Concrete Achievements

Blog

  • Southern advert

    Southern have started running a new TV ad (3Mb mpeg) about the benefits of commuting by their trains. It’s not too bad – though the slogan following your train of thought is dire.

    I expect the advert’s glossy presentation will get a few bitter chuckles from regular commuters, but it does show off one of the really great advances in commuting in recent years – the new trains, with proper seats and tables. The first summer I lived in Wadhurst, the old slam-door trains were still running, and were unbelievably hot and stuffy. Now, I can work on the train, read the paper without assaulting the person sitting next to me, or even doze in a not-completely vertical position.

  • Percy Andreae takes on Prohibition

    In this article, from a Prohibition-era history archive, Percy Andreae takes on the arguments of Prohibitionists. It was about alcohol, but its principles have wider application:

    Somewhere in the Bible it is said: “If thy right hand offend
    thee, cut it off.” I used to think the remedy somewhat radical.
    But to-day, being imbued with the wisdom of the prohibitionist,
    I have to acknowledge that, if the Bible in general, and that
    passage in it in particular, has a fault, it lies in its ultra-conservativeness.
    What? Merely cut off my own right hand if it offend me? What business
    have my neighbors to keep their right hands if I am not able to
    make mine behave itself ? Off with the lot of them! Let there
    be no right hands; then I am certain that mine won’t land me in
    trouble.

  • Talking turkey

    Le Figaro reports that Valéry Giscard-d’Estaing, the visionary statesman whose leadership of the constitution drafting process worked out so well for the EU last year, has plunged back into European debate. Showing himself to be every inch the washed-up former French President, VGE has been lambasting the Turks and calling for an immediate end to accession negotiations with them, on the grounds, essentially, that it’s better to tell them to get lost now in case France loses the argument on their entry in ten years time.

    Oh, and he says that the Austrians agree with him – that’ll be the famous Franco-Austrian motor of the Union then.

  • Why was it called Hurricane Katrina?

    Canada’s National Post explains how hurricanes are named, how they used to be named, why they’re running out of names this year, and the importance of Hurricane Bob.

  • Sussex food and drink

    Found buried in the county council’s website, a bit of food news from Sussex:

    • This weekend sees the start of British Food Fortnight;

    • There is a whole directory (web) (pdf) of local Sussex food suppliers;
    • Harveys Best has won Best Beer of the Year at the CAMRA Beer Festival.

  • The Graun does Tunbridge Wells

    Not quite Sussex, perhaps, but the Guardian has a short profile of Tunbridge Wells.

  • Take the red communion wafer

    Catholic Online (via MeFi) reports on a recruiting poster for the Catholic priesthood based on … the Matrix movies.

  • People power

    Demos Greenhouse links to the New Economics Foundation’s new Index of Democratic Power, showing how influential your vote is in deciding the government of the country.

  • Crunchy and Soggy

    Nico Colchester’s old article is just as valid today.

  • Flying: still bad

    A new environmental report bashes air travel as a huge greenhouse gas generator. That’s why I take the train.