Monthly Archives: April 2017

Non-fiction: 3 (YTD 12) Traveler of Worlds: Conversations with Robert Silverberg by Robert Silverberg and Alvaro Zinos-Amaro The View from the Cheap Seats, by Neil Gaiman Words are My Matter, by Ursula K. Le Guin Fiction (non-sf): 1 (YTD 5) … Continue reading →

Current Watchmen, by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (a chapter a month) A Suitable Boy, by Vikram Seth The Parrot’s Theorem, by Denis Guedj The Obelisk Gate, by N.K. Jemisin Lavondyss, by Robert Holdstock Last books finished Words are My … Continue reading →

May orders large consignment of Dalmatians LOL(tags: funny ukpolitics ) Was a “soft” Brexit ever possible for the UK government? @JackOfKent: May’s conference speech was crucial.(tags: eu ukpolitics brexit ) The Permanent Mission Of Yugoslavia in New York Amazing building … Continue reading →

I'm writing this as a locked entry in April, with online voting having started less than a week ago, and planning to make it public after the results are out. I think what I'm going to do is simply post … Continue reading →

Brexit puts security cooperation at risk Looking at detail rather than rhetoric(tags: ukpolitics eu brexit denmark ) United dragging report: ‘Our review shows that many things went wrong that day’ No shit!(tags: unitedairlines ) Three Things to Know About the … Continue reading →

Kate Fearon, Anne Elka van Oosterhout, Fergal (Alison Chambers), Anne, (Don Scargill) (Alison Chambers) (anne) (Don Scargill), me, (Vesselin Valkanov) Kevin O'Leary, Timea Varga, Marielle van Heumen, Chris Levy Mohamoud Daar, Charles Tannock MEP Etienne Chereau, Emmanuelle Deroubaix, (Graham Andrews), … Continue reading →

What Bullets Do To Bodies Profile of a trauma surgeon.(tags: guns uspolitics )

Launch of Sheela-na-Gigs Map Looks very useful!(tags: northernireland archaeology ireland maps )

Backing up red lines with more red lines My favourite Cyprus columnist reckons the process is over.(tags: cyprus )

Current Watchmen, by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (a chapter a month) A Suitable Boy, by Vikram Seth Words are My Matter, by Ursula K. Le Guin Death’s End, by Cixin Liu The Parrot’s Theorem, by Denis Guedj Last books … Continue reading →

Can Global Britain Defy Gravity? Probably not. “Perhaps the boost to productivity from being able to use incandescent light bulbs while vacuuming with high-powered hoovers will be significant, but the above suggests new free trade agreements alone can’t do it.”(tags: … Continue reading →

The Hugo nominations took a lot of what would otherwise have been reading and blogging time so far this year, so I am only now beginning to catch up. Here are four Hugo-eligible books which I read as the votes … Continue reading →

35 Years Of American Death Statistics and maps. Grimly fascinating.(tags: Death ushealth Maps ) #Kazakhstan education ministry establishes working group to transfer alphabet to Latin From қазақша to qazaqşa?(tags: Language kazakhstan alphabets ) French Candidates Talk of ‘Frexit,’ but Le … Continue reading →

Here’s Why The General Election Will Actually Be Really Fascinating Buzzfeed’s tour d’horizon.(tags: ukpolitics ) An Open Letter On The Subject Of Tim Farron’s ‘Homophobia’ Telling it like it is.(tags: ukpolitics libdems sexandgenderandsexuality ) Hugo award winner Folding Beijing to … Continue reading →

You’re too busy. You need a ‘Shultz hour’. Sometimes easier said than done…(tags: psychology work ) President Marine Le Pen’s first 100 days Gaming out the unthinkable.(tags: france eu )

30 Most Extreme Places in Britain – Part 1 Fascinating.(tags: ukpolitics demography )

I Thought I Understood the American Right. Trump Proved Me Wrong A confession.(tags: uspolitics ) How Liberals Fell in Love with The West Wing and the problems that causes.(tags: uspolitics )

Chrome and Firefox Phishing Attack Uses Domains Identical to Known Safe Sites Well worth reading.(tags: security internet )

Current Watchmen, by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (a chapter a month) A Suitable Boy, by Vikram Seth The Habit of Loving by Doris Lessing Too Like the Lightning, by Ada Palmer Words are My Matter, by Ursula K. Le … Continue reading →

This UKIP Guy Is Selling “Bleach” As A Health Supplement Political poison.(tags: ukpolitics wankers ) Doctor Who: series 36, episode one – The Pilot @guardian review.(tags: doctorwho ) Boris Johnson makes pig’s ear of Syria response Lord Hannay on the … Continue reading →

UK denies residency to London-born children of Dutch-Spanish couple Shameful.(tags: ukpolitics brexit eu migration ) Conflict and Famine The last time the UN declared a famine was in 2011. Today we are on the brink of four.(tags: war southsudan Somalia … Continue reading →

China Elevates `Good Cop’ on Trade to Counter Trump Barbs The most important Chinese trad official you’ve never heard of.(tags: China ) Brexit Between The Rock and a Hard Place Rhetoric and negotiation.(tags: gibraltar brexit ukpolitics eu ) Kirk Drift … Continue reading →

Pepsi Ad How and Why It Was Made A PR disaster, partially explained.(tags: publicrelations ) ‘Disastrous response that made things worse’: UK PR experts lay into United Airlines and its precarious CEO Rightly so.(tags: publicrelations unitedairlines ) Will London Fall? … Continue reading →

Not disclosing my ranking: A Closed and Common Orbit, by Becky Chambers Second paragraph of third chapter: It was too much. Too much, and yet, the restrictions that were in place made processing the Port all the harder. Things were … Continue reading →

You’re Not Mad at United Airlines; You’re Mad at America Probably.(tags: uspolitics unitedairlines )

Since none of the artists whose work is up for the BSFA for Best Art is also on the Hugo ballot, I think I can list my preferences here in the usual way. 6) Suzanne Dean and Kai & Sunny … Continue reading →

Many things slipped my mind over the final few days of preparing the Hugo final ballot for publication, and one of them was my usual report on the number of owners and average rating of the Best Novel finalists by … Continue reading →

This is the second year that the BSFA has had its two-stage vote system in effect, and for the second year in succession I think it’s had a positive impact particularly in this category, where some very odd stuff was … Continue reading →

Current Watchmen, by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons (a chapter a month) A Suitable Boy, by Vikram Seth The View from the Cheap Seats, by Neil Gaiman The Gods of the Underworld, by Stephen Cole Europe in Winter, by Dave … Continue reading →

Brexit: Economists Will Have The Last Word Vince Cable’s analysis.(tags: ukpolitics brexit )