Interesting piece in the NYT about the potential for analysis of digitised historic records. The particular research looks at the changing attitudes to violent crime as compared with property crime using keywords, though I am not wedded to believing in the reporter’s example of ‘kick’ as a strong trigger word — read the piece. The… Continue reading Oranges and Lemons
Author: martin_hedges
You know all the words and you sang all the notes
We have sown a minefield and thrown away the map as we let the word ‘respect’ remake itself — and not in our image. When you read of a teen hoodlum who stabs someone who “disrespects” him, you can see that redirection. An implicit fist was concealed in the velvet glove of respect — it… Continue reading You know all the words and you sang all the notes
Another wartime anniversary; Oradour
After the rightfully diplomatic D Day commemoration, another event to remember is the war crime at Oradour. If you are reading this today, June 10, it is exactly 70 years ago that German troops heading north to repel the landings took time out to gather up all the villagers of innocent little French village of… Continue reading Another wartime anniversary; Oradour
Warren Zevon; new readers start here
It can never do any harm to remember Warren Zevon once again. His wordplay was sublime in so many unexpected ways. It included such gems as the dark but deliciously assonantal recitative “a little old lady got mutilated late last night” (say it out loud) in Werewolves of London. Or the measured “And if California… Continue reading Warren Zevon; new readers start here
Weather; a lesson from history
UK readers will recall Somerset was an inland sea just this Spring and the Thames valley filled up like a blocked drain. That was unusual, so weird weather must signal that something is happening which has never happened before, right? So-called “extreme weather events” are the clinchers to convince those doubters of man-made global change.… Continue reading Weather; a lesson from history
A million pound lifestyle on a clerk’s wage
Meet Walter Watts. In 1844, aged just 27, he burst onto London society with no visible means of support, but with the trappings of a lottery winner. Inquisitive souls who wanted to know where the money came from were baffled as, one after another, they ruled out gambling, an inheritance or the City. However, if… Continue reading A million pound lifestyle on a clerk’s wage
When bankers saw risk as well as reward
When he was a student at Harvard, Bank of England governor Mark Carney played back-up goalie in the teeth-threatening Canadian pastime of ice hockey. So Carney knows a bit about risk.. On Tuesday May 27 he gave a speech to a conference in London on Inclusive Capitalism. The gab-fest included most of the A-listers of… Continue reading When bankers saw risk as well as reward
Should an independent Scotland be allowed a British vote in 2015?
If Scotland votes in a binding referendum in 2014 to become a foreign country, can the British Constitution allow the Scots to vote in the UK a whole year later in 2015 — or to send MPs to a Parliament and there to make laws for a country which is no longer theirs? For constitutional… Continue reading Should an independent Scotland be allowed a British vote in 2015?