This is the first of the books setting up the Faction Paradox timeline which I have enjoyed. The Doctor and Fitz return to Gallifrey in Compassion-as-Tardis, and find themselves implicated in a power struggle between President Romana and one of her predecessors, resurrected by the Faction Paradox. It contains the seeds of numerous ideas which we have seen in later stories, particularly the Gallifrey audios (though they of course feature Romanas I and II, whereas here it’s clearly another Romana), and ends with the original Tardis regenerating itself and the Doctor stuck on Earth with amnesia – both picked up more recently in Big Finish continuity. Most importantly it rounds off a significant story arc, going back to the start of the BBC Eighth Doctor series in some ways, and does so very satisfactorily. Sometimes Who stories playing with Gallifreyanm drama and temporal paradoxes get too clever for their own good, but this is just about right. Very satisfying.

• Denis MacShane: The Jar of Humiliation
  
  A former British ambassador writes.
  (tags: ukpolitics )
• Obama’s secret weapon: Democrats have a massive advantage in targeting and persuading voters.
  
  The development of political marketing technology.
  (tags: uspolitics )
• siderea: [lj] Credit where credit is due
  
  An appeal for sanity re livejournal.
  (tags: livejournal )
• Mikhail Saakashvili’s Smash Hits: 10 choice Caucasian cuts from the recent past of Georgia
  
  Georgian politics through Youtube videos.
  (tags: georgia )
• Om Banna, the motorcycle deity
  
  “Hundreds of devotees turn up every day to pray for a safe journey, often bearing liquor.”
  (tags: religion )
• Five Myths About The Electoral College
  
  Historical and functional.
  (tags: uspolitics )

This is my tenth year of bookblogging – I started back in November 2003, and next Halloween I shall celebrate the tenth anniversary of starting it all. Buit it may never be too soon to start looking back, and I plan to do that systematically for each month between now and then.

These are the non-fiction books that I have read, and reviewed here, in each November from 2003 to 2011:

2003
Why is Sex Fun?, by Jared Diamond

2004
None

2005
The Jewel-Hinged Jaw, by Samuel R. Delany
Never Eat Alone, by Keith Ferrazzi with Tahl Raz
Up Through an Empty House of Stars: Reviews and Essays 1980-2002, by David Langford

2006
The Breaking of Nations: Order and Chaos in the Twenty-First Century, by Robert Cooper
A Bachelor’s London: Memories of the Day before Yesterday, 1889-1914, by Frederic Whyte
An International Relations Debacle: The UN Secretary-General’s Mission of Good Offices in Cyprus 1999-2004, by Claire Palley
Disaccord on Cyprus: The UN Plan and after, by Clement Dodd
Everything is about Cyprus, by Hasan Erçakica
Skeletons on the Zahara, by Dean King
Western Sahara: The Roots of a Desert War, by Tony Hodges
Endgame in the Western Sahara, by Toby Shelley
Western Sahara: Anatomy of a Stalemate, by Erik Jensen

2007
William the Silent, by C.V. Wedgwood
Democratisation in Southeast Europe, ed. Dušan Pavlović, Goran Petrov, Despina Syrri, David A. Stone
The Awful End of William the Silent, by Lisa Jardine

2008
Postwar by Tony Judt
Brussels versus the Beltway: Advocacy in the United States and the European Union, by Christine Mahoney
More Real Than Reality: The Fantastic in Irish Literature and the Arts, edited by Donald E. Morse and Csilla Bertha
Who Goes There (Travels through Strangest Britain, in Search of the Doctor), by Nick Griffiths
30 Hot Days, by Mehmet Ali Birand
Glafkos Clerides: the Path of a Country, by Niyazi Kızılyürek
Elizabeth I, by David Starkey
The Life of Elizabeth I, by Alison Weir

2009
The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius
Collapse: How Societies Choose to Fail or Survive, by Jared Diamond
From Genocide to Continental War (aka Africa’s World War), by Gérard Prunier
King Leopold’s Ghost, by Adam Hochschild
A History of the Middle East, by Peter Mansfield
Islam: A Short History, by Karen Armstrong

2010
Doctor Who – The Writer’s Tale: The Final Chapter, by Russell T. Davies and Benjamin Cook
The Love Letters of Henry VIII
The Cyprus Question and the EU, by Andreas Theophanous
Shakespeare, by Bill Bryson
Elizabeth and Essex, by Lytton Strachey

2011
Diana Wynne Jones, by Farah Mendlesohn
Race of a Lifetime (aka Game Change), by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin
The New Face of Digital Populism, by Jamie Bartlett, Jonathan Birdwell and Mark Littler
The Cambridge Historical Encyclopedia of Great Britain and Ireland, ed. Christopher Haigh
Why Nonviolent Resistance in Kosovo Failed, by Shkëlzen Maliqi
Why Kosovo Still Matters, by Denis MacShane

It’s funny how variable memory is. I have at least vague memories of reading most of them, but can’t recall anything at all about, say, The Cambridge Historical Encyclopedia of Great Britain and Ireland except that I didn’t think it had enough about Ireland. Likewise few of the collected essays left much impact on me. As far as I remember almost all the Cyprus books were pretty bad, heavily biased in one way or the other, though Kızılyürek’s interviews with Clerides were fascinating. I remember the circumstances of reading From Genocide to Continental War because I was sitting beside the author on an intercontinental plane flight, which is a bit unusual even for me, and after the events of the last week it’s amusing to see Denis MacShane on the list.

To be more positive, I shall list the top five books on this list, and on each of the subsequent lists, with some attempt at justification.

Up Through an Empty House of Stars: Reviews and Essays 1980-2002, by David Langford
When I read this, Langford was still the automatic winner of the Hugo for Best Fan Writer every year, and the pendulum seems to have now swung against him. But he was still the first sf critic I ever read regularly, and his essays are humane and witty, and insightful too as far as I can tell.

The Breaking of Nations: Order and Chaos in the Twenty-First Century, by Robert Cooper
A fantastic pithy summary of how international politics actually works, by one of its key practitioners (who retired this year, though I think we have not heard the last of him.)

Skeletons on the Zahara, by Dean King
An extraordinary story of American sailors enslaved by Africans in the early nineteenth century (rather than the other way round). I am often a bit distrustful of historians who mine a single source, but King adds quite a lot to the original account.

Postwar by Tony Judt
I have read several blockbuster histories of Europe, but this was the one from which I really learned something – specifically about the years immediately after the second world war, when it wasn’t clear that we would be settling into decades of stalemate between vaguely capitalist democracies and vaguely socialist authoritaran regimes, and when the dynamics in several countries might have led to different outomes.

Brussels versus the Beltway: Advocacy in the United States and the European Union, by Christine Mahoney
This is one book that I keep recommending to professional colleagues. Not much has been written about how people try to influence policy in Brussels, and even less of it is any good. But Mahoney takes a sensible and relatively light comparative approach, based pretty firmly on actual research rather than gut feeling, and the result is very useful.

Race of a Lifetime (aka Game Change), by John Heilemann and Mark Halperin
I guess it’s that time of the electoral cycle, but I think even if it weren’t I’d be recommending this excellent insider story of the 2008 election. (The film starring Julianne Moore as Sarah Palin is based on only about ten pages of the book.) It’s a well-paced insider story of the campaign, with dynamics which will be painfully familiar to anyone who’s ever been involved in electoral politics, and with some explanation for events which seemed at the time incomprehensible.

If I had to pick one it would be Robert Cooper; although the last piece in the book rambles a bit off topic, the rest is excellent.

Honourable mentions (also five):
A Bachelor’s London: Memories of the Day before Yesterday, 1889-1914, by Frederic Whyte
The Awful End of William the Silent, by Lisa Jardine
Who Goes There (Travels through Strangest Britain, in Search of the Doctor), by Nick Griffiths
King Leopold’s Ghost, by Adam Hochschild
Shakespeare, by Bill Bryson

• Who Would Win in a Fight Between Tove Jansson and Astrid Lindgren?
  
  Catherine Butler has the answer (I agree).
  (tags: sf )
• Pumping Water out of Cranberry St & 53rd St. Tunnels – a set on Flickr
  
  Fixing a hole where the rain got in.
  (tags: usa )
• Comet Hergenrother is disintegrating
  
  A missing “neither” in last sentence. I hope.
  (tags: astronomy )
• “Ek Tha Tiger”
  
  The Bollywood film set in Dublin.
  (tags: films india ireland )

…to see people posting “happy birthday” wishes on the Facebook page of an acquaintance who died last December. I guess they didn’t get the memo. I just quietly unfriended him.

• How I Lost Faith in the “Pro-Life” Movement
  
  A first-person account.
  (tags: sexandgenderandsexuality )
• Quivering Puppies: When Good Paranormal Fantasy Sex Scenes Go Bad
  
  Not sure how many of these were good in the first place…
  (tags: writing )
• Bloomberg Endorses Obama, Saying Hurricane Sandy Affected Decision
  
  An interesting development!
  (tags: uspolitics )
• Фотопроект Жени Котенко «Лавочка»
  
  People sitting on the same Ukrainian bench over a four-year period.
  (tags: photos )
• Report On Tax Cuts For Wealthy Suppressed By GOP
  
  Because some politicians feel entitled to their own facts! #fb
  (tags: economics uspolitics )
• In the Footsteps of the Old A1 | Northern Ireland Roads
  
  What the Belfast to Dublin route used to be like!
  (tags: maps northernireland )
• Dear Apple: I’m leaving you
  
  A disaffected fan writes.
  (tags: computers )
• Internet Archive Search: collection:omni-magazine
  
  Every issue of OMNI, 1978-1995
  (tags: ebooks sf )
• Ashton’s visit to secure Balkans’ EU future
  
  Voice of Russia interviews me about US and European policy #fb
  (tags: eu uspolitics my media )

Much below usual this month, partly becuase of two very intense business trips which left me little time to think let alone read and tended to feature flights at antisocial hours, and partly also that I’m nearing the end of three very long books which will push up November’s page count significantly.

Non-fiction: 2 (YTD 44)
The Twilight Lords, by Richard Berleth
Adventures on the High Teas: In Search of Middle England, by Stuart Maconie

Fiction (non-sf): 2 (YTD 41)
The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, by James Weldon Johnson
The Tartan Sell, by Jonathan Gash

SF (non-Who): 1 (YTD 56)
Conquest of the Amazon, by John Russell Fearn

Doctor Who: 6 (YTD 64)
Torchwood: Consequences, by David Llewellyn, Sarah Pinborough, Andrew Cartmel, James Moran and Joseph Lidster
Day of the Cockroach, by Steve Lyons
The Nu-Humans, by Cavan Scott and Mark Wright
The Empty House, by Simon Guerrier
Combat Rock, by Mick Lewis
Infinite Requiem, by Daniel Blythe

~2,300 pages (YTD 64,800)
1/11 (YTD 60/224) by women (Pinborough)
1/11 (YTD 10/224) by PoC (Johnson)
Owned for more than a year: 5 (Adventures on the High Teas, Infinite Requiem, Combat Rock, The Twilight Lords, Conquest of the Amazon)
Other rereads: none (YTD 17/224)

Big 2012 reading projects:
October 31 takes me to Book XIV, Chapter VII of War and Peace, and Luke chapter 4 in the Bible.

Also started:
The Faerie Queene, by Edmund Spenser
The Ancestor Cell by Peter Anghelides
A History of Christianity: The First Three Thousand Years by Diarmaid MacCulloch
The Portrait of a Lady by Henry James
The Harvester by Gene Stratton-Porter

Coming next, perhaps:
Goodnight Mister Tom, by Michelle Magorian
The Invention of Childhood, by Hugh Cunningham
Grendel, by John Gardner
The Light That Failed, by Rudyard Kipling
Catholics in Western Democracies, by John Henry Whyte
The Year’s Best Science Fiction: Twenty-Fifth Annual Collection, ed by Gardner Dozois
Non-stop, by Brian Aldiss
Collins Business Secrets – Interviews by Heather Salter
A Book of Silence by Sara Maitland
Bleeding Hearts, by Ian Rankin
Toward the End of Time, by John Updike
Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman
The Irish Constitutional Revolution of the Sixteenth Century, by Brendan Bradshaw
The Peoples of Middle-earth by J.R.R. Tolkien with Christopher Tolkien
[Doctor Who] The Colony of Lies by Colin Brake
[Doctor Who] Sanctuary by David A. McIntee
Doctor Who Book 5: Monstrous Missions, by Gary Russell and Jonathan Green
The Red and the Black by Stendhal
The Castle by Franz Kafka
Kraken by China Mieville
The Far Side Of The World by Patrick O’Brian
The Last Mughal: The Fall of a Dynasty, Delhi, 1857 by William Dalrymple
[Doctor Who] The Burning by Justin Richards

Apparently this has some continuity with The Dimension Riders by the same author, but I’m afraid I had forgotten the key details. I did enjoy the Doctor and Bernice skipping between time zones (1997 and 2387, and the far future), actually rather reminiscent of the previous novel in this series, Set Piece but perhaps slightly better executed, the 1997 scenes being particularly vivid. However the telepathic gestalt alien is not terribly exciting by Who standards.

This is an exceptionally violent Who book, taking the Second Doctor, Jamie and Victoria and dropping them into a vicious colonial conflict which is pretty clearly based on the Indonesian conquest of West Papua. This amount of sex and gore isn’t really my thing (and seems wel out of place for a Who novel of the black and white era), but I found it a compelling read none the less – clearly the author is passionate about the setting (one of the more miserably botched decolonisations of the 1960s) and the story is tightly plotted and well told with compelling guest characters. Not yer typical Who novel, and not necessarily in a bad way.

Despite the fact that the Liberal Democrats and Labour are likely to vote them down, the revised proposals of the Boundary Commission have now been published. The major differences with the previous proposals are that

• Ballymena gets joined to Antrim town in South Antrim rather than to Larne and Carrickfergus, which stay with Newtownabbey in an enlarged East Antrim;
• Carnlough stays in East Antrim rather than moving to North Antrim;
• North Antrim gets renamed "Coleraine and North Antrim";
• the six Omagh wards which were to be added to Fermanagh and South Tyrone stay with Omagh Town in the new Mid Tyrone;
• the six Dungannon wards of the Torrent DEA get put back into Fermanagh and South Tyrone as they were until 1996;
• Upper Braniel goes into South-East Belfast rather than Strangford.

There's a gratifying amount of agreement with my own submission, in that they adopted the first four of my six initial proposals (and two others from my subsequent list), even giving me named credit at 6.19 (page 22) for their proposed reconfiguration of the Antrim seats. I think the Commission is completely wrong on its restrictive reading of its own room for manœuvre (pages 5-7) but I can understand why it is convenient to take the approach that they have done.

I have crunched the numbers on the new proposals, give that they remain in play and there is therefore a vanishingly small chance that they will make it to the statute book. The figures below are based on the latest revised proposals; they also reflect a new methodology that I have developed which links the parties' performance at local elections more strongly to the distribution of their votes at Assembly and Westminster elections. This has given me what look like more credible figures. Of course, these numbers reflect only the result of past elections if the same votes had been cast on the new boundaries, and are not in any way a prediction of future voting behaviour, especially since these constituencies are not likely to be used.

North Belfast

Same boundaries as in original proposal, but my new methodology concentrates support for DUP and SF, Alliance being the big loser. (My original figures looked a little off anyway.) DUP hold at Westminster, DUP hold three and SF two for the Assembly, last seat probably but not certainly SDLP.

South-East Belfast

Westminster figure has Alliance still ahead; Assembly and local govt put DUP in front but give Alliance squeeze potential. For the Assembly, clearly two DUP and two Alliance, and one UUP; last seat should be SDLP if they get decent SF transfers. (NB Westminster figure skewed by SF withdrawal in South Belfast.)

South-West Belfast

Unchanged from previous recommendations. Very safe SF seat at Westminster. For the Assembly I see four SF, one SDLP and one Unionist (probably DUP) with SDLP second candidate as runner-up. Various people tried to persuade me that the fourth SF seat is not definite, or that Alliance has a better chance than the Unionists, but I am not convinced.

Coleraine and North Antrim

I can claim some credit for the name change here, and for the removal of Carnlough from the proposed boundaries. The latter of course makes it more solidly Unionist, safe DUP for Westminster and three DUP, one UUP and one SF for the Assembly. Last seat probably still goes to TUV, though a strong SDLP or (less likely) Alliance candidate in a good year might have a chance.

East Antrim

Losing the Glens and extending further into the heart of County Antrim makes this a more firmly Unionist seat, safe for the DUP at Westminster. Three safe DUP for the Assembly and one each for UUP and Alliance, the last seat probably being between DUP and UUP (with UUP possibly having the edge).

Fermanagh and South Tyrone

Bringing in the Dungannon wards rather than the originally proposed Omagh wards further consolidates SF's hold on the Westminster seat, and also opens the possibility that the SDLP might regain their seat not from the Shinners but from the DUP – the Unionist parties combined are a hair below, rather than above, three quotas and while the DUP are slightly ahead from the Assembly election, accidents can happen. However, from the Assembly election, DUP would keep two and UUP one. (NB joint Unionist candidate at last Westminster election.)

Foyle

The SDLP remain secure here for Westminster and the Assembly balance looks undisturbed at SDLP three, SF two and DUP one. But SF are not all that far behind, and the SDLP edge depends on Unionist transfers and tactical votes.

Glenshane

Again my new methodology concentrates support for the DUP and SF, and the latter should easily win the Westminster seat. For the Assembly it looks like three SF, one SDLP, and two Unionists with the DUP having a fair chance of winning both seats. Possible third Unionist instead of third Shinner.

Lagan Valley

Remains safe DUP for Westminster. For the Assembly, my new methodology pulls more Nationalist votes out of here and into the Poleglass/Twinbrook area which goes into South-West Belfast. But I still think the SDLP should scrape a seat here, along with Alliance, the UUP and three DUP. If not, it will be a fifth Unionist, probably from the DUP.

Mid Tyrone

Remains safe for SF at Westminsster. The inclusion of Omagh rather than Dungannon wards puts the Unionists collectively safely over two quotas and the UUP safely within reach of the second of those seats. SF should win three and SDLP one, though SDLP look a bit shaky.

Newry and Armagh

Almost no change from current arrangements and no change from first proposal. SF safe at Westminster, Assembly remains three SF, one each of SDLP, DUP and UUP.

North Down

No change from provisional recommendations. Lady Hermon remains way ahead at Westminster; without her, DUP are much the biggest party. No change at Assembly level – 3 DUP, 1 UUP, 1 Alliance, 1 Green, with Greens the most vulnerable to a good independent or a well-balanced Alliance ticket.

South Antrim

Major rearrangements here but the DUP remain dominant at Westminster, and should win three Assembly seats with the UUP and SF winning one each. The last is tough to call but I think Alliance is likely to overtake SDLP on spare Unionist transfers.

South Down

No change from the first proposals, and no change from SDLP holding the Westminster seat; my new methodology makes things even tighter for the Unionists to keep two seats but my gut feeling is that they would do so, the SDLP and SF also winning two each.

Strangford

Still safe for DUP at Westminster. My new methodology gives more Nationalist votes coming in from Carryduff, so should be enough to secure an SDLP seat (NB Westminster vote skewed by SF not standing). Alliance and UUP win one each, and DUP three.

Upper Bann

On paper the UUP's best chance at Westminster, though still some way behind DUP. Removing Aghagallon takes away potential for a third Nationalist Assembly seat; a well-balanced SF ticket could defeat the SDLP but their vote management here has not been a strong point. Otherwise two DUP and two UUP for the Assembly.

As before, I give the DUP 7 Westminster seats (down 1), SF 5, the SDLP 2 (down 1), Lady Hermon 1 and Alliance 1 (just).

At Assembly level, I put the DUP on about 34 seats (down 4, but up one from my previous calculations), SF on 25 (down 4, and two less than my previous calculations), the UUP on 14 (down 2), SDLP 14 (no change, rather than down one as in my previous calculations), Alliance 7 (down 1) and Greens and TUV keeping their single seats. The reasons for the changes are that my new methodology gives the SDLP rather than SF the Nationalist seat in Lagan Valley, and the rearrangement of the East Antrim/South Antrim borders gives only one nationalist seat between the two constituencies, the DUP effectively gaining what is now SF’s seat in East Antrim.

This is all pretty theoretical of course, but today is a public holiday here!

Another delightful look at part of England by the author of Pies and Prejudice, this time looking at southern England as a partial outsider. Though he spends a lot of time on the usual quirks of local populace and history, his most powerful chapters are on great English literature and also humour. Strongly recommended for anyone with an interest in England.

• Drinking: How to lie about wine | The Economist
  
  Failing to detect the real expert.
  (tags: wine )
• More Product, Less Process for Born-Digital Collections
  
  Thoughts on digital archiving.
  (tags: )
• HC 643 The foreign policy implications of and for a separate Scotland
  
  A sane note by the very sane Graham Avery.
  (tags: )
• The Long, Winding, and Shapeshifting Trail to Episodes VII, VIII & IX
  
  The history of the future of the franchise.
  (tags: sf )
• The Astonishingly Non-Nonsensical Plot of The Rocky Horror Picture Show
  
  @use_theforce_em finds hidden depths.
  (tags: films sf )
• The EU Budget: The Truth « Jonathan Fryer
  
  (tags: eu ukpolitics )
• 
  Where New York’s public transport is (and isn’t) running on Thursday.(PDF)
  (tags: maps weather )
• Her Smoke Rose Up Forever, by James Tiptree, Jr.
  
  Chris Beckett explores Alice Sheldon.
  (tags: sf )