We live in interesting times. Regime change in Egypt, UN Resolution 1973 authorising a no fly zone over Libya and ecological disaster of biblical proportions in Japan.
Meanwhile in London on Saturday 26 March 2011 approximately 250,000 people [source BBC Newsnight, http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/newsnight/paulmason/2011/03/a_snapshot_of_the_26_march_dem.html] took to the streets to demonstrate against the proposed cuts in budgets and services to some of the most vulnerable sections of British society, the biggest public demonstration in the city since 2003 against the Iraq War.
Monday 28 March 2011
Thursday 17 February 2011
Fashion for the future
The latest development on Princes Street is the demolition of the former Littlewoods department stores premises which is to be replaced with a Primark. On Edinburgh’s most prominent retail thoroughfare it will be joining a range of chain stores including GAP, House of Fraser, Marks and Spenser and H & M.
Edinburgh’s city centre is well supplied with all the major high street retail chains but there is a growing frustration amongst a sector of the trade that independent retailers are being pushed out.
Saturday 5 February 2011
Tram to Nowhere
Edinburgh is a city made up of the Old Town a medieval city based around the Royal Mile and the New Town in all it's Georgian splendour.
It's never been ideal for car driving and there has never been much parking but Lothian Regional Transport, who run the city buses in Edinburgh, are an award winning company and many travellers were perfectly happy with the public transport available before the whole trams fiasco even started.
The authorities, which means of course ultimately the taxpayers, have now spent £402m of the £545m budget, with a new estimate cost of £600m.
The construction work should be almost completed BUT just 28 per cent has been finished.
It's never been ideal for car driving and there has never been much parking but Lothian Regional Transport, who run the city buses in Edinburgh, are an award winning company and many travellers were perfectly happy with the public transport available before the whole trams fiasco even started.
The authorities, which means of course ultimately the taxpayers, have now spent £402m of the £545m budget, with a new estimate cost of £600m.
The construction work should be almost completed BUT just 28 per cent has been finished.
Wednesday 26 January 2011
News of the World - part 2 - phone tapping
"What is given with one hand is taken away with the other."
After winning the Tommy Sheridan appeal - see separate post - the NOTW is now under reinvestigation by the Metropolitan Police re widespread phone hacking.
This has been investigated once before but the difference this time is that Ian Edmonson, Head of News at NOTW has been sacked and the new evidence the police are looking at appears to have come directly from the paper.
While celebrities such as Sienna Miller and Steve Coogan are perhaps satisfied at this turn of events it is not know what Rupert Murdoch, owner of News International and therefore NOTW proprietor has to say.
Possible he has retreated to his his secret hideaway in a hollowed out volcano and is lining up minions to be ceremonially flogged.
After winning the Tommy Sheridan appeal - see separate post - the NOTW is now under reinvestigation by the Metropolitan Police re widespread phone hacking.
This has been investigated once before but the difference this time is that Ian Edmonson, Head of News at NOTW has been sacked and the new evidence the police are looking at appears to have come directly from the paper.
While celebrities such as Sienna Miller and Steve Coogan are perhaps satisfied at this turn of events it is not know what Rupert Murdoch, owner of News International and therefore NOTW proprietor has to say.
Possible he has retreated to his his secret hideaway in a hollowed out volcano and is lining up minions to be ceremonially flogged.
News of The World - part 1 - Tommy Sheridan
So Tommy Sheridan, late of the Scottish Parliament, Scottish Socialist Party and the Big Brother House is now in jail.
It is good to know that the lofty reputation of Scottish politics is being upheld as stories of swingers parties, perjury claims and phone tapping swirl around the Web c/o this trial.
The background
It is good to know that the lofty reputation of Scottish politics is being upheld as stories of swingers parties, perjury claims and phone tapping swirl around the Web c/o this trial.
The background
- Allegations were made that Sheridan took part in swingers parties while a Member of the Scottish Parliament.
- So Sheridan sues the NOTW for defamation in court and wins.
- Followed by further allegations that Sheridan committed perjury to win his case.
- Then Sheridan is found guilty of perjury and sentenced to three years in prison.
- Result - all the Scottish political journalists have a good laugh behind the scenes and Scotland's reputation as a serious, independent, political entity takes another bashing around the world.
David Hume
Footsteps of David Hume reflects on the impact of politics, celebrity and gossip on society.
David Hume (7 May 1711 – 25 August 1776) was a Scottish philosopher, economist, historian and essayist. He is particularly known for his philosophical empiricism.
Regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of the Scottish enlightenment he would probably approve of the widespread availability of education and methods of communication in the modern world - and despair at our obsession with celebrity.
David Hume (7 May 1711 – 25 August 1776) was a Scottish philosopher, economist, historian and essayist. He is particularly known for his philosophical empiricism.
Regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of the Scottish enlightenment he would probably approve of the widespread availability of education and methods of communication in the modern world - and despair at our obsession with celebrity.
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