[blogfocus thursday] new friend, old friend

A blend of the new and the old, layer by layer:

1 When you're havering around, altitude decidedly counts:

When you garden at 700ft up in the Scottish Hills it's not all flouncy frocks and straw hats. The Head Gardener complained today that there was nothing for it but to get out there and get on with it. This was she returning from Polytunnel World at 5 p.m. this afternoon. A hot shower and a hot toddy will probably do the trick!

2 These groups were no shade of grey - they coloured our world:

In advance of the Gig, I was told about how Supertramp were not like other bands. Most shows hired in the sound and lighting from the big name tour production Companies arranged by the Promoter as a package, generally with Edwin Shirley Trucking for the logistics and sometimes with a catering Company. Supertramp, however, owned most of their equipment in order to contain costs and paid the crew directly rather than through others. (Roxy Music were another Band that did something similar, they had a their own PA).

3 It's no calumny to say that SNP supporters do exist:

I voted SNP for the first time at the elections two weeks ago primarily because they were the vehicle most likely to turn over Labour. Although my politics lie mostly to the left of Labour I couldn't vote Labour: I, like many others felt, the need for change was crucial. Hopefully, the Labour party will learn lessons and come back a changed and reinvigorated party but I don't hold my breath.

Now I have to lie in the bed of my making and accept what the future brings.

4 Beat the drum and take a stand against tinny diversofascism now:

Nice. Being a modern country does involve, in their eyes, as it seems to for so many people now, associating people who don't agree with you with all manner of evil, depredation and murder. There's a real tone of violence, I think, underlying our modern inability to debate with another without assuming he's something dreadful, and a sense of contempt for others in the need to make laws, laws and laws for things we personally don't like. The more we parrot the hollow slogans of diversity, the less we really believe that people with different views and ideals should exist at all.

The tin drummer is 5' 91/2" tall. Oops. I've just glorified our imperial past and the shocking legacy of slavery. Again. Oh well, off for a pint then.

5 A pommy has to be as hard as granite to sort out Iraq:

I don't pretend to know what the correct course of action is. But what I do know is that those who advocate withdrawal of our troops and to leave Iraq to a full blown bloody civil war without any Plan B, are no better than Rumsfeld and his neocon mates who took Iraq into the hell-zone in the first place. The surge is yet to work but at least it's a plan. It may yet work. The Chatham House recommendations may not be the answer, after all engaging with terrorists is political suicide, but at least they have thought through the issues and have come up with ideas. Good for them.

6 Imagine a community where the end of history is not yet upon us:

Although the red cherries of the song are thought to evoke, among other things, blood spilt in the class struggle, and the red flag itself - images that won't necessarily strike chords with all who read this - listen now, as the valley is adorned with cherry blossom, and the promise of the fruit to come endures. Yes, the windfalls may lie over-ripe and flyblown come the autumn, just as there are plenty who will tell you that Communism is discredited. I don't grieve for the Soviet Union, but as Gracchi recently pointed out, the victory of Capitalism is far from clear, the end of history not yet upon us.

7 There's no Ingsoc here if you have a crush on your dog:

I think dogs are one of the best things on the planet.
Dogs are such a positive feature of the world we live in.
If you haven't included them on your list of things that make it all worth it, you should.

It is always a regret to me that, due to work and a social life that involves a fair amount of not being home, having one of my own is just not practical. But is definitely something I miss.

To me, dogs aren't animals. They occupy a kind of halfway house between us and animalkind. I don't tend to get overemotional about blue whales or tigers, but I get emotional about the Dogs Trust advert.

8 There may not be wisdom at Westminster but there certainly is here:

[I]f I were to begin earning money from it, this blog would cease to be fun, and the parameters of what I wrote would be deformed by a desire to maximise traffic. It isn't that adverts would subvert my political views, but they would subvert the purpose of the blog- in that sense I agree with Ashok I would have lost something- a space to think aloud about what interests me, without regard to whether anyone's listening- though I hope you are and what I have to say interests you- whether if its only 4 people or 40 or even 400 or 400000 doesn't matter to me and that's something I value.

Guthrum the Old is not forgotten - he'll be next time. Till Saturday …