I’m on my war horse
https://berylkingstonblog.wordpress.com/2018/07/31/im-on-my-war-horse/
— Read on berylkingstonblog.wordpress.com/2018/07/31/im-on-my-war-horse/
I share this without comment beyond saying it is worth the read, and is a worthwhile read.
AN INTERESTING STORY, to me a very accessible one. I have watched as houses expand into hitherto under-utilised spaces, and roads, and the M42, and the Toll Road, and soon the HS2.
Folk will argue over details but these projects march on.
As for the bomb; a new generation of midlanders are awakening to the reality of what the city of a thousand trades, and it’s environs, endured during the bombing of the Second World War. Played down for many years a considerable toll of death and destruction was visited on this conurbation which provisioned the war effort; from tyres for Spitfires and Hurricanes to the munitions and explosives to automotive components, trucks and tanks.
Around the city and wider environs, UXBs are unearthed from time to time and, decades after their deployment, bring chaos to road and rail.
Of course the counter to this is that this, or that, device was uncovered during renovation or development; not a situation the Luftwaffe had in mind when they dropped their payload!
Attempts were made to place false waypoints for the bombers. Fields flooded and sheds filled with searchlights to encourage pilots and navigators to believe they were bombing factories along the Tame, not fields in Tamworth, Minworth or Shenstone.
Thank you for this enjoyable read, which I am sharing on Gogwit’s Blog.
One morning in the spring of 1984 the wooden windows of Tamworth’s newly built Manor Hill estate were rattled by the sound of an explosion. It was ten past eight on a Saturday morning and my wife and I, who had been up most of night with our four month old baby, looked at each other in horror.
“What on earth was that?” we said.
In those pre internet days we had to wait until the following Friday, when the Tamworth Herald arrived to find out. There, on the front page was the explanation to our mystery explosion. The men constructing the M 42 had unearthed a German WW2 bomb right where the bridge at the junction of Trinity Road and Overwoods Road was being built. It reported, workmen had discovered an unexploded bomb at around lunchtime on the Friday and immediately sent for the army engineers while construction work…
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The venue is Victoria Square, the date and time: 1pm, Saturday 28 April 2018.
“Schools in this country are under threat. Across the West Midlands, 1,887 schools are still facing Government cuts. This is simply not acceptable. Together we need to create a noise so loud that no one can ignore what’s happening to our schools and children’s education.
Join parents and teachers coming together on 28th April to rally against school cuts in the heart of Birmingham. We’ll be dropping a massive banner to showing the schools facing cuts. Rally and speeches will follow.
Speakers confirmed:
Jack Dromey, MP for Birmingham Erdington
Ian Ward, Leader of Birmingham City Council
Other speakers TBC. Bring banners, your home-made signs, and tell every parent you know in our community. This is a family-friendly event. Everyone welcome!
This action is organised in collaboration with Save Our Schools West Midlands.”
The above text was reproduced from the Facebook Event page.
This rally is set within the context of growing popular disquiet spilling over into activism – increasingly from people with no history of engagement – targeting the attacks upon our system of universal educational provision by the state, whether this be though savage cuts which force schools to shed subjects, resources and loyal, loved and well-regarded members of staff; or perhaps being subject to cherry picking, asset stripped by rapacious multi academy trusts.
Yet others are withdrawing children from stressful and meaningless key stage testing, or questioning the need to baseline pupils from their first day in school.
Gogwit is going, if you are thereabouts on Saturday why not come along. Whatever you do, please wish for warm, sunny weather!
Links of Relevance:
debtcamel.co.uk/free-access-data-gdpr/
DIGITAL INFORMATION and the marketisation of such has become commonplace in our times. The headlines at present (Q1, 2018-19) have been dominated by Facebook, Cambridge Analytica and other data harvesting outfits.
Back in your living room and my kitchen, when the blood stops boiling and the bile is spent, take a sober look at to whom else you have freely doled out your personal information and ask the question: just what do they have on you, how much of it is current or accurate.
What do they do with it, besides sending you personalised offers and nuisance phone calls risibly wide of the mark?
Gogwit’s Blog is pleased to reproduce DebtCamel‘s useful and informative article on how to review and to challenge, have corrected or deleted, data the many organisations in your life hold about you.
Interested? Follow the link at the head of this page for the low down.
Fascinating. Everything nice that one would hope to find in a well researched, referenced but readable article. A bit like Eton Mess or one of those desserts served in a metal pail with ice cream, chocolate, brownies, M&Ms and sparklers stuck in the top.
As a Brit I confess that the sentiment expressed in the opening paragraph about the ‘build’ of the average American does appear to be held as true this side of the pond.
However, I’m in no position to talk on this subject; too much ice cream.
It will take me a while to digest (no pun) and, as always, you have provided food for thought. (Sorry!)
The risk factors are pretty much universal across the developed world. It is not always explicitly stated that individuals may be exposed to multiple risk factors; also that medication prescribed for many mental health disorders themselves disorder appetite, reward and goal oriented behaviour. Pleasure to reblog on Gogwit’s Blog!
By Robert A. Vella
There is a long-held international view of Americans as being fat, lazy, and obnoxious. How this perception originated and evolved over time is open to speculation, but opinion polls have consistently showed a marked decline in favorability for both the U.S. and Americans since the turn of the millennium. What initially triggered the world’s negative opinion of Americans can probably be traced back to the early 20th century when U.S. involvement in global affairs rose in ascendancy, and when the image of the nation was portrayed by powerful and overindulgent industrialists like Wall Street banker J. P. Morgan.
However, widespread obesity in the U.S. is a relatively new phenomenon. Prior to World War II, malnutrition and disease were much bigger problems. From the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services:
The latest statistics clearly indicate a continued rise in obesity. From The New York Times…
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I reblog this piece, by Injeanious, on Gogwit’s Blog because I enjoyed reading it and I was intrigued by it.
So many threads and so many layers.
Our lives are like baskets woven from sticks rooted in our many experiences; some touch directly, some tangentially and others connect but tenuously. All contribute to the integrity of the basket.
Perhaps we could all bear closer analysis of our motivations.
Or, perhaps not.
It’s Saturday morning. Sajeda and I are lying on our backs in the front room. I’m demonstrating some simple exercises to strengthen her core. These had been given to me by my trusty physiotherapist just four weeks ago, when my back was so sore I could hardly move. I’m sharing them with Sajeda this morning – hoping that by modelling the process with her it will help. So I’m demonstrating the leg slide and trying to explain the importance of tightening up her core muscles as I’m doing it. So to explain further I kneel up beside her and feel her either side of her pelvis, deep into her muscle. This isn’t too easy because Sajeda is rather on the large side. Small and round. I explain that she has to tighten her muscles and keep feeling until she does this. Good, I praise her – she smiles. I place…
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Meatless Lunch Recipe
https://letlerfit.wordpress.com/2018/03/06/meatless-lunch-recipe/
— Read on letlerfit.wordpress.com/2018/03/06/meatless-lunch-recipe/
I LIKE this post, and for two reasons. First, there are obvious benefits accruing from awareness of nutrition, diet and bioenergetics. Consideration of what constitutes your own best mix of foods within your energy economy is an exercise in making informed lifestyle choices.
The second reason is to do with the value of the appropriate application of routine in a person’s life – not too little, not too much, not overarching nor too lax – which is considered to be beneficial to psychological and psychiatric well being.
I reblog this with sadness. Sadness that a headteacher should feel motivated to write in this vein; sadness that the argument of this piece is essentially true. The keyword here is, I think, sadness.
“I stopped explaining myself when I realised other people only understand from their level of perception.”
This is a very valid take on the quandary we face whenever someone who is not an acquaintance, relative or friend sees fit to pass comment on us.
In my case the condition is not M.E. – that is my little brother’s burden – but equally difficult to explain to someone who has not experienced my illness. Do we heed the call to arms; and risk appearing defensive, aggressive, apologetic, malingering or just plain pathetic? Or do we say nothing, slink away or tell ourselves that the better part of valour is discretion?
In my experience and life, for what it’s worth, it depends on the situation.Choice, free will and the better part of valour are wonderful things: exercise yours, here, today, by reading the excellent piece I share today.
Please consider following the author, and please appreciate their work by liking it.
The pay machine in the car park is on the go-slow and I’m making small talk with the two pensioner ladies waiting in the queue behind me. “It’s a bit like me in a morning,” I quip. “A young man like you?” they chuckle back, unaware.
Now I’m not about to correct and start lecturing two octogenarian ladies in the middle of a car park. In fact initially I feel a little guilty – why am I moaning when they are the old people with the aches and creaking bones
And why would they know any different anyway? I’m having an OK-ish day and they can’t tell I have something like M.E based on our 30-second interaction. And I’ll never see them again, so does it matter? Should it really get to me?
Rewind two weeks and I’m in an exercise class, trying out different things to help my…
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An opportunity for concerned parents, professionals and Council Tax payers in Birmingham to lend their voices to the children of Birmingham.
While the Council may have sparse room for manoeuvre, they can register the displeasure and dissatisfaction of the people of Birmingham.
It is true that children cannot vote; however, the adult population can, at parish, municipal, regional and national level; and in Birmingham there was elected a council opposed, in principle, to cuts of this nature that are being enforced by a divisive and hostile UK Government.
The Education, Health and Welfare provision of the United Kingdom only work when predicated on an understanding that the economy serves society, not the other way round.
They say:
The way that we deliver children’s centres, health visiting services and parenting support services in Birmingham is changing. Have your say on our proposals for a new service model that will bring these services together, for you, in your local area.
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