Atkins Bulletin Board, usually on a weekly basis as well , which gives sample daily menus and this may dispel some of the myths about this diet. If you scroll right down to the bottom of the page there you’ll see a before/after picture which shows the dramatic physical changes I’ve experienced – the ‘after’ picture was taken toward the end of September so there has obviously been some more change since then, although I’ll be updating this photograph again shortly.
I’m looking forward to watching the programme this evening on BBC2 at 7.30pm – I’ll probably be having my Atkins-style dinner whilst watching it!
This was the first full week since I moved from 'Induction' to 'Ongoing Weight Loss' and even with the potential for slippage, as I was away for the weekend, I had a pretty good result whilst still on step 1 of the OWL carb ladder as I lost a further 0.6kg (1.4lb) in the past week and my weight is now (as at Sunday 2nd November) 71.4kg, a reduction of 26.6kg since I began (or 58.7lb) - I now have 6.4kg (14.1lb) to reach my target of 65kg. Once again, measurement indicators for the week show moderate, but steady, reductions:
- waist down a further 0.2 inches to 33.3 inches (total reduction so far 11.7 inches);
- hips down 0.3 inches to 40.5 inches (total reduction so far 8.0 inches);
- thighs down 0.1 inches to 23.2 inches (total reduction so far 5.3 inches).
As I have been on OWL step 1 (max. 25g carb a day), I have been enjoying some of the cooked vegetables I haven't been able to have for several months (broccoli, asparagus, French beans, etc), and even a medium tomato every couple of days, plus small additional amounts of salads. I’ve decided to proceed in the coming week to step 2 (fresh cheeses, such as cottage cheese and mozzarella for example), beginning 3 November, with a max. of 30g carb a day, rather than by-passing that for nuts, which is stage 3 of the ladder. I’ll reserve that treat for the following week!
It remains my target to move to 'Pre-Maintenance' by mid-December, when I hope to have only 7-8lb left to lose, and the remaining target loss over the following 3 1/2 months to about end-March 2004, when I’ll enter the ‘Lifetime Maintenance’ phase.
As well as posting a weekly summary of my progress on ‘Atkins’ here, I also post a more detailed diary in the Atkins Bulletin Board, usually on a weekly basis as well , which gives sample daily menus and this may dispel some of the myths about this diet. If you scroll right down to the bottom of the page there you’ll see a before/after picture which shows the dramatic physical changes I’ve experienced – the ‘after’ picture was taken toward the end of September so there has obviously been some more change since then, although I’ll be updating this photograph again shortly.
I’m looking forward to watching the programme this evening on BBC2 at 7.30pm – I’ll probably be having my Atkins-style dinner whilst watching it!
Tuesday, 4 November 2003
Holyrood Inquiry - Dewar decision on Scottish Parliament building pinpointed
Today's proceedings, discussed in this article in the Scotsman, revealed further clues about what really happened. Mr Gordon, a senior civil servant, said:
It is easy to seem grandiloquent, as Dewar increasingly came to be seen prior to his demise (but never by me), when the assets being handled for reasons of political expediency belong to other people and not to the individual making the decision. It is beginning to sound as if our dear Prime Minister allowed his Secretary of State for Scotland at the then Scottish Office to conduct himself like a feudal chieftain given charge of a province in a mediaeval kingdom!
Today's proceedings, discussed in this article in the Scotsman, revealed further clues about what really happened. Mr Gordon, a senior civil servant, said:
|
Politics came before the public interest “I’m not sure whether a commitment had been given but there was a target to have the site of the Parliament decided before the second reading of the Scotland Bill in the second week of January 1998.” and “It would be a key political milestone, that second reading, and it would be unfortunate if a lot of the attention at that time was still taken up by there not having been a decision yet on the site for the Scottish Parliament.” |
It is easy to seem grandiloquent, as Dewar increasingly came to be seen prior to his demise (but never by me), when the assets being handled for reasons of political expediency belong to other people and not to the individual making the decision. It is beginning to sound as if our dear Prime Minister allowed his Secretary of State for Scotland at the then Scottish Office to conduct himself like a feudal chieftain given charge of a province in a mediaeval kingdom!
Amanda Platell quits the Conservatives - now the healing can begin!
Ms Platell writes what I would describe as a joke article in the Guardian newspaper, announcing her resignation from the Conservative Party, saying that she is 'disgusted' by the treatment meted out to Iain Duncan Smith.
This is the lady, remember, who oversaw William Hague's media profile during the time he was Leader of the Conservative Party. Hague started off, after the massive defeat of the 1997 election, as an apparently moderate right-of-centre Conservative and by the end of year two, or the beginning of year three, of his tenure had taken the Party considerably further to the right in a deluded attempt to galvanise the anti-European, anti-immigration vote. It seems clear that Ms Platell was, at least partially, the architect of this disastrous policy. And with the elevation of Iain Duncan Smith to the Leadership in 2001 the Party's far-right consolidated their position, as a result of the ridiculously short-sighted leadership election rules foisted on the Party by William Hague. If the Party wishes only to talk to itself this may have been acceptable, but the Party's purpose, surely, was to attract a lot of people who had either never or had formerly voted 'Conservative'. So the election of Iain Duncan Smith was essentially a narcissistic folly - which has, thankfully, now been corrected.
Ms Platell will undoubtedly continue to 'gripe' from the sidelines, but I hope the Conservative Party can now get on with the business of developing policies for a modern Britain.
Ms Platell writes what I would describe as a joke article in the Guardian newspaper, announcing her resignation from the Conservative Party, saying that she is 'disgusted' by the treatment meted out to Iain Duncan Smith.
This is the lady, remember, who oversaw William Hague's media profile during the time he was Leader of the Conservative Party. Hague started off, after the massive defeat of the 1997 election, as an apparently moderate right-of-centre Conservative and by the end of year two, or the beginning of year three, of his tenure had taken the Party considerably further to the right in a deluded attempt to galvanise the anti-European, anti-immigration vote. It seems clear that Ms Platell was, at least partially, the architect of this disastrous policy. And with the elevation of Iain Duncan Smith to the Leadership in 2001 the Party's far-right consolidated their position, as a result of the ridiculously short-sighted leadership election rules foisted on the Party by William Hague. If the Party wishes only to talk to itself this may have been acceptable, but the Party's purpose, surely, was to attract a lot of people who had either never or had formerly voted 'Conservative'. So the election of Iain Duncan Smith was essentially a narcissistic folly - which has, thankfully, now been corrected.
Ms Platell will undoubtedly continue to 'gripe' from the sidelines, but I hope the Conservative Party can now get on with the business of developing policies for a modern Britain.
Canon Gene Robinson is consecrated a Bishop - and controversy ensues
Canon Gene Robinson was consecrated a Bishop in New Hampshire over the weekend. As the first openly gay man to become a Bishop, this was bound to cause controversy. There is a very good round-up of the various reactions to his consecration from The Witness, a newspaper in Natal, South Africa. There are some interesting letters on the subject from some of their readers.
The video clips I have seen of the consecration service in the past couple of days show what seems to be a huge crowd of people, all seemingly overjoyed at the elevation of this good man. A wide mixture of people seemed to share the joy, including his former wife and their child(ren?).
I doubt very much whether the bleatings of the Anglican 'conservatives' (aka 'homophobes') will divert the North American Episcopate from its course of action.
Canon Gene Robinson was consecrated a Bishop in New Hampshire over the weekend. As the first openly gay man to become a Bishop, this was bound to cause controversy. There is a very good round-up of the various reactions to his consecration from The Witness, a newspaper in Natal, South Africa. There are some interesting letters on the subject from some of their readers.
The video clips I have seen of the consecration service in the past couple of days show what seems to be a huge crowd of people, all seemingly overjoyed at the elevation of this good man. A wide mixture of people seemed to share the joy, including his former wife and their child(ren?).
I doubt very much whether the bleatings of the Anglican 'conservatives' (aka 'homophobes') will divert the North American Episcopate from its course of action.
The future for the Conservative Party - if it wants to have one
I've only just had a chance to start reading this week's Economist magazine, but as usual they have some penetrating things to say, no more so than its reaction to the parliamentary 'putsch' last week to oust the hapless Mr Iain Duncan Smith and, at the time of writing, the seemingly unstoppable impetus to replace him with one of yesterday's men, Mr Michael Howard. I've written about this last week, as the events were unfolding, so I won't go into enormous detail here.
Some of the links to Economist articles below may perhaps not be accessible to non-subscribers; I'm sorry about this. For my own part, I find this magazine essential reading and have done do for many years.
The first Leader Now for the Hard Part in the Economist says, in summary (mine), that whilst replacing Duncan Smith is a positive step, the difficulties the Conservative Party faces are not in any way solely those due to him. This brief quotation rings so true with my own experiences as an erstwhile Conservative Party activist, in the attitudes of where and with whom we should concentrate our efforts:
There are a couple of other very interesting articles(Over to Howard and A flight to competence - Bagehot) which I think it worthwhile to read - I don't agree with everything they say, but above all they follow the Economist policy of attempting to be objective in what they report.
I've only just had a chance to start reading this week's Economist magazine, but as usual they have some penetrating things to say, no more so than its reaction to the parliamentary 'putsch' last week to oust the hapless Mr Iain Duncan Smith and, at the time of writing, the seemingly unstoppable impetus to replace him with one of yesterday's men, Mr Michael Howard. I've written about this last week, as the events were unfolding, so I won't go into enormous detail here.
Some of the links to Economist articles below may perhaps not be accessible to non-subscribers; I'm sorry about this. For my own part, I find this magazine essential reading and have done do for many years.
The first Leader Now for the Hard Part in the Economist says, in summary (mine), that whilst replacing Duncan Smith is a positive step, the difficulties the Conservative Party faces are not in any way solely those due to him. This brief quotation rings so true with my own experiences as an erstwhile Conservative Party activist, in the attitudes of where and with whom we should concentrate our efforts:
|
Remoteness and arrogance "The harsher truth is that would-be Tory MPs lack the required patience and humility, while few of those who are already MPs are prepared to stray beyond their comfort zones of genteel constituency and clubby Westminster." |
There are a couple of other very interesting articles(Over to Howard and A flight to competence - Bagehot) which I think it worthwhile to read - I don't agree with everything they say, but above all they follow the Economist policy of attempting to be objective in what they report.
Is the 'War on Terrorism' fatally corrupting our systems of justice?
I was jolted out of my morning torpor today by the subject of "Thought for the Day", a regular slot at around 7.45am on BBC Radio 4's 'Today' programme. The speaker took as his topic a recent decision before The Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) that the government was right to hold a number of individuals. The ten suspected international terrorists being held without trial have thus lost their appeal against their detention. You can read full details of this case, or at least as full as current tenets of British justice deign to allow us to know in this BBC report and a very forthright condemnation of the whole proceedings in a press release issued by Amnesty International.
I wrote about this whole issue and the legal preparatory work that seemed to be being laid in the wake of '9/11' to combat terrorism, and the dangers that some of these steps represented for the very freedoms our government purports to be trying to protect on our behalf, soon after the event in September 2001 and much more recently in January 2003 on my other main website.
Whilst I strongly agree on the need to protect ourselves against extremists, or 'terrorists' if you will in this context, I do wonder at the docility of most of my fellow citizens in the face of what is being done their names. Should the 'war on terrorism' ever be won, how ready do you think our democratically elected government and our appointed judicial system will be, either or both of them, to repeal the draconian pieces of legislation which underpin this sinister phase in our country's history? I find it quite extraordinary, also, that the level of discussion in the press and the media generally is so modest and only mildly critical (in some quarters) - if we did not have a Labour government in power at present, and instead had a Conservative government in power, I do wonder whether the media and public reaction would have been quite the same.
I was jolted out of my morning torpor today by the subject of "Thought for the Day", a regular slot at around 7.45am on BBC Radio 4's 'Today' programme. The speaker took as his topic a recent decision before The Special Immigration Appeals Commission (SIAC) that the government was right to hold a number of individuals. The ten suspected international terrorists being held without trial have thus lost their appeal against their detention. You can read full details of this case, or at least as full as current tenets of British justice deign to allow us to know in this BBC report and a very forthright condemnation of the whole proceedings in a press release issued by Amnesty International.
I wrote about this whole issue and the legal preparatory work that seemed to be being laid in the wake of '9/11' to combat terrorism, and the dangers that some of these steps represented for the very freedoms our government purports to be trying to protect on our behalf, soon after the event in September 2001 and much more recently in January 2003 on my other main website.
Whilst I strongly agree on the need to protect ourselves against extremists, or 'terrorists' if you will in this context, I do wonder at the docility of most of my fellow citizens in the face of what is being done their names. Should the 'war on terrorism' ever be won, how ready do you think our democratically elected government and our appointed judicial system will be, either or both of them, to repeal the draconian pieces of legislation which underpin this sinister phase in our country's history? I find it quite extraordinary, also, that the level of discussion in the press and the media generally is so modest and only mildly critical (in some quarters) - if we did not have a Labour government in power at present, and instead had a Conservative government in power, I do wonder whether the media and public reaction would have been quite the same.
Monday, 3 November 2003
Light 'blogging' today
Well, I'm glad to say that my weekend down at Pitlochry for the NTS members' centre conference was both enjoyable and useful this time, much more so than when I last attended it two years ago. There was a particularly useful discussion on insurance, something that is becoming increasingly important in the light of recent legislation and changes in the social climate. I even managed to have a relatively clear run on the A9 in both directions as the traffic was fast-moving and well spaced so those who wanted to overtake could do so safely.
Apart from doing some shopping this morning, my most important task has been to pick up my dog Tara from the kennels. She is always looked after well there, but it is nice to have her back.
This afterrnoon I must prepare my report as Treasurer for our local wine-tasting group as we have a committee meeting this evening. Last Monday we had our monthly tasting, this time of "Gold Medal" wines. One of our members has been a judge at the medal award tastings down in England for the past several years and over the course of the week he is there each year, lucky man, is able to taste a vast range of wines. Those he selected for us to taste were uniformly excellent, in all the price ranges he chose, and none was ludicrously expensive - well, almost none! The final wine he showed us, not really part of the formal tasting, was something to savour at the end and was a complete novelty to me and most of the others there. It was an 'ice-wine' from Canada, produced in British Columbia. The grapes are picked only when the air temperature drops below -10 degC for several hours, so the sugars and flavours become very concentrated. The result is light, fragrant and unctuous wine. The month before we were privileged to have as our guest speaker a South African 'Master of Wine', based in London, who showed us some excellent South African wines; her knowledge of wines seems to be enormous and as a public speaker she was first-rate.
Well, I'm glad to say that my weekend down at Pitlochry for the NTS members' centre conference was both enjoyable and useful this time, much more so than when I last attended it two years ago. There was a particularly useful discussion on insurance, something that is becoming increasingly important in the light of recent legislation and changes in the social climate. I even managed to have a relatively clear run on the A9 in both directions as the traffic was fast-moving and well spaced so those who wanted to overtake could do so safely.
Apart from doing some shopping this morning, my most important task has been to pick up my dog Tara from the kennels. She is always looked after well there, but it is nice to have her back.
This afterrnoon I must prepare my report as Treasurer for our local wine-tasting group as we have a committee meeting this evening. Last Monday we had our monthly tasting, this time of "Gold Medal" wines. One of our members has been a judge at the medal award tastings down in England for the past several years and over the course of the week he is there each year, lucky man, is able to taste a vast range of wines. Those he selected for us to taste were uniformly excellent, in all the price ranges he chose, and none was ludicrously expensive - well, almost none! The final wine he showed us, not really part of the formal tasting, was something to savour at the end and was a complete novelty to me and most of the others there. It was an 'ice-wine' from Canada, produced in British Columbia. The grapes are picked only when the air temperature drops below -10 degC for several hours, so the sugars and flavours become very concentrated. The result is light, fragrant and unctuous wine. The month before we were privileged to have as our guest speaker a South African 'Master of Wine', based in London, who showed us some excellent South African wines; her knowledge of wines seems to be enormous and as a public speaker she was first-rate.
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