tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-71245764739587702982024-03-05T22:14:49.284+00:00Half Full or Half Empty?My blog - intended for random musings on books, films, music and life.Yvonne Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11179222381654260213noreply@blogger.comBlogger20125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7124576473958770298.post-6138077895169585882014-08-16T22:37:00.000+01:002014-08-17T19:38:49.477+01:00Apologia Pro Vita Mea (kind of).<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">It has been a long time
since I did a blog post. But this last week has raised so many issues that I
felt it was time I pontificated, or maybe that should be: ‘expressed my opinion’.
This is as much for me to clarify what I think/believe as anything else. About a
week ago, <a href="http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/damian-thompson/2014/08/obamas-intervention-in-iraq-proves-that-religion-really-is-the-new-politics/" target="_blank">I read this</a> by Damian Thompson on The Spectator website.
Now, he is not someone with whom I agree a lot of the time, but he wrote this:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">“The states where faith is
reshaping politics tend to be those whose failure would be disastrous for the
West. Yet — and this point can’t be stressed too often — our leaders know next
to nothing about world religions, including those whose adherents have arrived
on their doorstep. They’d better start learning, fast.</span>”<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">He’s dead right.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">I read theology at
university. My main area of interest was the challenge to religious belief in
the 19<sup>th</sup> and 20<sup>th</sup> centuries. I went to a very old,
traditional, university so of course (back in the early 80s) ‘belief’ referred
to Christianity. Back then, we decided that God was dead, or, at the very
least, in ill-health. Then, I never would have imagined how much religious
belief would now underlie virtually everything going on in global politics. Eat
your heart out Richard Dawkins. (Btw, I think Dawkins is misunderstood by many.
His main problem is that he’s as narrow minded as most religious fundamentalists over the issue of religion, and he has yet to master how to express himself well within 140 characters. But
he writes wonderfully well on the subject on which he is extremely well
qualified to write, viz, evolutionary biology).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Voltaire wrote “If God
created us in his own image, we have more than reciprocated”. We are human. The
only way in which we can hope to explain a concept such a ‘God’ is in using
anthropomorphic language. Therein lies the problem; because it is a small step
between the description of God in anthropomorphic language to the
circumscription of God inside the human-centric world view. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">But that’s the macro scene.
Then, there’s the micro level. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 107%;">This week, in the media I follow,
Vicky Beeching came out as a gay, evangelical Christian. Many will have found
this oxymoronic. You have to have had some experience of evangelical
Christianity to have some understanding of how significant this is. And how
very courageous she has been. I was moved and impressed by what was written about this in <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/vicky-beeching-star-of-the-christian-rock-scene-im-gay-god-loves-me-just-the-way-i-am-9667566.html" target="_blank">The Independent </a>this week and in the <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GivMLlmeAU" target="_blank">Channel 4 News feature</a>. The
whole sexuality issue so often features in discussions about religion. It is an
incredibly important issue but there is something deeper underlying this. That
is, that 'God' and 'faith' are contextually based and understood within a particular world view. The books of the Bible (and
the Koran and any other number of religious texts the world over) were written
by men, often inspired by God (my own belief here) but by men who had the world-view
of their day. We, here in Britain today, have (for want of a better phrase) a ‘scientific’
world-view. So I immediately understood what Vicky Beeching meant when she took
on a fundamentalist pastor in C4 News. He advocated an understanding of human
sexuality based upon a world-view of a God who created a man and a woman
designed to procreate. That is the only reason for sex. (Though I’d like to bet
said pastor, well over the age of 50, has not given up sex). He took the Old Testament context and froze it in time to be God's revealed, immutable 'truth'. Contemporary
psychological understanding of sexuality indicates something different and
surely the Christian message, divorced from sociological and cultural trappings, has to be that love and partnership are about respect and honesty in
relationships and concerned for the integrity of the individual (rather than a cognitive
dissonance) at the personal level. It’s about ‘wholeness’ not ‘holiness’. <br />
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Yvonne Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11179222381654260213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7124576473958770298.post-67684329228031458872013-03-12T20:42:00.000+00:002013-03-12T20:42:42.646+00:00And where, indeed, are we now?Yesterday was a good day for me.<br />
My 'hard copy' of the new David Bowie album arrived via Royal Mail first class delivery. I had decided to go down this rather quaint, old fashioned route as I wanted a 'thing' rather than just a few megabytes of audio digital stuff moving from i-tunes or Amazon to my laptop via my trusty, ancient Netgear router.
I have been playing it virtually non-stop since then. Much to the disgust of the dog (he prefers Miles Davis, I suspect).<br />
What you have to understand is that I have adored Bowie since I was 13 years old. And this got me thinking: how likely is it that there is any 13 year-old out there who, in 40 years' time, will be listening to something new from someone she adores right now? Well, it certainly will not be anyone who is now listening to Justin Bieber or One Direction. Of that I am certain. But I'm comparing apples with pears here. So, where are the innovative writers of music and lyrics who also play and perform their own stuff? Will Ed Sheeran be around in 40 years' time, I wonder?
Did we really reach the pinnacle of rock music in the last 3 decades of the 20th Century?
I don't know, but for me, nothing has quite come close to the genius that was and still is David Bowie.
I remember buying Hunky Dory with my saved up pocket money. To this day, Life on Mars is my favourite song. Ever. I want it to be played at my funeral.
I suspect we all love the most the music which formed the backdrop to our teenage years. Just like certain smells, they will always evoke memories like nothing else can.<br />
A while ago I pointed this out to my 16 year old son who responded something along the lines of 'at least you had some good music in the 70s. What do we have?' I'd be genuinely interested to know the answer to that question. I guess it's a difficult one, without hindsight.<br />
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Anyway, back to listening to The Next Day. By the way, my favourite tracks are Where Are We Now and Dirty Boys.
Yvonne Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11179222381654260213noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7124576473958770298.post-20986724763730276882013-02-09T19:31:00.001+00:002013-02-09T19:31:57.890+00:00The Daughter of Time and a Reflection on Our NHS<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6094905-the-daughter-of-time" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="The Daughter of Time" border="0" src="http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1320489943m/6094905.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6094905-the-daughter-of-time">The Daughter of Time</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/44023.Josephine_Tey">Josephine Tey</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/526258330">2 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
I have to disagree with all those who, over many decades, have held this book in such high regard.<br />I found it a strange hybrid. As a novel, the whole set-up just felt contrived. It failed as a mystery novel as there was absolutely no sense of jeopardy whatsoever. As an examination of the history surrounding the disappearance of the princes in the tower, it was interesting but I would have preferred the evidence presented in a more conventional way. Perhaps in the form of Brent Carradine's anticipated book?<br /><br />What I did like about the book were the parts where Inspector Grant makes his astute observations about human nature.I think I may well enjoy another of the novels in which he carries out a more conventional investigation.<br /><br />Yet,this was an interesting read for me in the week when the University of Leicester announced that the bones found in a carpark were very probably those of Richard III because the other significant news item of this week has been the findings of an inquiry into the failure of one specific NHS hospital (and by implication other hospitals too)to provide even the most basic care for patients. In The Daughter of Time we see Inspector Grant pictured as a patient in a hospital during the early days of the NHS. Here the consultant, the Matron, the nurses and the porter all have time not just to care for him but to pronounce, at great length, on the character of Richard III. Oh how times have changed. Today they find it difficult to bring a patient a glass of clean water. Now there is a history lesson for us all.
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/9774742-yvonne">View all my reviews</a>
Yvonne Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11179222381654260213noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7124576473958770298.post-53630201911842352992012-11-03T16:03:00.000+00:002012-11-03T16:04:15.936+00:00Thoughts on reading Ira Levin's 'A Kiss Before Dying'<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12125075-a-kiss-before-dying" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="A Kiss Before Dying" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1336366344m/12125075.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12125075-a-kiss-before-dying">A Kiss Before Dying</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/8050.Ira_Levin">Ira Levin</a><br/>
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/444955342">5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
What a great thriller. I discovered A Kiss Before Dying by accident. It was on sale for 99p in Kindle format. I had been having a break from reading crime novels. I had got bored with so many of the mediocre crime novels that are being published at the moment; police procedurals that vied with each other as to who could produce the most dysfunctional detective or describe the most sadistic of murders most gruesomely, all the while bewildering me with constant changes of point of view, head-hopping like a louse on speed.<br />Oh what a joy to read this 1950s classic. A crime thriller which concentrated my attention and got me into the mind of a killer and his victims. The whole novel is brilliantly structured, plot wise. I had my expectations totally subverted just over half way through.<br />My greatest surprise of all, however, was the discovery that Ira Levin was only 23 years old when he wrote this novel. The man was clearly a genius at telling a story and telling it well.<br />I'm very glad I had never seen either of the adaptations of this novel into film. This is a novel where the impact is very much in the way events pan out. It is also not a story which could have been set today. Facebook and Google would have both rendered the plot unworkable!<br /><br />
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/9774742-yvonne">View all my reviews</a>
Yvonne Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11179222381654260213noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7124576473958770298.post-56542756875849924382012-10-03T21:22:00.001+01:002012-10-03T21:23:28.271+01:00<br />
<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14569975-the-lighthouse" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px;"><img alt="The Lighthouse" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1343229153m/14569975.jpg" /></a><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14569975-the-lighthouse">The Lighthouse</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/597535.Alison_Moore">Alison Moore</a><br />
My rating: <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/421215775">5 of 5 stars</a><br /><br />
The Lighthouse is one of those novels which grows on you as you read it and you only realise how good a novel it is a little after you have finished it.<br />It is written from the point of view of 2 characters. Both have boring, mundane lives. The man,Futh,is someone to whom things happen. He is not a person who could ever be described as proactive. The woman, Ester,is a sad and disappointed person with an inappropriate libido. Futh and Ester virtually never meet or speak to one another but the whole story is about how they are connected.<br />The plot itself, about a man's one week walking holiday in Germany, is fairly irrelevant. This novel is all about backstory which is fed to the reader drip by drip until, eventually, one realises what has happened and what, indeed, must happen (though the ending is ambiguous).<br />Throughout this novel about memory the senses dominate. Smell is perhaps the most frequently used but taste and touch are both important too.The writing transports you to a gentle yet cruel world in which very ordinary people live from day to day.<br />
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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/9774742-yvonne">View all my reviews</a><br />
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Yvonne Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11179222381654260213noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7124576473958770298.post-42476589003867523132012-06-11T09:17:00.000+01:002012-06-11T09:17:01.659+01:00And when did you last see your father?<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">'When he went to the bar to buy me a J2O, Sir'</span></span><br /></td></tr>
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(William Frederick Yeames, painted 1878. Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool collection).Yvonne Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11179222381654260213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7124576473958770298.post-60909029016312788402012-06-09T14:24:00.004+01:002012-06-09T14:24:58.521+01:00Separated at Birth?<br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In anticipation of the re-run of season 2 of Spiral (Engrenages) on BBC4 tonight, I thought I would point out a certain similarity which recently occurred to me:</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Spiral's Judge Roban ( played by actor Philippe Duclos). A man who has a major job bringing justice to the criminal underworld in Paris.</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsvPNAKI5sUUNh_40kjn_rRnJjmr8QgTWuIRePLSWmnjAzJNmqMmut-2nZ52zZJivbc1AjQxWdeGbSEzTsNPGWcOWmynVGEiI5_73_WGm2EveirRHYrYb8tZbS0-W3Fm5x6iz4UuWjBHw/s1600/christineL.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="228" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsvPNAKI5sUUNh_40kjn_rRnJjmr8QgTWuIRePLSWmnjAzJNmqMmut-2nZ52zZJivbc1AjQxWdeGbSEzTsNPGWcOWmynVGEiI5_73_WGm2EveirRHYrYb8tZbS0-W3Fm5x6iz4UuWjBHw/s320/christineL.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; text-align: -webkit-auto;"><span style="font-size: large;">Christine Lagarde, head of the IMF</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Do you agree?</span></div>Yvonne Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11179222381654260213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7124576473958770298.post-49105533585153332872012-01-02T20:59:00.000+00:002012-01-02T21:35:37.973+00:00What was your best read of 2011?Mine was the wonderful One Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet.<br />
I am a long term fan of David Mitchell (that is the literary one not the budding national treasure one) and knew I would like 1,000 Autumns but was not prepared for quite how much I would love it. It is a novel about understanding, how we communicate with others who speak another language. How different cultures communicate, trade, dominate, serve, love and hate. It has a massive sweep over modern history and examines the relationship between East and West. A novel set in 1800 yet speaking to us in the 21st century.<br />
So what did you enjoy reading in 2011? By that I mean books you read in 2011 regardless of when published.<br />
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<a href="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51rI19dDYYL._SL160_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-dp,TopRight,12,-18_SH30_OU02_AA115_.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51rI19dDYYL._SL160_PIsitb-sticker-arrow-dp,TopRight,12,-18_SH30_OU02_AA115_.jpg" /></a></div>
<a href="http://www.amazon.co.uk/Thousand-Autumns-Jacob-Zoet/dp/0340921587/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325537743&sr=1-2">http://www.amazon.co.uk/Thousand-Autumns-Jacob-Zoet/dp/0340921587/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1325537743&sr=1-2</a>Yvonne Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11179222381654260213noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7124576473958770298.post-42598054073357250702011-08-28T12:39:00.008+01:002011-08-28T18:24:21.418+01:00Saving BBC4Like many other people over the previous two weeks I have been concerned about the future of my favourite BBC channel, BBC4. I love music, European crime drama, historical documentaries and even the odd scientific one too - especially if the lovely Jim Al-Khalili is presenting it. I laughed and nearly cried at Jo Brand's BAFTA winning nurse Kim in 'Getting On'. It is the channel I am most likely to watch.<div>
<br /><div>Drastic cuts are being contemplated for this channel. It is expected that innovative drama and comedy made for BBC4 will be the first to face the axe. I hope that there will be funds available for the purchase of future foreign language drama series such as The Killing, Engrenages (Spiral) and the quirky Montalbano series (which now runs to 22 episodes, only 3 of which have ever been aired on British TV). But the future does not look bright for BBC4.</div></div><div>
<br /></div><div>I understand the BBC has commissioned Ernst & Young to review BBC4 with a view to suggesting where savings can be made. This report will not come cheap and I can only assume that E&Y must have a particularly strong Media specialist division if they have been selected for this exercise. Now, I have no media background so I am unqualified to advise anyone but, as I am giving this suggestion away for free, I hope that maybe someone will listen.</div><div>
<br /></div><div>First of all, I'm not sure why BBC4 is being considered in isolation here. The channel developed out of the older BBC Knowledge channel which was set up at the beginning of the 2000s with the introduction of digital Freeview channels. It was seen as being a digital extension to the quality programming that was then being shown on the analogue channel BBC2. Since then digital TV has become the norm rather than the exception for most TV viewers and over the next decade the analogue signals themselves will be phased out in the UK. There will only be digital channels available to watch. Why then is the digital only channel, BBC4, being considered in isolation when it shares so much common ground with the best of BBC2 broadcasting?</div><div>
<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Surely it would all make more sense to look at BBC2 and BBC4 together. If the proposed budgets of the two channels were amalgamated they could be divided up between both. One channel could perhaps take on the programming for music, news and sport (including Top Gear) while the other specialised in drama (innovative and bought from overseas broadcasters) and documentaries. This is just a suggestion - there are probably many ways in which the sort of programmes assigned to the two channels could be allocated.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I would be a pity if the future of the excellent BBC4 were at risk merely because of lack of longer-term strategic thinking in the BBC as a whole.</div><div>
<br /></div><div>(The petition to Save BBC4 can be found on <a href="http://www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/savebbcfour">http://www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/savebbcfour</a>)</div><div>
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<br /></div>Yvonne Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11179222381654260213noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7124576473958770298.post-73840373567535661072011-06-03T17:45:00.007+01:002011-06-03T22:22:37.518+01:00Sheringham Park in the Sunshine.<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5GoKcJfzyMudYi49nx9h1w-dY_V_QPI2OePG1a2SxvC9DYv96b905LMedJpzfwBCIGaU344ZWwPeqA-MynFnbkeaaHbykcMb9Kq2kKeyr9mY87t7fkOX4VFuRuL9HGBdB7agP0CZr_1Y/s1600/027.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5GoKcJfzyMudYi49nx9h1w-dY_V_QPI2OePG1a2SxvC9DYv96b905LMedJpzfwBCIGaU344ZWwPeqA-MynFnbkeaaHbykcMb9Kq2kKeyr9mY87t7fkOX4VFuRuL9HGBdB7agP0CZr_1Y/s400/027.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5614041725581876978" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM44IQQLtzUFaJ2NhYnqpUDGMkmvwPow-uk4qCCvEa5Md6p1dvuouWpooFskKm9O8BqLJUtknjP_xuMErhb25_9oQ9F3TSED8c0vhdOvBZn0bhyphenhyphenr-s8FHE9m2Lt6ECLZSozFn0TbGGSrY/s1600/017.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiM44IQQLtzUFaJ2NhYnqpUDGMkmvwPow-uk4qCCvEa5Md6p1dvuouWpooFskKm9O8BqLJUtknjP_xuMErhb25_9oQ9F3TSED8c0vhdOvBZn0bhyphenhyphenr-s8FHE9m2Lt6ECLZSozFn0TbGGSrY/s400/017.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5614041711662035506" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiClLr5Y-akuTgnKsvCeYIabT05LvgusNQ57vDpYZ_i90DmfJCkaWs8muEgytHrxZwqPfvL2mLuN5oI4siQbHcyJWTTDzq5OjtAnc2fHHWO-jnrauWUvxAqhcfmdUdoZDXXAx43Z8OfB9I/s1600/016.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiClLr5Y-akuTgnKsvCeYIabT05LvgusNQ57vDpYZ_i90DmfJCkaWs8muEgytHrxZwqPfvL2mLuN5oI4siQbHcyJWTTDzq5OjtAnc2fHHWO-jnrauWUvxAqhcfmdUdoZDXXAx43Z8OfB9I/s400/016.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5614041708488064642" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9wnHWwAcksIBM03KBVz-J6ccMmmwA3sejwUWDe-Zwi5A5At3qbMJBTXyrQtspFkI8RvBDB9Y0YWM07rK34Io0_GpotKbGJoJwNjIGWi49rhx4tC8WUp-EMBIiQhUH44iS2GXJMVKEf3A/s1600/015.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9wnHWwAcksIBM03KBVz-J6ccMmmwA3sejwUWDe-Zwi5A5At3qbMJBTXyrQtspFkI8RvBDB9Y0YWM07rK34Io0_GpotKbGJoJwNjIGWi49rhx4tC8WUp-EMBIiQhUH44iS2GXJMVKEf3A/s400/015.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5614041702125068050" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNJ-jOUECXYmPqis0wzXD5qU272AdK7zyEr4oOQvGQE_Z34yjdHaD057inJxiS108sHN9bQpsDGk3QHe2fl_XVJSTGzKrAGZok7qH3XYwMiH4lJurRPZxLDvfIDzAnxuLv8hzaRmrwxuM/s1600/004.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNJ-jOUECXYmPqis0wzXD5qU272AdK7zyEr4oOQvGQE_Z34yjdHaD057inJxiS108sHN9bQpsDGk3QHe2fl_XVJSTGzKrAGZok7qH3XYwMiH4lJurRPZxLDvfIDzAnxuLv8hzaRmrwxuM/s400/004.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5614041699555231730" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Today has been a beautiful day. Blue skies with light fluffy clouds and warm but not burning sunshine. It was the perfect day to catch the last of the blossoming rhododendron bushes for which Sheringham Park in North Norfolk is famous. It was designed in the early 19th Century by Sir Humphry Repton, who those Janites amongst you may recognise as being mentioned in 'Mansfield Park' as the garden designer of the day.</span></div><div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Anyhow, I thought I would post a few pics of the place as I have never before been there on a better day.</span></div><div><br /></div></div>Yvonne Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11179222381654260213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7124576473958770298.post-20387436133409073512011-04-02T20:14:00.002+01:002011-04-02T20:16:08.213+01:00Red Sky Tonight<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3lceS35KwIrP4VhOSf_e4IJaje0P2cxEKfuXsWx3ieuxZT1mVne6_9ryogoNxH3SXC2fzYL4bixTt7HksLAnMCAr6FNayulBwYOriRi3lyqEvIfqCx3ZBYhWsbjo7bdG9v7f6lrT2M-o/s1600/002.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3lceS35KwIrP4VhOSf_e4IJaje0P2cxEKfuXsWx3ieuxZT1mVne6_9ryogoNxH3SXC2fzYL4bixTt7HksLAnMCAr6FNayulBwYOriRi3lyqEvIfqCx3ZBYhWsbjo7bdG9v7f6lrT2M-o/s320/002.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591067081061976706" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhLDLVCjzqSL9gE4x750wVTvnBW5OcgZjcVezScercOqYtfBH3TFZ_O6ue1PQSdvELUN_RveejCCXYJoruBU1LgYx3nHwTEqgtS220f0nCyIC8uQ1TMakNwOZ9-e9dagJXwH4o2qE5U3M/s1600/005.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhLDLVCjzqSL9gE4x750wVTvnBW5OcgZjcVezScercOqYtfBH3TFZ_O6ue1PQSdvELUN_RveejCCXYJoruBU1LgYx3nHwTEqgtS220f0nCyIC8uQ1TMakNwOZ9-e9dagJXwH4o2qE5U3M/s320/005.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591067079239044738" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOEDKZ2TPM7r8OyNbpnyfWnOiHX0hozo98MlIBQqvdGF_JIqaILvU6tiLjmJe957MB2Fbhf_LcQmBEkA58_Dl0mE9qhhgQt7WXYDsKgHduXTsVr0bE-Afe5b0lynHgs-1Dy8EXu3ZXv1o/s1600/004.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOEDKZ2TPM7r8OyNbpnyfWnOiHX0hozo98MlIBQqvdGF_JIqaILvU6tiLjmJe957MB2Fbhf_LcQmBEkA58_Dl0mE9qhhgQt7WXYDsKgHduXTsVr0bE-Afe5b0lynHgs-1Dy8EXu3ZXv1o/s320/004.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5591067075217983890" /></a>Yvonne Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11179222381654260213noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7124576473958770298.post-50987838941290771892011-03-30T14:37:00.001+01:002011-03-30T14:41:54.273+01:00Spring appears to have arrived<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK4XQ_SwrWnLTqT5wkrxqs6knnHbtwgnojLHSkVL970HJ5eH6hzauzrJV88q-lyvik7nT1_Zqv7le_CJ0sfWmCqJ0VeGfagjyKqjQ1szeLVUttQ19RrPj60rxiVdZ0E7ZhAWcppjHAMZY/s1600/069.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK4XQ_SwrWnLTqT5wkrxqs6knnHbtwgnojLHSkVL970HJ5eH6hzauzrJV88q-lyvik7nT1_Zqv7le_CJ0sfWmCqJ0VeGfagjyKqjQ1szeLVUttQ19RrPj60rxiVdZ0E7ZhAWcppjHAMZY/s320/069.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5589867347765030354" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfqZdEp1TVTT58oa9UrSJbKB7EcJUFQ75a6edTIbHDh0aGbTP0_iSa9VCf0djJL7OqAKr6t1Ff8Y-DV8uVfKNNXCdxg3viBSClg1SuHvM5HNG4_XfYJnm1uANG_0RgwOLk3MQLOGDdLMU/s1600/071.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfqZdEp1TVTT58oa9UrSJbKB7EcJUFQ75a6edTIbHDh0aGbTP0_iSa9VCf0djJL7OqAKr6t1Ff8Y-DV8uVfKNNXCdxg3viBSClg1SuHvM5HNG4_XfYJnm1uANG_0RgwOLk3MQLOGDdLMU/s320/071.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5589867340443650050" /></a><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkwDTprgbF3zOzclUiba3xAhV5-UtwEPlnUFJEZF8RnUv6W3EwD_igPuh_XM-kRTR1IlyKT01U5sv1gBm6BxTPUHadWVf6dygisWFbgYuypCJHw9QiNTvxYgoGqxjoYEOtdNG7FeFfKqY/s1600/070.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkwDTprgbF3zOzclUiba3xAhV5-UtwEPlnUFJEZF8RnUv6W3EwD_igPuh_XM-kRTR1IlyKT01U5sv1gBm6BxTPUHadWVf6dygisWFbgYuypCJHw9QiNTvxYgoGqxjoYEOtdNG7FeFfKqY/s320/070.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5589867328360767970" /></a>Yvonne Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11179222381654260213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7124576473958770298.post-82942182102604151632011-02-10T16:32:00.009+00:002011-02-10T17:53:05.025+00:00The Lost Art of Gratitude (with thanks to Alexander McCall Smith for coining this phrase)<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/86/JosephBazalgettePortrait.jpg"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 352px; height: 454px;" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/8/86/JosephBazalgettePortrait.jpg" border="0" alt="" /></a><br /><div style="text-align: justify;">Many of you who follow me on Twitter will be aware that I have had 'sewage problems' of late. My next door neighbour and I were unamused to discover on Tuesday night that, only a month since the main sewage pipe into which our respective 'foul drains' discharge had been cleared, a further blockage seemed to be causing problems.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">My poor neighbour had reached the stage where she was no longer able to flush her toilets. I was slightly better off and could still flush mine as my foul pipes have a longer stretch from the house to the sewer and so I had less build up of sewage to my house.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">My neighbour and I are used to having to sort out building related problems for ourselves as we both have husbands who spend much time working away from home. However, in this instance, we gave a collective heave as we pulled off the heavy man-hole covers of our inspection chambers and stood, in the pitch darkness, shining my torch in to check on the extent of the problems therein.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Help was, however, at hand. The next morning I rang up Anglian Water to report a problem. The 'phone was answered after not too long a wait by an efficient lady who took the details, could see a plan of the sewage system I was referring to on her monitor, and informed me that, as my neighbour was unable to flush her toilet, someone would be out to us within 12 hours.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">By late afternoon the man from Anglian Water arrived - a knight in a white van (if not on a white charger). With only rods at his disposal, he was unable to do more than move the problem down a bit so that my neighbour could at least use her toilet and have a shower that evening. But he arranged for a colleague to come the next day (today) and use a jetting hose to clear the blockage and move it on to the wider sewer on the road.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Mission was accomplished late this morning and I was very grateful that two extremely pleasant and efficient men had turned up, well within the time frames promised, and sorted out a distasteful problem. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">So, I decided that I should get in touch with Anglian Water to express my gratitude to the two engineers they had sent out and my overall satisfaction with the service I had received from the organisation. This was when I encountered a problem. Nowhere on Anglian Water's website is there anywhere to leave a message of thanks. Nor is there any contact e-mail address given that I could have used. All I was able to find was an on-line query form which, judging by its wording, envisaged it would be used for bill queries and complaints. Indeed before I was allowed to send this form I had to find an old bill so I could quote my customer number (in the first field of the form). I just hope that the comments I made about the two gentlemen get seen by those they report to.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Is this what it has come to? Are we such an ungrateful nation of moaners and complainers that organisations such as Anglian Water assume the only reason we would want to contact them is to report a problem, query a bill or make a complaint? Is actually saying 'thank you' to people such a rare thing these days that no one who designed that website thought anyone would wish to do so through it?</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Let me also, while I am on the subject, express my gratitude to Joseph Bazalgette (1819-1891, pictured above) the man who founded modern sewerage systems without which, I now believe, true civilization would not have been possible.</div>Yvonne Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11179222381654260213noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7124576473958770298.post-18574693223686903172010-09-12T14:13:00.002+01:002010-09-12T14:17:53.083+01:00The Papal Visit - Musings of a Protestant Agnostic<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">I am angry at the prospect of the imminent papal state visit. Many others are too for various reasons which have been so rehearsed in the past few weeks that they need no recap here. I have just been listening to the radio where I heard an interesting discussion between David Starkey and Eamon Duffy – both historians whose work I admire. As I listened I started shouting out my agreement with David Starkey. I even tweeted it. Then I reflected on this and realised that the fundamental reason for my objection is that I am a product of my national inheritance. I may be an agnostic, but I am a Protestant agnostic.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Now, this may be strange. This is, after all, 2010 and there has been a great shift in religious adherence in this country, particularly with the presence of more Eastern Europeans whose religious affiliation, where is exists, is often Roman Catholic. </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">I have no problem with the pope making a pastoral visit to the UK in order to speak to the faithful. It’s happened before, it can happen again. There are many who will get a lot out of it, and I would not begrudge them that experience. However, this is to be a state visit – one that recognises the office of the pope as having both a secular as well as a spiritual authority. </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Hold on, when did this country perform that <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">volte-face</i>? What happened to the Reformation of the English church in the Tudor period, the constitutional crises of the Stuarts which were fundamentally about an Englishman’s fear of the resurgence of the papacy as a temporal power over him? Yes, Britain (well England and Wales at least), which broke from the authority of Rome in 1534, is hosting an official visit of Pope Benedict at the cost of millions of British taxpayers’ money. British taxpayers whose country, strictly speaking, does not officially recognise the pope.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">Now this may sound like the nostalgic ramblings of a history-loving, middle-aged woman, brought up in the days before multi-cultural diversity took hold. But there’s more to my point of view than that. It’s all to do with the nature of authority and the independence of the free-thinking mind; concepts that transcend cultural relativism.</p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">I read the other day a piece in the Independent on-line by Johann Hari. He was exhorting British Roman Catholics to boycott the papal visit and cited, among other things, the pope’s lack of action over paedophile priests and his condemnation of the use of condoms in countries where HIV and AIDS are widespread. Though I agreed with much of what he wrote, I felt Hari was missing the point. He was employing an ‘ad hominem’ argument to persuade a group of people whose basic belief is that the Pope, whoever he may be at any point in history, <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>speaks as the head of the church; the spiritual descendent of St. Peter, and not as a fallible man whose moral probity or integrity can be called into question. Such is the nature of authority in the Roman Catholic Church. I am aware that there are many Roman Catholics who want to see change and who do not agree with, and much less put into practice, many of the pope’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:normal">ex officio</i> pronouncements. I would say to them that change will never happen in your lifetime while the notion of Papal supremacy and authority continues. It is now 2010 and high time you followed the lead of Henry VIII and Elizabeth I and began to question the objective reality of that authority and its power over you. Some of you may well see the use of condoms as a greater evil than the AIDS epidemic. Fine, I suppose, if you’ve arrived at that view as a result of your own questioning but please, not just because you have to give lip-service to a Mediaeval figure-head. </p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify">And to think that this visit was, apparently, the brain-child of Gordon Brown, a boy brought up in a Scottish Presbyterian manse! Was he paying no attention when he studied the Reformation as part of his history degree at the University of Edinburgh?</p>Yvonne Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11179222381654260213noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7124576473958770298.post-43213100510545287002010-07-08T17:12:00.002+01:002010-07-08T17:15:39.471+01:00Planted this delphinium last year. Not bad considering I've done nothing to it since!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4PdTwFpdpkuchokFNNckaBo16LxY7mL9OsJXLy_xndRphjxJ6kA56dGBlneBqiSlxaElzI2c65wOF-lT3uBnvM1S5XvysiicSurh6xPQhIxtb-IGceHnVgOvY3h2hk_VN7aiohpMvsyM/s1600/004.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 300px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4PdTwFpdpkuchokFNNckaBo16LxY7mL9OsJXLy_xndRphjxJ6kA56dGBlneBqiSlxaElzI2c65wOF-lT3uBnvM1S5XvysiicSurh6xPQhIxtb-IGceHnVgOvY3h2hk_VN7aiohpMvsyM/s400/004.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5491569591869581874" /></a>Yvonne Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11179222381654260213noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7124576473958770298.post-65554710258310284502010-07-04T09:48:00.002+01:002010-07-04T10:35:35.029+01:00Living Without Music?I was listening this morning to the religious current affairs programme on Radio 4. I'm not usually up so early on a Sunday but I'd had to drop my son off at the station as he was booked on the 7am train to London. He is going to the 'Wireless' festival in Hyde Park. Music has been an important part of my son's life since he was quite young. So it was with great sadness that I heard a discussion on the subject of Muslim children and music. It would appear that some Muslim parents are withdrawing their children from school music lessons as, in some circles, music itself is seen as un-Islamic and evil. <div><br />Just two days ago I was at a concert in Norwich Cathedral. It was the last ever school music concert in which my son would take part. He has just completed his A-levels and will officially leave school next week. Watching him sing in the choir, I could see in that 18 year old face, the traces of the five year old singer at his first school concert. When he played his drum solo, to loud applause, in the wonderful acoustics of the cathedral, my maternal pride was at an all time high - a feeling shared I'm sure by the mother of his friend who played the most sublime sax solo. But most significant of all was the fact that this was the final school concert organised and conducted by a truly inspiring head of music at the school, Mr. Colin Dowdeswell. He is retiring after 27 years in that position. And I wonder whether my son's musical career would ever have started had he not had all the musical opportunities afforded to him at school and inspired by that man and his staff.<br /><br />It started with school music lessons but has gone beyond that. My son and friends have formed various bands outside school and have played at several venues in the Norwich area. All this began with an interest in music fostered at school. It is for this reason that I feel such sadness that some children will never get the opportunity to explore music. What it must be like to live in a culture which denies humans the right to enjoy such pleasure I simply cannot imagine. For me (in the words of John Miles):<br />To live without my music<br />would be impossible to do.<br />In this world of troubles,<br />my music pulls me through.<br /><br /><br /></div>Yvonne Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11179222381654260213noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7124576473958770298.post-65853280559373564892010-06-30T20:47:00.006+01:002010-06-30T21:27:38.170+01:00When is a cold -call really a call to help you stop getting cold calls?<div>I have just received the most paradoxical of cold 'phone calls. I have been registered with the Telephone Preference Service for the last 8 years (i.e. since I have had my present 'phone number). It used to be a good, free, service but in the last six months or so I have had more unsolicited calls than I had ever received in the previous 8 years. My sister-in-law had noticed a similar increase and we had both intended to contact the TPS to find out what was happening. I never got round to it (don't know if she did).</div><div><br /></div><div>So, a short while ago, my 'phone rang:</div><div><br /></div><div>Mr. Man from call-centre in India:<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span> Hello. my name is -----, calling on behalf of V---</div><div><br /></div><div>Me:<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span> Hold on, do you know I'm registered with the Telephone Preference Service?</div><div><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Mr. Man:<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"> O</span>h yes, madam, that is why I am calling, You are still getting unwanted marketing<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>calls<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>despite your registration with Telephone Preference Service, is that not righ<span class="Apple-style-span" style="white-space: pre;">t? </span>Now we at V---- are offering a service that guarantees that you will receive no such calls anymore.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span></div><div>Me:<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>And how much do you charge for this service?</div><div><br /></div><div>Mr. Man: Only £5 a month, madam.</div><div><br /></div><div>Me:<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>No thanks, bye!</div>Yvonne Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11179222381654260213noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7124576473958770298.post-43577535188798058112010-06-29T18:15:00.003+01:002010-06-29T18:19:59.754+01:00Dear (sweet) F.A. I understand there's an upcoming vacancy for the job of England manager<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglprZi7IhmDULnyYscaSvJXfBDWVLmG-e8BSR8QgQAMy2yZtz_M8BstkIZOZXoGmklEhYMFCv2J0Gn633-xQG8BYrpq0KZLLgglSNnEBxnWqpMaR6cDrXDfqSR_uQHzcEjGU9gwXdODFA/s1600/IM000170.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglprZi7IhmDULnyYscaSvJXfBDWVLmG-e8BSR8QgQAMy2yZtz_M8BstkIZOZXoGmklEhYMFCv2J0Gn633-xQG8BYrpq0KZLLgglSNnEBxnWqpMaR6cDrXDfqSR_uQHzcEjGU9gwXdODFA/s320/IM000170.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5488245692582743938" /></a>Yvonne Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11179222381654260213noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7124576473958770298.post-78187209096846514592010-06-29T17:21:00.000+01:002010-06-29T17:26:44.926+01:00<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:14.0pt; line-height:115%;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The Quest for Identity and Why I Was Left Scratching My Head<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Last weekend I listened to two talks given by Baroness Susan Greenfield. She was here in Norwich as the guest speaker and presenter of prizes at Norwich School. Both speeches were, substantially, the same; the subject matter being based upon her latest book ‘ID: The Quest for Identity in the 21st Century: The Quest for Meaning in the 21st Century’. Not the catchiest of titles, so I shall refer to it as ‘ID’.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>Susan Greenfield is not one to shy away from courting controversy, be it rattling the cages of the Royal Institution or questioning the effect on children of too many hours a day spent in front of screens of one sort or another.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Friday evening’s lecture took place under the auspices of the ‘Thomas Browne Society’ – a philosophical group consisting of various teachers and sixth-formers at the school. This was an inaugural meeting to involve a wider participation within the interested community and was open to parents, other schools and the public in general. It was a (not quite) death by Powerpoint presentation and included a 30 second explanation of neuroscience – from genes to consciousness; genes being the necessary but not sufficient conditions for consciousness. On the Saturday afternoon she spoke, without screens, to a much wider audience including a significant number of teenagers. Susan Greenfield has clearly given this talk many times before and is totally fluent. She is a good communicator who is so on top of her subject that the lay-person can only sit back and admire.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Her argument is that each human brain is unique. We start off with what our genes have supplied, but the development of that brain is not determined solely by genetic inheritance. Over time and through external stimuli, the human brain develops as connections are established and all those little root and branch-like parts of neurons multiply, grow and spread. It is in these connections that creativity is generated. This is how a person moves from merely ‘sensory’ to ‘cognitive’ experience. Those <span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>connections can, however, be broken. Having once been established with maturity they can be interrupted, temporarily, by the misuse of alcohol or drugs, or permanently through degenerative brain disease and dementia. It is on these latter conditions that Susan Greenfield’s area of research is concentrated. She stresses how important such research will be for coming decades when people will live till a very ripe old age and the proportion of elderly to young will increase significantly. In her talk to pupils (as well as their parents) on the Saturday she emphasised the children’s responsibility for ensuring a good quality of life for their elders. Here’s hoping they were listening.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">The 21<sup>st</sup> century, she argues, brings with it new challenges and opportunities in the form of biotechnology; nanotechnology and information technology. It is with regard to her comments on the last of these that she has had much media coverage and criticism. She questions whether exposing developing brains, and by this she means the brains of anyone under the age of 20 years, to an unmitigated diet of screen related experiences (video games, social media websites etc.) might not be harming the development of those brains. Is it possible that the lack of traditional social interaction and the abandonment of imaginative thought and active physical play in favour of electronic substitutes could be stunting the full development of the brain? True, such activity may enhance IQ levels, but what about creativity and empathy? She has been much maligned (by Ben Goldacre among others) for her promulgation of this view. However, on closer questioning of her, I discovered that she is merely seeking to raise the question. She is making no dogmatic assertion. And maybe the brain development of the future of mankind is important enough for the question to be posed. Anyhow I, for one, will read ‘ID’ to see how she explores these ideas in more detail before deciding how far I go in agreeing with her.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">By the way, it is clear that the Baroness does not ‘get’ Twitter and that’s a pity as it can be a great forum in which to begin a discussion of ideas such as this. In fact I spent about an hour, on and off, tweeting on this very subject on Friday evening. Twitter is what you make of it; please don’t dismiss it too readily.<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><o:p> </o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left:36.0pt;text-align:justify"><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Whilst I was waiting to hear the Saturday talk....<o:p></o:p></span></p> <p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;margin-left: 36pt; "><span style="font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Anyhow, from the higher intellectual musings on Baroness Greenfield’s speech to the far more mundane: I spent much of the prize-giving ceremony wondering just how many head lice the young girl (aged about 7) sitting in front of me was harbouring. She was one of three young children and so presumably must have had an older, fourth, sibling at the school, receiving a prize. Maybe her mother should have decided before so readily popping out quite many children that she should spend just a bit of time and effort checking one child’s head from time to time. If I could see the 30-odd lice crawling around on the top of the head from a (safe) distance of three feet away, then I conclude that the woman must be blind or woefully negligent not to have done something about her child’s infestation sooner. All children get a few head lice from time to time (thanks mainly to having to share classroom space with children of mothers such as this). But this was infestation on a grand scale. And this would not have been some socially deprived family. This was the prize-giving ceremony at an independent school where the fees are around £3,000 per term, for God’s sake! Anyway, what sort of person brings such young children to two hours of speeches which can generate long periods of ennui even in someone as old as yours truly. I suspect that, in this instance, the children’s brains would have received greater stimulation had their mother simply plonked them in front of a TV screen for those two hours, despite what the Baroness might say.<o:p></o:p></span></p>Yvonne Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11179222381654260213noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7124576473958770298.post-19498084792259570712010-06-29T13:51:00.000+01:002010-06-29T13:55:20.588+01:00<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxA-bk5AsA_JU_UbkMvvECKDspwk7C5aQ1KcgCiQ_BAoFzObsJcs0WKuSXYKPleLPz8aLgZBrAgMGJxL6NTspY2p7ocJ6jAFhq-azbwTYmuSYYoiT1jJh_1P5-G-c99SrC9Z2IpotXR_I/s1600/IM000181.JPG"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxA-bk5AsA_JU_UbkMvvECKDspwk7C5aQ1KcgCiQ_BAoFzObsJcs0WKuSXYKPleLPz8aLgZBrAgMGJxL6NTspY2p7ocJ6jAFhq-azbwTYmuSYYoiT1jJh_1P5-G-c99SrC9Z2IpotXR_I/s320/IM000181.JPG" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5488178126815587522" /></a>Yvonne Johnstonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11179222381654260213noreply@blogger.com0