Touching From A Distance

7th November 2009 From Melrose in Melrose (2 days old)

There seems to be a growing consensus that this year’s recovery in the markets must be due for some kind of correction. This is partly due to a sense that all things come to an end and that, in this… more

29th October 2009 – Good Morning Mr President From Melrose in Melrose (11 days old)

Posting rate has risen sharply this month. For much of this year the sense of not having much to say has been strong. Well, not not much period but not much that’s not already been said. After all t… more

Holding The Line From Pick1 in suburbanmusings (19 days old)

It appears that the strong pressure exerted by the international community over the past few weeks has forced Hamid Karzai to announce a second round of voting for the Afghan Presidential elections to… more

21st October - bonus fascination From Melrose in Melrose (19 days old)

back again much more quickly than usual. This isn't so much another post as a continuation of the last one. Very glad to see the bankers' bonuses getting so much attention. The banks indicating … more

18th October 2009 From Melrose in Melrose (22 days old)

Another long pause while I've been deserted by the blogging muse. This is partly being busy and partly losing any sense of where current affairs are headed. Despite the relative busy-ness on the wo… more

England Trip On The Steppe From Pick1 in suburbanmusings (30 days old)

I don't really care about the game; I just wanted to be the first to use that pun.… more

Chasing Victory, Avoiding Defeat From Pick1 in suburbanmusings (33 days old)

“We don’t have enough forces to do everything, everywhere, at once” Gen. McChrystal President Obama inherited an unenviable set of challenges from President Bush; economic crisis, nuclear pr… more

5th October 2009 From Melrose in Melrose (35 days old)

I'm up-to-date with writing. Well, I've done all I can but I'm expecting - and hoping for more work to do - later this week. So it seems like a good time to post. The Irish re-referendum put the Eu… more

Ayaan Hirsi Ali From Pick1 in suburbanmusings (43 days old)

“In the past fifty years the Muslim world has been catapulted into modernity. From my grandmother to me is a journey of just two generations, but the reality of that voyage is millennial. Even t… more

25th September 2009 From Melrose in Melrose (45 days old)

I've been away for about 10 days enjoying a late summer break near Cardigan. Although I stayed just 15 miles away from our base this time, it was new country for me. The place was called Mwnt (Mount) … more

MTV Generation From Pick1 in suburbanmusings (55 days old)

Yay. Music videos are back on YouTube. More often than not the music industry uses sex to sell a video, however, the best are a form of modern art in their own right. Here are five of my favourites.… more

The Nature of the Market From Pick1 in suburbanmusings (61 days old)

In a reccent post I discussed the fallacy that a perfect system could be run by imperfect human beings. In the post I laid some of the blame for the Credit Crunch on Alan Greenspan, implying that as … more

Local Politics, Local Minds From Pick1 in suburbanmusings (65 days old)

The BBC today reported that Hackney Borough Council had painted over a popular mural by the grafiti artist Banksy. Despite the fact that the piece of art was on private property and the owner had … more

30th August 2009 From Melrose in Melrose (71 days old)

Two posts a month seems to be a challenge at the moment. I've been working on two fronts; firstly, working through the editors' suggested changes to one of my books and secondly a once a week contribu… more

Looking Ahead From Pick1 in suburbanmusings (79 days old)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/8215208.stm Last week's devestating terrorist attacks on Government buildings in Baghdad show that, despite the withdrawl of US troops, Islamists and Ba… more

Perfection Is Impossible From Pick1 in suburbanmusings (81 days old)

"I beseech you, in the bowels of Christ, think it possible you may be mistaken." Oliver Cromwell In the twentieth century, the various Communist attempts at creating utopian societ… more

9th August 2009 - finance savvy nation From Melrose in Melrose (92 days old)

Another long gap since my last post. The reason is partly a lack of momentum but mainly due to being busy on the work front. The editing process for the latest book has begun and there's a lot of s… more

Queen And Country From Pick1 in suburbanmusings (92 days old)

The Sunday Times today reports that the Crown Estate, which manages the Queen’s property and assets, is set to pocket a £2.5 billion windfall from the off-shore wind energy revolution. The Queen is… more

Debating The Hijab From Pick1 in suburbanmusings (93 days old)

This is a short but interesting film about attitudes to the hijab and feminism, by Jobeda Ali, a young British Muslim. This film is important, whether or not Jobeda is right or wrong, because it … more

More On The Banks From Pick1 in suburbanmusings (96 days old)

Further to my last post, Kammo has an interesting piece on banking bonuses and the future of Northern Rock in his blog today.… more

Do Bonuses Matter? From Pick1 in suburbanmusings (98 days old)

HSBC and Barclays, two of Britain’s biggest banks, today announced strong profits for the first half of the financial year. Neither bank has taken taxpayers’ money to stay afloat, but both undoubtedl… more

Who Dares Wins From Pick1 in suburbanmusings (102 days old)

I have recently joined a Bloggers’ circle, named, appropriately enough, the Bloggers’ Circle. The idea is that each member should contribute four posts each month and comment on two blogs posted by o… more

When No News Is Good News From Pick1 in suburbanmusings (112 days old)

In recent weeks the world’s attention has been grabbed by Swine Flu, economic turmoil, riots in China and human tragedy in Afghanistan, perhaps the best news recently has been the very lack of news to… more

18th July 2009 From Melrose in Melrose (114 days old)

Another long gap in posting. I'm not sure if this is down to busy-ness or disinclination. If the latter, am I just being idle or have I tapped into the mood of the moment. Is the mood one of enervatio… more

Bearing The Cost From Pick1 in suburbanmusings (122 days old)

I have been meaning to write about this issue for sometime, but in the past ten days we have seen ten snapshots of ten grinning, young, newly dead soldiers on the evening news and sensed the brutal, l… more

Do The Maths From Pick1 in suburbanmusings (126 days old)

In 1992 John Major’s Conservatives scored an unexpected General Election victory over Neil Kinnock’s Labour Party. The Tory victory was partly due to the party’s use of the slogan ‘Labour’s Tax Bombs… more

29th June 2009 From Melrose in Melrose (133 days old)

Another longish gap since last posting. On a positive note, the latest opus has gone off to the publisher. On the whole I've enjoyed the latest book and I'm dead keen on the subject matter. I defin… more

Bravo Nicolas! From Pick1 in suburbanmusings (138 days old)

"The burka is not a religious problem, it's a question of liberty and women's dignity. It's not a religious symbol, but a sign of subservience and debasement. I want to say solemnly, the burka is not … more

14th June 2009 From Melrose in Melrose (148 days old)

I've been completing my latest book which has meant a lot of research on one of the appendices. This week I'll be working on the index - much more straightforward. =================================… more

Stopping The BNP From Pick1 in suburbanmusings (149 days old)

This week the BNP became to the first anglo-fascist party to win seats at the European. Yet they won their two seats only by virtue of the ludicrous electoral system used in European elections. The … more