Monthly Archives: January 2015

See note on methodology As with Wales, and even more crushingly, there is a very clear winner in this category. Most frequently tagged "Ireland" on both GoodReads and LibraryThing, and owned by more users on both systems than any other … Continue reading →

Non-fiction: 8 Circe's Cup, by Clare Carroll The Life and Death of Mary Wollstonecraft, by Claire Tomalin Turner's Taoisigh, by Martin Turner Een geschiedenis van België voor intelligente kinderen (en hun ouders), by Benno Barnard and Geert van Istendael Getting … Continue reading →

Day of Doctor Who collection This looks brilliant!(tags: doctorwho ) Dutch ambassador to Belgium interviewed He is terrified of cycling in Brussels.(tags: netherlands belgium ) Benedict Cumberbatch and the Right Way to Apologize Getting it right after getting it wrong.(tags: … Continue reading →

See note on methodology I confess that I’ve looked at the answers to this question for a lot of European countries by now, preparing a number of these posts. There aren’t many where the top book is as far ahead … Continue reading →

Labour in Wales Breakthrough not happening.(tags: wales ukpolitics ) Celebrate immigration because it drives growth Why immigration is a boon, not a bane, for Britain.(tags: ukpolitics migration )

Current Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy (a chapter a day) Watership Down, by Richard Adams (a chapter a week) Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage, by Alice Munro I Don’t Know How She Does It, by Allison Pearson β4 Last books … Continue reading →

Narendra Modi’s Soft Power Strategy Looking outwards, by @petemartin7. #fb #li(tags: india ) Doctor Who and the Bechdel Test 80% pass rate for New Who.(tags: sexandgenderandsexuality doctor ) Dog Gone: Forgotten Schemes to Straighten the Thames Forgotten alternative visions of … Continue reading →

See note on methodology Thanks to all for a brilliant discussion of well-known books set in England. Now I am moving north… Scotland is a case where the answers are somewhat confusing. First off, I will ruthlessly ignore the seven … Continue reading →

Electoral campaigning via Facebook …in Moldova. #fb #li(tags: elections moldova facebook ) UK Election: 100 Days to Go @APCOworldwide colleagues @DaniellaLebor and @ChairmanYaffle comment.(tags: ukpolitics )

A note on methodology I was very interested by this list of the most famous books set in each US state which I saw last week, to the extent of thinking about how I might measure the best known book … Continue reading →

The Doctor Who History Collection Paperback Books More re-releases – all of them pretty decent.(tags: doctorwho )

The five tribes of UKIP Not quite “fifty shades”…(tags: ukpolitics )

If Only We’d Just Spent More Blood and Treasure in Yemen @stephenwalt on making the same mistakes again.(tags: uspolitics waronterror ) Know When To Run Fascinating inside account of Christmas 2014 King’s Cross Station problems.(tags: london rail ) The Solution … Continue reading →

The Most Famous Book Set in Each State Working on the European version…(tags: usa books ) Genuinely Bad News About the F-35 and the A-10 More on the vastly expensive procurement boondoggle.(tags: war )

The Dalek Chronicles (Complete) – an album on Flickr The first spinoff!(tags: doctorwho ) Yugoslavia 1961 Colour film of Belgrade in 1961.(tags: serbia )

Blogging has been a bit light around here of late – my priority is finishing the books submitted for the Arthur C. Clarke Award, and I'm now at the stage where, even if I decide in the first hundred pages … Continue reading →

Anyone fancy Georgian food in London tomorrow night? Thinking of the Iberia – http://iberiarestaurant.co.uk – on Csledonian Road.

The real problem with Mogherini’s Russia paper Excellent analysis from @KadriLiik @ecfr.(tags: eu russia ) Benefit Sanctions Will Cause A Deterioration In Health And That’s OK Says DWP Rule Book Fighting poverty by killing the poor. Again.(tags: ukpolitics ) How … Continue reading →

The House of Lords By-Election of 2 February 2015 Candidates’ statements in full. Exciting stuff.(tags: ukpolitics ) Blonde cargoes: Finnish children in the slave markets of medieval Crimea Fascinating.(tags: history russia finland ) ‘Doctor Who’ video: ‘Dimensions in Time’ rare … Continue reading →

Democracy Aid at 25: Time to Choose Thomas Carothers / @CarnegieEndow assesses the picture.(tags: democratization uspolitics ) Scottish prehistoric reptile discovered The LOCH. NESS. MONSTER!(tags: fossils scotland ) Ocean Life Faces Mass Extinction But not yet inevitable.(tags: climatechange environment )

Amazon.com: The Man in the High Castle: S1 Ep 1 Why does nobody tell me about these things?(tags: sf )

Seeing the Monkees I’m a believer!(tags: music ) Lost Beagle2 probe found ‘intact’ on Mars Not all those who wander…(tags: mars )

the British government’s deceptive dossier on Iraq and WMD Thorough analysis.(tags: ukpolitics waronterror iraq ) Couple’s house demolished ‘without notice’ to build new road Good Lord!(tags: ireland ) Why We Didn’t Vaccinate Our Child Well put.(tags: health )

Current Anna Karenina, by Leo Tolstoy Een geschiedenis van België voor intelligente kinderen (en hun ouders), by Benno Barnard and Geert van Istendael Getting the Buggers to Behave, by Sue Cowley τ3 Last books finished ο3 Turner’s Taoisigh, by Martin … Continue reading →

Twitter mirth ensues after Steve Emerson’s nonsense on Fox about Birmingham as Muslim ‘no-go’ Enclave @jricole: “Emerson is consistent.”(tags: waronterror uspolitics ) Apply Magic Sauce Gets my gender & politics right, but thinks I am 27, single, & didn’t study … Continue reading →

A kind friend with access to newspaper archives has supplied me with four more clippings, three from the Times and one from the Guardian, about the incident in which British Prime Minister Edward Heath was covered with ink on his … Continue reading →

Ivy League’s meritocracy lie Preventing social mobility in the USA.(tags: uspolitics ) Report on the online consultation on ISDS in TTIP What people actually said about it.(tags: eu ) John Barrowman reveals ‘Torchwood’ return plans? Very interesting!(tags: torchwood )

I have no immediate plans to return to electoral politics (full disclosure: Cambridge City Council, 1990

The Two Faces of Azerbaijan’s Mr Aliyev The New York Times editorial board weighs in.(tags: azerbaijan ) The Internationalism of the American Civil War European political thinkers and the conflict.(tags: uspolitics history race ) Comment Sarkozy a bousculé le protocole … Continue reading →

Baxter is best known for his SF writing, but here he turns his hand to history of science, specifically James Hutton, the Scottish eighteenth-century intellectual who boldly stated that the earth must be much older than the date of 4004 … Continue reading →