Wednesday, 31 December 2014
Danny Boy, The Ballad "Written by Angels" (or the Somerset Barrister and Songwriter, Frederic Weatherly)
Marvelous documentary
Watch on BBC iPlayer
"How did an obscure Irish melody become one of the greatest songs of all time, recorded by music's biggest names? One hundred years after 'Danny Boy' was first published, the true story of its astonishing past is uncovered, while contributors including Gabriel Byrne, Rosanne Cash, Brian Kennedy and Barry McGuigan explain its enduring appeal and what it has come to symbolise".
Clips
Danny Boy, Memories
See also my earlier posting
Elvis home recording, Germany 1959
PF 2015: Pour féliciter - Šťastný a veselý Nový rok! Gott Nytt År! ΕΥΤΥΧΙΣΜΕΝΟΣ Ο ΚΑΙΝΟΥΡΓΙΟΣ ΧΡΟΝΟΣ!
A little early (not in Australia- watch the Sydney fireworks)
Pour féliciter 2015
Šťastný a veselý Nový rok!
Gott Nytt År!
ΕΥΤΥΧΙΣΜΕΝΟΣ Ο ΚΑΙΝΟΥΡΓΙΟΣ ΧΡΟΝΟΣ!
Jak na Nový rok,
tak po celý rok!
tak po celý rok!
Tuesday, 30 December 2014
UK Architecture: "Ten Geometric Principles"; Prince Charles
From Arch Daily (Architecture News)
Prince Charles’ 10 “Geometric Principles” for Architecture Cause a Stir in the UK (with photos of Poundbury)
My own photograph of some geometric features,
Queen Mother Square
"The revolting phrase 'The Battle of the Styles,' wherein architecture is now considered a fighting ground between old gentlemen who imitate the Parthenon and brilliant young men who create abstract designs, can only have been coined by the stupid extremists of either side...There are new materials, a new social order, new proportions to be commanded, and the possibility of creating a new beauty which this generation must not be too stultified to see".
Date? Author?
(Sir) John Betjeman, The Death of Modernism, Architectural Review, December 1931.
Queen Mother Square
"The revolting phrase 'The Battle of the Styles,' wherein architecture is now considered a fighting ground between old gentlemen who imitate the Parthenon and brilliant young men who create abstract designs, can only have been coined by the stupid extremists of either side...There are new materials, a new social order, new proportions to be commanded, and the possibility of creating a new beauty which this generation must not be too stultified to see".
Date? Author?
(Sir) John Betjeman, The Death of Modernism, Architectural Review, December 1931.
To be back in Bermuda!
Horseshoe Bay, Bermuda
The whole family at Stonehall Bay
This photo and the one below by Amanda Temple, Fine Art Photographer
The whole family at Stonehall Bay
This photo and the one below by Amanda Temple, Fine Art Photographer
Issues in Education, UCL Institute of Education; Why it pays to have a parent who went to university
Just received the Winter edition of UCL Institute of Education Alumni Life
Interesting research and analysis in a study that provides new evidence about the "Great Gatsby Curve" ("Income inequality, intergenerational mobility and the Great Gatsby Curve: is education the key?" John Jerrim, Lindsey Macmillan)
On another topic, the magazine lists books by members of the IOE alumni community, including one on "British-Islamic identity" by Aminul Hoque:
"How does it feel to be constructed as the violent, terrorist, un-British “other”? To be a minority in a majority situation, to have no sense of belonging, to be voiceless, marginalized and invisible? British-Islamic Identity examines these issues through an ethnographic account of the lives and multifaceted identities of six British-born third generation Bangladeshis from east London".
Greece: "Migrant Ship" Blue Sky M at Risk? SOS Distress Call near Othoni Island, Corfu; now in Italy, Port of Gallipoli
Armed people on board?
Now heading towards Italy (Kathimerini)
Reuters
The ship seems to change shape in every photo published
"A cargo ship said to be carrying 700 clandestine migrants which was taken under Italian control at sea has docked in the Italian port of Gallipoli.
The Blue Sky M had apparently been abandoned by its crew and at one point seemed to be heading directly towards the Italian coast on autopilot".
Now heading towards Italy (Kathimerini)
Reuters
The ship seems to change shape in every photo published
Photos from The Telegraph
"A cargo ship said to be carrying 700 clandestine migrants which was taken under Italian control at sea has docked in the Italian port of Gallipoli.
The Blue Sky M had apparently been abandoned by its crew and at one point seemed to be heading directly towards the Italian coast on autopilot".
Monday, 29 December 2014
Greece: Snap Elections and Democratic Choices
From Bloomberg
New York Times
Financial Times
From Yanis Varoufakis
Greece is about to give European democracy a chance
"Is this what our dreams of Europe have come to? Has Europe come to a point where elections are seen as a problem, rather than the source of solutions? Have Brussels-based government appointees grown so stupendously arrogant as to imagine that they can tell electorates how to vote?"
BBC Where does national democracy fit in?
The Telegraph
Greek expulsion from the euro would demolish EMU’s contagion firewall
"Should EMU leaders choose to cut off liquidity support for the Greek banking system they might find that their contagion defences are a fiction"
Greece on the front pages again (Kathimerini)
Greece: Presidential Election, The Third Round; General Election, 25 January 2015; Greece-Italy Car Ferry (Norman Atlantic), Adriatic Sea
Back from Bermuda. Heard the news in the car on way home from Gatwick (-3 degrees on arrival).
From Reuters
Also on the news, developments aboard the burning Italian car-ferry.
There is optimism that all survivors will be lifted off the ferry by the end of the day.
BBC update
Kathimerini
A terrifying experience
Fear for the worst
Relief of reunited family
Death Toll Rises to Ten
Albanian Seamen killed
Fears grow about missing passengers
Kathimerini update
Death toll rises to thirteen
Euronews (video phone footage from passengers)
Sunday, 28 December 2014
West Bay, Dorset: The "Broadchurch" Impact Locally; David Tennant Interview
Not all positive
"Despite the runaway success of the first series, it has not been the expected money spinner for West Bay, in Dorset, which, it claims, did not receive "a single penny" for entertaining the actors and crew".
Broadchurch, ITV, January 5, 9pm
David Tennant interview
Saturday, 27 December 2014
Greece: Two Viewpoints (Schäuble and Tsipras)
Ta Nea:
From Schaeuble (quote from Wolfgang Schäuble Bild Interview) English version
From Bild Interview
Griechenland und kein Ende: Wenn die Präsidentenwahl übermorgen scheitert, drohen Neuwahlen in Athen. Dann dürfte Schluss sein mit dem Sparkurs. Wäre dann auch Schluss mit EU-Hilfen?
Schäuble: „Griechenland hat seit 2009 enorme Fortschritte gemacht. Davor sollten wir etwas mehr Respekt haben. Wir werden Griechenland auf diesem Weg der harten Reformen mit Hilfe zur Selbsthilfe weiter unterstützen. Wenn Griechenland einen anderen Weg einschlägt, wird es schwierig. Neuwahlen ändern ja nichts an den Schulden Griechenlands. Jede neue Regierung muss vertragliche Vereinbarungen der Vorgänger einhalten.“
From Tsipras
Friday, 26 December 2014
Sir George Somers: Bermuda and the Lyme Regis Link
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From Bermuda Legal - Statue of Sir George Somers erected in Lyme Regis, Dorset
"Sir George Somers,
an exquisite Navigatour, and one of the first Discoverers of the Barmudoas, where at last, after manie
Voyages thither, he died ; but his Bodie, beeing brought unto England, was interred at Whitechurch". Thomas Gerard (1620s)
Tuesday, 23 December 2014
Greece, Presidential Election Round Two
168...
"Samaras confident" about Round 3, 29 December
"Opposition confident"
Reuters
The Guardian
Bloomberg
Sunday, 21 December 2014
Saturday, 20 December 2014
Friday, 19 December 2014
Greece: A Lighter Touch?
Moscovici, To Vima
"The European Commissioner of Economic and Monetary Affairs Pierre Moscovici has favored a much lighter and less invasive supervision of the Greek economy".
Greece and the Euro (Telegraph)
Dorset: Sandbanks. The Price of a Small Plot of Land
From Prime Location
"You too can rub shoulders with football legends Harry Redknapp and Graeme Souness... if you can scrabble together the £6.25m needed to buy a plot of land in their neighbourhood, Sandbanks.
The empty piece of land on Banks Road on the famous peninsula, dubbed a millionaire’s playground, measures 89ft by 59ft".
I'm not tempted, even at a small fraction of the price!
GREECE: Thessaloniki Metro Construction Contract
Wednesday, 17 December 2014
Greece: Presidential Election, Round One
From The Guardian
"In a ballot of MPs that disappointed government officials, 160 lawmakers backed Stavros Dimas, the conservative-led coalition’s candidate and former European commissioner".
BBC
Kathimerini
Critical vote will be on 29th December, the third round
Dorset: Ridgeway Reading Project
Information here
Wish I'd known about it earlier:
An Artsreach project exploring literature inspired by and written about the South Dorset Ridgeway
Contact:
Artsreach
The Little Keep
Barrack Road
Dorchester
Dorset
DT1 1SQ
Roots Reading Group: Tuesday Evening
Moonfleet. J M Faulkner
The Sailors Return. David Garrett
Dorset Stories. Sylvia Townsend Warner
Maiden Castle. J Cowper Powys
A Changed Man and Other Tales. T Hardy
Under The Greenwood Tree. T Hardy
Dorset Essays. Llewelyn Powys
Poems of William Barnes
In the Country. Kenneth Allsop
Ridgeway Reading Group: Sunday Afternoon
Dorset Stories. Sylvia Townsend Warner
Moonfleet. J M Faulkner
The Sailors Return. David Garrett
Under The Greenwood Tree. T Hardy
Dorset Essays. Llewelyn Powys
Poems of William Barnes
In the Country. Kenneth Allsop
Maiden Castle. J Cowper Powys
A Changed Man and Other Tales. T Hardy
Back in Nairobi, Kenya
Not me, but Nina, in Nairobi yesterday:
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From Washington DC via Dubai to Nairobi, back to Washington and then on to Bermuda a day later.
Wish I could be back in Kenya too!
circa 1976-1977
Really looking forward to Bermuda!
Really looking forward to Bermuda!
