The Anonymous Widower

SAGA Backs the Time Change to Central European Time

SAGA has now backed Rebecca Harris and her Private Members Bill. Apparently 63% of over-50s back moving to Central European Time.

Well here’s one that does!

October 27, 2010 Posted by | News | , | Leave a comment

Have Manchester United Done the Right Thing?

Today Manchester United bought Nobby Stiles’ medals from the World and European Cups.

Nothing has been said yet about what they are going to do with them, but I hope that they put them on display in a suitable museum, as they are part of our footballing  history!

I would hate to think of them being kept in a safe or a trophy cabinet with no access to the general public.

 

October 27, 2010 Posted by | Sport | , , | Leave a comment

Reasons To Be Hopeful

This was the headline across the front page of The Times today.  They gave it three sub-titles :-

  1. Growth surprises City
  2. Advertising soars
  3. Strongest ewbound since the War

They also talked about how a new shopping centre at One New Change  in the City of London, nicknamed the Stealth Bomber is virtually fully let to retailers.

Let’s hope that this is not a false dawn!  But visiting Cambridge as I do regularly, I have a feeling that it is not!

October 27, 2010 Posted by | Business, Finance, News | , , | Leave a comment

Whoever Supplied This Should be Prosecuted

I indicated in an earlier post that the United States was having difficulty in getting enough sodium thiopental to carry out executions.  It now appears that a British company has supplied the drug. This is an extract from the BBC’s report.

Writing in the Guardian newspaper, a British civil rights lawyer, Clive Stafford Smith, has called for the naming and shaming of the company as it was “making a business out of killing”.

“One question that immediately springs to mind is whether it is criminal for the British corporation to profit from such a killing: while the language is loose, EU Council Regulation 1236/2005 takes a step along this path, making it illegal to trade in certain goods which could be used for capital punishment, torture, or other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment…’

“When the veil of secrecy is inevitably sundered, this British corporation should be reminded that the medical profession boasts of a Hippocratic oath, not a hypocritical one,” he wrote.

 I agree with Clive and will be writing to the company, when it becomes known.

October 27, 2010 Posted by | News | , , | 2 Comments

Today’s Nottingham Card

 friend has asked me to give him some pointers to the races at Nottingham today.

Here are my quick thoughts.

Race 1 – Neytiki as it’s got the most attractive jockey!  She’s a coeliac too!  Avoid Brand Bob as the horse has a bad draw.  The horse is also owned by someone I know!

A general point is that it’s probably worth watching Richard Hughes mount in the first, but a PlacePot using all his mounts would be a good idea, as he’s closing in on the jockey’s championship.

I can’t say I can guarantee these selections, but my father’s ability to pick winners improved after he’d had a stroke.

Race 2 – Ittirad as trainer Michael Jarvis and jocky Philip Robinson are often dangerous in this sort of race.

Race 3 – Academy and Charles Camoin.

Race 4 – If Hayley wins the first, back Ace of Spies here.  Make My Dream is probably worth looking at.

Race 5 – Be patriotic and back the Queen’s horse – Starshine.  Seriously though it looks like a horse that gets a distance and few except the Queen run those.

Race 6 – Spinning is napped and should go close and Naddwah is my pick.  But don’t underestimate Compton Blue because of Richard Hughes going for the championship.

Race 7 – Point North and Colour Scheme.

Race 8 – Kenyan Cat as trainer a great and honest guy and horse just missed a hat trick.

October 27, 2010 Posted by | Health, Sport | , , , | Leave a comment

Stagecoach’s View on the Cambridge Busway

I took this picture yesterday.

Will I be on the busway soon?

October 27, 2010 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , | 4 Comments

Airport Security

The phone-in on Radio 5 today was about airline security.

I’ve not flown since I returned from Hong Kong and I wonder if I’ll ever do it again. After all, I’ve travelled all over the UK by train and I’m now thinking of exploring Europe as far as Berlin.

Some pople on the phone-in were saying that they are getting fed-up with oppressive security and were now using Eurostar for Europe.  How many people are not travelling for business at all but are using innovative video and computer conferencing?

I just think that in a couple of years time, the pattern of travel will be very different to what it is now!

October 27, 2010 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , | Leave a comment

At Last A Win!

That’s probably the best thing you could say about last night’s football.

October 27, 2010 Posted by | Sport | , | Leave a comment

A Slow Bus from Cambridge to Ipswich

After the film, I did a bit of window shopping in Cambridge and then had lunch in Carluccio’s before catching the four o’clock bus to Haverhill, where I was going to get the coach at six o’clock to Ipswich for the football.

The weather was atrocious and it was almost pleasant to be at the front on the top of a warm 13  bus, as it meandered its way through the villages to Haverhill. At least, I had a little shelf in front of me, which allowed me to do the Sudoku.

Haverhill though is not the place to spend an hour at five ‘oclock on a very wet Tuesday afternoon.  There was no cafe open and the one or two pubs that were looked very much like the places I would only visit in direst need.  The rain looked friendlier! I walked up to  Tesco’s as I needed a banana and a juice with which to take my Warfarin. They did have single bananas, but I couldn’t find any small drinks of juice or smoothies.  As everything was in litre bottles or larger, I decided that it would be better to try elsewhere.  I got what I wanted in the Co-op.  But they didn’t have a gluten-free section, so my thought of buying a packet of suitable biscuits went out the window. Tesco’s did have a gluten-free section, but it was rather poor, with no nice biscuits. I did ask in the Co-op about gluten-free and they said it had been successful, so they stopped it.

So supper consisted of some sandwiches, I’d made before I left, some chocolate, a smoothie, a banana and a 5mg. Warfarin tablet.

The coach from Haverhill to Ipswich was probably the fastest part of the journey as the weather seemed to have kept the crowd very much below what I would have expected.

October 27, 2010 Posted by | Food, Transport/Travel | , , , , , | Leave a comment

Made In Dagenham

I’ve not been to the cinema alone much, but as I had a day to fill, I went to see Made in Dagenham at the 11:30 showing in the Arts Picture House in Cambridge. I thought that it would be rather empty, but there were a total of sixteen in one of the smaller screens.  I think the last time, I was in front  of that screen, was when I saw the films of Mitchell and Kenyon with C, about six years ago.

It was a pleasant way to spend a couple of hours.  I remember the strike in 1968, that the film is all about and they catch the period well. Miranda Richardson gets Barbara Castle well and in some ways steals a lot of the film.

If you’ve seen the poster for the film, you’ll see Sally Hawkins in an iconic red Biba dress. C had one like that but her’s was shorter and came from Through the Looking Glass in Mount Pleasant in Liverpool. This was a boutique that had been started by a member of the Scaffold. I can’t find any references to the boutique on the Internet.

October 27, 2010 Posted by | World | , , | Leave a comment