- Damian McBride, 5 Years On: The Election That Never Was
Fascinating insider story of how Brown’s premiership collapsed after three months.
- ‘Doctor Who’: Series 7 – out of order?
An interesting theory!
- Why Time Travel Stories Should Be Messy
Essay by author of Hugo-winning time travel story.
UKIP in NI
Former Ulster Unionist David McNarry, expelled from his party for slightly obscure reasons back in May, has joined the UK Independence party. UKIP have 12 MEPs but McNarry is the first of their representatives in any UK-based elected parliamentary body. (They scored 0.6% in the last Northern Ireland Assembly election, 0.9% for the Scottish Parliament, but rather better for the Cynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru with 4.6% overall and missing a seat in North Wales by less than 2000 votes; they got 3.1% but no seats in the last Westminster election, and have three members in the House of Lords.)
I really think this is the most interesting thing to happen in Northern Ireland party politics since the demise of Robert McCartney and his similarly named UKUP. (Yes, I’m serious – much more interesting than the consolidation of DUP, SF and Alliance, or the slow decline of SDLP and UUP, let alone the dull saga of the Conservative linkup with the latter or the flash in the pan of the Traditional Unionist Voice.)
UKIP are on an electoral roll. In 2009 they came second in the Euro-election UK-wide without even registering as a blip on opinion polls at the time. Now they are within striking distance of double figures in the latest polls, and surely must have a good chance of catching first place in the 2014 European elections, from their votes England, Scotland and Wales.
I’d have thought that there is a decent prospect, though far from a certainty, that a UKIP candidate could take one of the two Unionist seats in the European Parliament in Northern Ireland in 2014. Unlike the Tories, UKIP come with no grounds for suspicion of their true intentions; their branding is pretty perfect for an appeal for a one-off protest vote to habitual Unionist voters. There are parallels with Jim Allister in 2009, but my gut feeling is that UKIP, with a good candidate who starts to establish himself or herself now, should actually do better.
(And before anyone asks – no, I still don’t see any chance of two Nationalists winning seats in 2014.)
I imagine it will be a Euro-election only performance, of course – at Westminster in 2015 UKIP will be nowhere, and at the next Assembly election they should just about manage to keep McNarry’s seat (if he contests it) in the volatile Strangford, with Reilly having a chance in South Down, for a total of one or two out of 108. But it’s an interesting intervention in Northern Ireland’s rather undynamic political architecture.
Links I found interesting for 07-10-2012
- Mount Everest Records Deadliest Year in over a Decade
“The disaster in May was a signal that the mountain urgently needs a break. But it won’t get it. There’s too much money to be made on Everest.”
- The Complete “How To Write A Thriller”, by Ian Fleming
Famous essay resurrected by @dduane and @p_morwood.
- No, you’re not entitled to your opinion
Why there is no right to be taken seriously.
- Online passwords: keep it complicated
Or, as one expert says, burn your computerand go to the beach!
- How To Steal The Space Shuttle: A Step-By-Step Guide
You need the Swiss on your side though.
- The Belated Russian Passport by Mark Twain
Consular problems in the Czar’s Russia.
- Want to change the country? Don’t get involved in Irish politics, so.
Been there, done that.
- The Kissing Sailor, or “The Selective Blindness of Rape Culture”
Famous picture of an assault which nobody sees that way.
- Passing of Vojin Dimitrijević
Sad news of a great human rights defender. (But fails to mention his occasional career as a TV film critic.)
- Belgacom customer service report
An anonymous commenter on an old blog entry gives me an update.
- “Dear Mum. It is with great regret and sorrow…”
Ah, the old ones are the best.
- De Stem van Vlaanderen
Who to vote for in the 14 October local elections? (I don’t understand most of the issues unfortunately.)
- The Best and Worst Times to Post on Social Networks Infographic
So, my insomniac 3am tweeting strategy isn’t a winner after all?
- You can’t have it all: Princetonians respond
Anne-Marie Slaughter looks at reactions to her famous article.
October Books 1) Torchwood: Consequences, by various
This was the first, and I think only, book of short stories about Torchwood, and a fine collection it is too. We start with “The Baby Farmers” by David Llewellyn, set in the Victorian Torchwood era which generated so much fanfic from just a few mentions on screen, a lovely canonification of this setting; and then there’s what will presumably be the last ever Tosh/Owen story, “Kaleidoscope” by Sarah Pinborough, set in the Jack-less interval between Seasons 1 and 2, where I can partly interpret the alien tech of the title as fannish gaze on the characters.
There are then two linked stories set after Season 2, “The Wrong Hands” by none other than long-ago Who script editor Andrew Cartmel, an excellent creepy tale about an evil alien baby, and “Virus” by James Moran, where the baby’s father turns up and which I’m afraid I found by some way the weakest in the book.
And we finish with the title story, “Consequences” by Joe Lidster, which brings up front the experiences of a woman who has been a briefly glimpsed background character in several of the previous Torchwood novels, and how her life has been turned into a story written by someone else. I thought it was rather clever.
That takes me to the end of the original run of fifteen Torchwood books, though there are another three out there. I have been in general very impressed. These are grown-up stories written for grown-up readers, and I note that they are as popular on LibraryThing as are the most popular of the Doctor Who ranges. Presumably they will now start turning up second-hand with greater frequency; well worth grabbing any of them that you see (with the exception of Sarah Pinborough’s Into The Silence whose ending disgusted me). It’s a shame that tie-in fiction doesn’t get a lot of wider attention; these books are in general a lot better than some I have read from award shortlists in recent years.
September Books 24-25) Sightseeing in Space, by Steve Lyons and by David Bailey
Another of the two-in-one Doctor Who books for younger readers starring Eleven with Amy and Rory. The first of these, Terminal of Despair by Steve Lyons, has monsters that consume hope from their victims. Lyons normally cranks out a good base-under-siege story (I guess he is the modern master of that sub-genre) but here I felt he was writing down to his readership a bit, reaching for the Terrance Dicks channel without quite reaaching it. The second story, The Web In Space by David Bailey, has some good moments but a rather complex plot involving space wars, cute if mildly homicidal anthropomorphic robots, and a cosmically giant spider and I didn’t think it hung together all that well. One to get for younger friends or relatives who are sad that Amy and Rory have gone.
September Books 23) The War of the Jewels, by J.R.R. Tolkien with Christopher Tolkien
The end’s in sight; only one volume left of this exploration of Tolkien’s incomplete writings to go. The War of the Jewels brings together some final notes from the Silmarillion and a few other essays. The first chunk, the Grey Annals, is yet another attempt to retell the Silmarillion stories but this time taking a year-by-year approach; it also has much more detail on the Dark-Elf Ëol and his fathering of Maeglin than I remember before. There’s also a long section on the tragic wanderings of Húrin after the deaths of his children which I don’t remember from elsewhere, though it may have been in the Tale of the Children of Húrin. Various essays include some reflections on the origins of the races other than Elves and Men, more Elvish linguistics and the story of the Elves’ awakening. Several comments from Tolkien junior reflecting on how he now wishes he had done the Silmarillion a bit differently.
September Books 22) A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens
I loved this book when I first read it a quarter of a century ago, and I loved it again now. Things I thought of, in no special order:
It’s set in 1776-1792, and was published in 1859. So for its first readers, the setting was only as long ago as the 1929-1945 period is for us: the descent into homicidal totalitarianism of a country which now generally behaves as a responsible neighbour.
Both Doctor Manette and Sydney Carton, the two most interesting characters in the book, have obvious, and sympathetically portrayed, mental health problems. The Doctor is a pretty clear case of what we would now call post-traumatic stress disorder. Carton thinks of himself as simply an alcoholic, but clearly has irrationally low self-esteem and probably depression. Today he would, one hopes, have access to drugs and therapy, though even in the eighteenth century he is more or less able to hold down a high-profile job (the stress of which probably doesn’t help).
Madame Defarge, however, is not mentally ill, just vindictive.
Is there another Dickens book with both a memorable opening and a memorable ending?
There were a number of sentences involving Manette which I was tempted to post here as a “which Doctor Who novel is this from” quiz, because he too is almost always referred to as “the Doctor”. (Added bonus for fans of the recent Paul McGann audios is that these passages tend to involve his daughter Lucie.)
The comic Cruncher family are the one part of the book that doesn’t work so well for me. Dickens is often a bit annoying when he does the rude mechanical bit but normally he finds some humanising feature. (The characterisation in the book is generally thin even by usual Dickensian standards.)
To finish on a more appreciative note, Dickens does social horror very well, and effectively links the social injustice of ancien régime France to inequality in contemporary England, and also even more effectively links the brutality of aristos and revolutionaries to the brutality of the British judicial system; it’s not a past thing from a few decades ago, it’s a hook for one of his best and most heartfelt class warfare arguments.
Anyway, it’s brilliant, and I will not wait another 25 years before I read it again.
September Books 21) The Sleepers of Erin, by Jonathan Gash
Lovejoy goes to Ireland this time, lured into a particularly implausible (though for once fairly comprehensible) scheme involving fake gold copies of a Celtic torc, and Lovejoy becoming very entangled with the women behind the scheme. As with the Hong Kong of Jade Woman, this Ireland is of an earlier time period than the one the book is ostensibly set in; but also (as indeed in most of his work) Gash largely avoids ethnic stereotypes. Can’t quite say the same for his women though.
Back from Georgia
Blogging has been a bit light over the last week, because I have been in Tbilisi, working with Bidzina Ivanishvili and his Georgian Dream coalition on this week’s parliamentary elections. As you may have heard, he won, scoring 54.85% of the vote to the government’s 40.43% (officially at least; the campaign’s exit poll showed a bigger margin) and is now negotiating the process by which he will become Georgia’s new prime minister when the new parliament meets later this month.
Ivanishvili went into politics just over a year ago, to general surprise; he was known as a wealthy businessman and philanthropist, who made his fortune initially by importing push-button phones and personal computers into the dying Soviet Union and then diversifying into banking, mining and much else, and had given vast amounts of money to various charitable causes in Georgia. He was originally a supporter of President Saakashvili, who took power in the 2003 Rose Revolution, but they fell out after the brutal suppression of opposition demonstrators in 2007 and the disastrous war with Russia in 2008.
Ivanishvili built a coalition of pre-existing opposition parties (including basically all the sensible politicians in Georgia, which was quite a strong recommendation) and also activists who had never been in politics, and ran for election on a platform of moving away from the creeping authoritarianism of Saakashvili’s government, and continuing Georgia’s EU and NATO integration which restoring pragmatic relations with Russia. For his pains, he was stripped of his Georgian citizenship as soon as he announced he was going into politics, and throughout the last few months he and his campaign colleagues were subjected to vast and arbitrary fines through a hastily constructed new legal structure (most of whose senior officials mysteriously ended up as government candidates).
The crucial moment – though internal polling suggested that the campaign was already ahead – was the release of videos two weeks ago showing some pretty awful abuse of prisoners in Georgian jails. Everyone in Georgia had known this was an issue – successive Ombudsmen had been vocal about it for years, and Council of Europe officials had told me it was a serious concern (along with the 99.8% conviction rate in the courts). Saakashvili’s policies had given Georgia a per capita imprisonment rate higher than any country bar the USA and China, so everyone is likely to know of someone who knows what it is like to be inside (unlike in the USA, where it’s possible for many people to be unaware of prison conditions because the criminal justice system primarily targets a visible minority). But the videos brought the reality home in a way that was impossible to ignore.
I was working in the party headquarters on the day of the election, and Ivanishvili watched the TV coverage of the first exit polls as voting ended on the evening of 1 October on the big screen in our office. The news was good, with even the government-run stations agreeing that he had won the popular vote. We were still watching as someone took this shot:
There were a couple of wobbles subsequently – notably a rumour that the opposition might win the popular vote but still lose out on number of parliamentary seats, which I shot down after some number crunching. But just after lunch on Tuesday President Saakashvili grumpily conceded on TV that the vote had gone against him. He now must endure a year of cohabitation with Ivanishvili until the presidential election which is scheduled for late 2013, at which Saakashvili must step down because of term limits, and also constitutional amendments kick in transferring a number of significant powers from the President to the Prime Minister.
I close with the official campaign anthem, a rap performed by Ivanishvili’s son Bera at every rally. If you listen carefully you will hear the words “Georgian Dream” in English as well as “Kartuli Otsnega” in Georgian.
It’s been amazing.
The Georgian single-mandate constituencies #gvote
The single-mandate constituencies
It has been inaccurately suggested that the UNM might quite naturally maintain a lead among the single-mandate constituencies in the Georgian election, even if it loses the proportional vote by a significant margin.
Examination of the actual results from the 2008 parliamentary and presidential elections demonstrates that this is not true.
It is the case that if the UNM and opposition got the same vote nationwide, the opposition could expect to win 28 or 29 seats, and the UNM therefore 44 or 45.
But if the opposition lead nationally by 5% – which is the lowest figure proposed by any of tonight’s exit polls – they should win 35 or 36 seats, and the UNM therefore 37 or 38, with the opposition also sufficiently far ahead from the proportional vote to be the largest group in the parliament.
If the opposition lead nationally by 6% they should get a majority of the single-mandate seats as well.
Please see details below, identifying constituencies and ranking them in order of how vulnerable they should be to a uniform swing of votes from UNM to the opposition, based on the two 2008 polls.
28 seats where UNM loses, if level with opposition nationally:
Vake, Didube, Nadzaladevi, Saburtalo, Gldani, Chugureti, Mtatsminda, Stefantsminda, Mestia, Samgori, Isani, Bordjomi, Rustavi, Chiatura, Kutaisi, Batumi, Vani, Kharagauli, Zestafoni, Lanchkhuti, Samtredia, Krtsanisi, Tsageri, Oni, Foti, Tikibuli, Tskaltubo, Baghdati
8 more seats (running total 36) where UNM loses if opposition is 5% ahead nationally
Khoni, Khelvachauri, Keda, Telavi, Sagaredjo, Sachkhere, Khobi, Kvareli
1 more seat (running total 37 – majority of single-mandate seats) where UNM loses if opposition is 6.03% ahead nationally
Ambrolauri
6 more seats (running total 42) where UNM loses if opposition is 10% ahead nationally:
Dusheti, Ozurgeti, Dedoflistskharo, Terdjoa, Tetritskharo, Abasha
7 more seats (running total 49 –two-thirds of single-mandate seats) where UNM loses if opposition is 15% ahead nationally
Chkhorotskhu, Kobuleti, Sighanghi, Gurdjaani, Tianeti, Gadarbani, Lagodekhi
Projection of results from presidential election 2008
29 seats where UNM loses, if level with opposition nationally:
Dusheti, Saburtalo, Vake, Chugureti, Nadzaladevi, Mtatsminda, Didube, Stefantsminda, Gldani, Isani, Samgori, Ozurgeti, Dedoflistskharo, Batumi, Lanchkhuti, Chokhatauri, Gurdjaani, Bordjomi, Rustavi, Khelvachauri, Kutaisi, Tianeti, Foti, Zestafoni, Akhmeta, Telavi, Chiatura, Lentekhi, Kobuleti
6 more seats (running total 35) where UNM loses if opposition is 5% ahead nationally
Mestia, Kharagauli, Mtskheta, Krtsanisi, Sachkhere, Samtredia
3 more seats (running total 38, more than majority of single-mandate seats) where UNM loses if opposition is 6% ahead nationally
Kaspi, Kvareli, Sagaredjo
6 more seats (running total 44) where UNM loses if opposition is 20% ahead nationally
Projection from Parliamentary vote 2008 – detail
| rank | district | district # | UNM vote in 2008 | opposition lead nationally to win seat |
| 1st | Vake | 2 | 33,7% | -49,4% |
| 2nd | Didube | 8 | 37,0% | -43,0% |
| 3th | Nadzaladevi | 9 | 37,7% | -41,5% |
| 4th | Saburtalo | 3 | 37,8% | -41,3% |
| 5th | Gldani | 10 | 39,3% | -38,3% |
| 6th | Chugureti | 7 | 40,1% | -36,8% |
| 7th | Mtatsminda | 1 | 44,1% | -28,7% |
| 8th | Stefantsminda | 29 | 44,5% | -27,9% |
| 9th | Mestia | 47 | 45,8% | -25,3% |
| 10th | Samgori | 6 | 46,0% | -24,9% |
| 11th | Isani | 5 | 46,9% | -23,2% |
| 12th | Bordjomi | 36 | 48,7% | -19,6% |
| 13th | Rustavi | 20 | 48,7% | -19,5% |
| 14th | Chiatura | 56 | 49,6% | -17,7% |
| 15th | Kutaisi | 59 | 50,1% | -16,8% |
| 16th | Batumi | 79 | 50,2% | -16,5% |
| 17th | Vani | 53 | 50,3% | -16,4% |
| 18th | Kharagauli | 48 | 50,3% | -16,4% |
| 19th | Zestafoni | 51 | 51,2% | -14,6% |
| 20th | Lanchkhuti | 61 | 52,4% | -12,2% |
| 21st | Samtredia | 54 | 52,9% | -11,1% |
| 22nd | Krtsanisi | 4 | 54,5% | -8,0% |
| 23rd | Tsageri | 45 | 55,1% | -6,6% |
| 24th | Oni | 43 | 55,2% | -6,6% |
| 25th | Foti | 70 | 55,3% | -6,4% |
| 26th | Tikibuli | 57 | 55,8% | -5,3% |
| 27th | Tskaltubo | 58 | 57,6% | -1,8% |
| 28th | Baghdati | 52 | 58,3% | -0,3% |
| 29th | Khoni | 55 | 58,7% | 0,5% |
| 30th | Khelvachauri | 83 | 59,1% | 1,4% |
| 31st | Keda | 80 | 59,2% | 1,5% |
| 32nd | Telavi | 17 | 59,2% | 1,6% |
| 33rd | Sagaredjo | 11 | 59,5% | 2,1% |
| 34th | Sachkhere | 50 | 60,5% | 4,0% |
| 35th | Khobi | 66 | 60,7% | 4,4% |
| 36th | Kvareli | 16 | 60,9% | 5,0% |
| 37th | Ambrolauri | 44 | 61,5% | 6,0% |
| 38th | Dusheti | 28 | 61,8% | 6,8% |
| 39th | Ozurgeti | 60 | 62,2% | 7,5% |
| 40th | Dedoflistskharo | 14 | 62,3% | 7,7% |
| 41st | Terdjoa | 49 | 62,4% | 7,9% |
| 42rd | Tetritskharo | 26 | 62,5% | 8,0% |
| 43th | Abasha | 63 | 62,8% | 8,8% |
| 44th | Chkhorotskhu | 69 | 63,7% | 10,5% |
| 45th | Kobuleti | 81 | 63,9% | 10,9% |
| 46th | Sighanghi | 13 | 64,7% | 12,4% |
| 47th | Gurdjaani | 12 | 64,9% | 12,9% |
| 48th | Tianeti | 19 | 65,5% | 14,1% |
| 49th | Gadarbani | 21 | 65,6% | 14,4% |
| 50th | Lagodekhi | 15 | 65,7% | 14,4% |
| 51st | Chokhatauri | 62 | 66,1% | 15,2% |
| 52nd | Senaki | 64 | 67,0% | 17,2% |
| 53rd | Shuakhevi | 82 | 67,1% | 17,3% |
| 54th | Zugdidi | 67 | 67,4% | 17,9% |
| 55th | Tsalendjikha | 68 | 68,2% | 19,5% |
| 56th | Martvili | 65 | 68,2% | 19,6% |
| 57th | Akhmeta | 18 | 68,5% | 20,1% |
| 58th | Khulo | 84 | 69,4% | 21,9% |
| 59th | Mtskheta | 27 | 69,5% | 22,0% |
| 60th | Khashuri | 35 | 70,2% | 23,5% |
| 61st | Gori | 32 | 70,9% | 24,9% |
| 62nd | Lentekhi | 46 | 73,1% | 29,3% |
| 63rd | Kaspi | 30 | 73,2% | 29,5% |
| 64th | Tsalka | 25 | 73,5% | 30,1% |
| 65th | Marneuli | 22 | 73,8% | 30,7% |
| 66th | Kareli | 33 | 76,9% | 36,8% |
| 67th | Akhaltsikhe | 37 | 80,6% | 44,2% |
| 68th | Dmanisi | 24 | 82,9% | 48,8% |
| 69th | Bolnisi | 23 | 83,0% | 49,1% |
| 70th | Adigeni | 38 | 86,5% | 56,1% |
| 71st | Aspindza | 39 | 86,8% | 56,7% |
| 72nd | Akhalkalaki | 40 | 90,1% | 63,3% |
| 73rd | Ninotsminda | 41 | 91,7% | 66,4% |
Projection from Presidential vote 2008 – detail
| rank | District Name | District | Saakashvili vote | opposition lead nationally to win seat |
| 1st | Dusheti | 28 | 28,4% | -45,9% |
| 2nd | Saburtalo | 3 | 28,6% | -45,5% |
| 3th | Vake | 2 | 30,0% | -42,9% |
| 4th | Chugureti | 7 | 30,9% | -41,1% |
| 5th | Nadzaladevi | 9 | 31,5% | -39,9% |
| 6th | Mtatsminda | 1 | 31,5% | -39,8% |
| 7th | Didube | 8 | 32,0% | -38,9% |
| 8th | Stefantsminda | 29 | 35,3% | -32,1% |
| 9th | Gldani | 10 | 35,8% | -31,3% |
| 10th | Isani | 5 | 36,4% | -30,1% |
| 11th | Samgori | 6 | 40,6% | -21,6% |
| 12th | Ozurgeti | 60 | 40,8% | -21,2% |
| 13th | Dedoflistskharo | 14 | 41,2% | -20,3% |
| 14th | Batumi | 79 | 41,4% | -20,1% |
| 15th | Lanchkhuti | 61 | 42,0% | -18,9% |
| 16th | Chokhatauri | 62 | 42,2% | -18,4% |
| 17th | Gurdjaani | 12 | 43,8% | -15,2% |
| 18th | Bordjomi | 36 | 44,0% | -14,8% |
| 19th | Rustavi | 20 | 44,4% | -14,0% |
| 20th | Khelvachauri | 83 | 45,2% | -12,4% |
| 21st | Kutaisi | 59 | 45,4% | -12,0% |
| 22nd | Tianeti | 19 | 45,5% | -11,7% |
| 23rd | Foti | 70 | 46,6% | -9,6% |
| 24th | Zestafoni | 51 | 47,9% | -7,1% |
| 25th | Akhmeta | 18 | 49,8% | -3,1% |
| 26th | Telavi | 17 | 49,9% | -3,1% |
| 27th | Chiatura | 56 | 50,8% | -1,2% |
| 28th | Lentekhi | 46 | 51,1% | -0,6% |
| 29th | Kobuleti | 81 | 51,2% | -0,3% |
| 30th | Mestia | 47 | 51,5% | 0,3% |
| 31st | Kharagauli | 48 | 52,3% | 1,7% |
| 32nd | Mtskheta | 27 | 52,4% | 2,0% |
| 33rd | Krtsanisi | 4 | 53,1% | 3,3% |
| 34th | Sachkhere | 50 | 53,1% | 3,3% |
| 35th | Samtredia | 54 | 53,8% | 4,8% |
| 36th | Kaspi | 30 | 54,2% | 5,5% |
| 37th | Kvareli | 16 | 54,2% | 5,5% |
| 38th | Sagaredjo | 11 | 54,4% | 6,1% |
| 39th | Baghdati | 52 | 56,8% | 10,9% |
| 40th | Keda | 80 | 59,4% | 16,0% |
| 41st | Ambrolauri | 44 | 60,4% | 17,9% |
| 42rd | Oni | 43 | 60,6% | 18,4% |
| 43th | Lagodekhi | 15 | 60,9% | 19,0% |
| 44th | Khashuri | 35 | 61,8% | 20,8% |
| 45th | Sighanghi | 13 | 62,4% | 22,0% |
| 46th | Terdjoa | 49 | 62,9% | 23,1% |
| 47th | Tetritskharo | 26 | 64,2% | 25,6% |
| 48th | Tskaltubo | 58 | 65,0% | 27,1% |
| 49th | Gori | 32 | 65,1% | 27,3% |
| 50th | Kareli | 33 | 65,9% | 29,0% |
| 51st | Abasha | 63 | 66,1% | 29,3% |
| 52nd | Khobi | 66 | 66,7% | 30,7% |
| 53rd | Khulo | 84 | 67,5% | 32,3% |
| 54th | Tikibuli | 57 | 68,7% | 34,5% |
| 55th | Vani | 53 | 69,0% | 35,2% |
| 56th | Shuakhevi | 82 | 70,9% | 38,9% |
| 57th | Khoni | 55 | 71,1% | 39,5% |
| 58th | Aspindza | 39 | 72,5% | 42,3% |
| 59th | Chkhorotskhu | 69 | 72,6% | 42,5% |
| 60th | Martvili | 65 | 73,2% | 43,6% |
| 61st | Tsageri | 45 | 74,1% | 45,4% |
| 62nd | Tsalka | 25 | 74,7% | 46,6% |
| 63rd | Zugdidi | 67 | 74,9% | 46,9% |
| 64th | Senaki | 64 | 75,6% | 48,3% |
| 65th | Gadarbani | 21 | 75,7% | 48,7% |
| 66th | Tsalendjikha | 68 | 78,2% | 53,6% |
| 67th | Adigeni | 38 | 79,7% | 56,6% |
| 68th | Akhaltsikhe | 37 | 82,8% | 62,9% |
| 69th | Dmanisi | 24 | 84,1% | 65,3% |
| 70th | Bolnisi | 23 | 86,6% | 70,4% |
| 71st | Akhalkalaki | 40 | 89,7% | 76,7% |
| 72nd | Ninotsminda | 41 | 89,7% | 76,7% |
| 73rd | Marneuli | 22 | 90,4% | 77,9% |
September Books
Not of this World? by Glenn Jordan
Representing Autism: Culture, Narrative, Fascination, by Stuart Murray
Fiction (non-sf) 8 (YTD 39)
The Very Last Gambado, by Jonathan Gash
Independent People, by Halldór Laxness
Q, by Luther Blissett
The Firefly Gadroon, by Jonathan Gash
The Vatican Rip, by Jonathan Gash
Blood Hunt, by "Jack Harvey" (Ian Rankin)
The Sleepers of Erin, by Jonathan Gash
A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens
SF (non-Who) 5 (YTD 55)
Assassin's Apprentice, by Robin Hobb
The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction, edited by George Mann
Powers, by Ursula Le Guin
Dagger Magic, by Katherine Kurtz and Deborah Turner Harris
The War of the Jewels, by J.R.R. Tolkien, edited by Christopher Tolkien
Who 8 (YTD 58)
The Undertaker's Gift, by Trevor Baxendale
Doctor Who – The Gunfighters, by Donald Cotton
The Peacemaker, by James Swallow
Doctor Who (The Scripts): The Tomb of the Cybermen, by Gerry Davis & Kit Pedler
Set Piece, by Kate Orman
The Banquo Legacy, by Andy Lane and Justin Richards
Sightseeing in Space: Terminal of Despair, by Steve Lyons
Sightseeing in Space: Web in Space!, by David Bailey
Comics 2 (YTD 19)
Aldébaran 1: La Catastrophe, by Leo
Ōoku: The Inner Chambers vol.5, by Fumi Yoshinaga
~7,600 pages (YTD 62,500)
4/25 (YTD 59/213) by women (Le Guin, Hobb, Orman, Yoshinaga)
1/25 (YTD 9/213) by PoC (Yoshinaga)
Owned for more than a year: 14 (Not of This World?, Doctor Who – The Gunfighters [reread], The Solaris Book of New Science Fiction 2007, Doctor Who – The Tomb of the Cybermen: Script, The Banquo Legacy, Blood Hunt, Dagger Magic, Representing Autism, A Tale of Two Cities [reread], Powers, Independent People, Set Piece, Peacemaker [reread], Q).
Other rereads: none for a total of 3 (YTD 17/213)
Big 2012 reading projects:
September 30 takes me to Book XII, Chapter XI of War and Peace, and 1 Maccabees chapter 4 in the Bible.
Also started:
The Faerie Queene, by Edmund Spenser
The Tartan Sell, by Jonathan Gash
Consequences, by James Moran, Joseph Lidster, Andrew Cartmel, Sarah Pinborough and David Llewellyn
The Twilight Lords, by Richard Berleth
Adventures on the High Teas, by Stuart Maconie
Coming next, perhaps:
Goodnight Mister Tom, by Michelle Magorian
The Autobiography of an Ex-Colored Man, by James Weldon Johnson
A History of Christianity, by Diarmaid MacCulloch
Conquest of the Amazon, by John Russell Fearn
The Portrait of a Lady, by Henry James
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
Bleeding Hearts, by Ian Rankin
Toward the End of Time, by John Updike
Neverwhere, by Neil Gaiman
[Doctor Who] Combat Rock, by Mick Lewis
[Doctor Who] Infinite Requiem, by Daniel Blythe
[Doctor Who] The Ancestor Cell by Peter Anghelides
Doctor Who Book 5: Monstrous Missions, by Gary Russell and Jonathan Green
The Irish Constitutional Revolution of the Sixteenth Century, by Brendan Bradshaw
A Book of Silence, by Sara Maitland
Kraken, by China Mieville
Links I found interesting for 01-10-2012
- A deeply polarizing election in Georgia
I’m in Tbilisi for this potentially historic moment!
- Georgian grape pickers show government’s challenge
They won’t say who they are voting for but their hints are pretty clear.
- Georgia election on a knife edge as two visions collide
Sub-title is slightly unfair!
Links I found interesting for 30-09-2012
- Mrs Astor Vanishes
Brooke Astor’s Estate Is Auctioned, and a Friend Recalls Her Fondly.
Links I found interesting for 28-09-2012
- Kids Today, French Version
“tu” vs “vous”. (And “ты” vs “вы”, “þér” vs “þú”, etc.)
- A journey in Kyrgyzstan
Peter reports.
- Education hope at UN General Assembly
“There are more girls in 3 secondary schools in Oxford, UK, than in the whole of South Sudan, which has a population of 10 million people.”
The Secret of the Paradiddle
As some of you know, a paradiddle is a drumming rudiment. The point of it is to practice even tempo and rhythm even if you are doing something a little counterintuitive with your hands. Rather than strike the drum Left-Right-Left-Right-Left-Right, the paradiddle goes Left-Right-Left-Left-Right-Left-Right-Right, repeated over and over, without a break, until, as Arthur Dent might have said, you’ve had enough.
If you haven’t done it before, try it now, with your fingers against the table if you don’t have a convenient drum and sticks. It’s surprisingly tricky to get an even beat. But you get a glow of achievement when you get near it; and you also now know what a paradiddle is.
Links I found interesting for 27-09-2012
- Buddhist ‘Iron Man’ found by Nazis is from space : Nature News Blog
Best. Headline. Ever.
- London surnames mapped.
Dubious about some of the affiliations but big picture probably accurate.
- Mid-Ulster indecision hastens end of UUP
A party that has learned nothing and forgotten many things.
Quick pop quiz
What is a paradiddle? (No sneaky googling!)
I once passed an exam where I had to know the answer, but I was just curious as to how widely known it is.
Links I found interesting for 26-09-2012
- Sentinelese people – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
An introduction.
- Mysterious North Sentinel Island | ContemporaryNomad.com
Short piece with video showing Sentinelese.
- The most isolated tribe in the world? – Survival International
Survival International claims a success.
- North Sentinel – “The Undiscover’d Country”
Comparing the Sentinelese with the builders of Stonehenge.
- North Sentinel Island, Captain Robert Fore and previously unseen photographs of the 1981 Primrose rescue
Rescuing a shipwrecked crew.
- The Last Island of the Savages
Long piece, but well worth reading.
- The Sentinelese of the Andamans
On the two fishermen killed in 2006.
Links I found interesting for 25-09-2012
- A ‘Politically Motivated’ Prison Scandal Before Georgia’s Election | World Affairs Journal
Misha’s slogan: “I’m not vicious, just stupid.”
- Georgia’s prisons: roots of scandal
Interesting points about the penal system in general.
- Traynor’s Eye: Meeting A Troll…
Extraordinary story of confronting a cyber-bully.
- Romney Doesn’t Know Why Airplane Windows Won’t Open, Calls The Closed Window Policy ‘A Real Problem’
No comment.
Links I found interesting for 24-09-2012
- LEGO Great Ball Contraption (GBC) Layout 2012.9 – YouTube
This is just awesome!
- SciBricks: Difference Engine
Another amazing LEGO construction.
- Poland and Britain: Sikorski in Oxford (again)
Sikorski tells it like it is: why Britain needs the EU.
Culinary meme
Bold the ones you have and use at least once a year, italicize the ones you have and don't use, strike through the ones you have had but got rid of.
I wonder how many pasta machines, breadmakers, juicers, blenders, deep fat fryers, egg boilers, melon ballers, sandwich makers, pastry brushes, cheese boards, cheese knives, electric woks, miniature salad spinners, griddle pans, jam funnels, meat thermometers, filleting knives, egg poachers, cake stands, garlic crushers, martini glasses, tea strainers, bamboo steamers, pizza stones, coffee grinders, milk frothers, piping bags, banana stands, fluted pastry wheels, tagine dishes, conical strainers, rice cookers, steam cookers, pressure cookers, slow cookers, spaetzle makers, cookie presses, gravy strainers, double boilers (bains marie), sukiyaki stoves, ice cream makers, fondue sets, healthy-grills, home smokers, tempura sets, tortilla presses, electric whisks, cherry stoners, sugar thermometers, food processors, bacon presses, bacon slicers, mouli mills, cake testers, pestle-and-mortars, and sets of kebab skewers languish dustily at the back of the nation's cupboards.
Not as much of a foodie as I thought I was!
Links I found interesting for 23-09-2012
- Georgian Billionaire Launches Leadership Bid
I’m briefly visible at 0:30 (reflected) and 0:40 (real).
- The Brussels Bloggers’ Guide to Food and Drink
With extra guest appearance by @astroehlein !
- Peacebuilding by the international community
“I’m here to help you make peace.” “…Great…” by my old friend Roger.
- Stuff some envelopes, then ask questions
Election coverage: Why reporters should volunteer for a political campaign before covering one.
September Books 20) The Banquo Legacy, by Andy Lane and Justin Richards
The authors of this Eighth Doctor novel, when on form, are among the best writers of the Who range. Unfortunately I was underwhelmed by this joint exercise of their talents, in which they attempt to jointly channel Agatha Christie, Mary Shelley, Marc Platt and a little H.P. Lovecraft, and the result doesn’t quite take off. Having two viewpoint characters who don’t quite know who the Doctor, Fitz and Compassion are is rather brave, but unfortunately I found them a bit interchangeable and at times implausible.
September Books 19) Representing Autism: Culture, Narrative, Fascination, by Stuart Murray
Rather an academic book, but very interesting, looking at the way in which autism is portrayed in culture: Rain Man and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, obviously, but many other examples are invoked including a couple from long before the formal definition of autism (Melville’s Bartleby, Dickens’s Barnaby Rudge). Murray uses these to warn us to be very wary of stereotypes which are reinforced by these popular narratives – of the autistic person as idiot, or savant (or both), or as family wrecker or tragic victim of a condition that can be “cured”. He very much reinforces my own prejudice that autism as an extraordinary window into what it is to be human, and punctures some lazy assumptions along the way.
Links I found interesting for 22-09-2012
- How many ice cubes would it take to put out the sun?
“I am five, and have been wondering about this for almost half my life now: how many ice cubes would it take to put out the sun?”
- Nesbitt coy on Mid-Ulster by-election
“The options … are pretty embracive.” Er, “embracive”???
- If you thought Apple’s maps were weird, look at these
Some of the best from Strange Maps.
Links I found interesting for 21-09-2012
- Georgia prison abuse: Interior minister Akhalaia quits
Hooray!
- Georgia’s Abu Ghraib: The horrific stories of prisoner abuse
Content warning – really awful details. Really awful.
- Georgia’s rowdy election campaign
“The malware was cleverly designed: It could turn on the computers’ cameras and microphones, capture screen shots every 10 seconds, and record keystrokes and passwords”
- Walk and Talk the Vote
On a lighter note, I know who gets my vote for the Supreme Court of Michigan.
Links I found interesting for 20-09-2012
- The Myth of the European Court of Human Rights’ “War on Britain”
A little reality (in the Spectator of all places).
Links I found interesting for 19-09-2012
- Take a Number: Everest Deaths in 2012
Why people die on the roof of the world.
- Save Our Inboxes! Adopt the Email Charter!
Ten excellent rules!
- Rich’s ComixBlog :: The Ten Doctors
Excellent.
- Look How Far We’ve Come Apart
Tracking political polarization in America (and how it could be fixed).
Links I found interesting for 18-09-2012
- My two alien life forms
Children in Brussels.
- Intelligence chief: EU capital is ‘spy capital’
Espionage in Brussels.
- Belgian intelligence chief talks to EUobserver: transcript
Espionage in Brussels (full detail).
September Books 18) Dagger Magic, by Katherine Kurtz and Deborah Turner Harris
Well, I was warned. Starts with Irish coastguards discovering a long-wrecked Nazi submarine and being promptly murdered by sinister Asian monks. Then we shift across the water to Scotland where the police are aided by a psychic order of nobility linked to the Templars (and white so therefore not sinister). The first line of page 72 is, “At the heart of the Inner Planes lay the Akashic Records” – and at that point I decided I could read no further. Sorry, life is too short.