Image thanks to Thebigindianpicture. I’ve just finished Zoe Heller’s book ‘Notes on a scandal.’ It was another Lit and Phil find. I enjoyed it very much even though the subject is a bit difficult. Without giving too much away it tells the tale of a relationship between a female teacher and a male pupil. It … Continue reading Our own prejudices
It had to happen
For over eleven years now I have been writing this blog. I started with five days a week and, when I semi-retired, went down to three times to reflect the number of days I was working. Ever since the first time that someone read my blog, which wasn’t until a week or so after I … Continue reading It had to happen
Stop and reflect
I was making my way to Aspire on the Quayside at Gateshead, along the road from the small car park to its new offices. Just outside the door, on the other side of the road, there were some wilted flowers tied to a lamppost, something you see all too frequently on busy roads where someone … Continue reading Stop and reflect
Draw your circle
The Penguin Book Of The British Short Story (volume 2) is a heavy tome. With 708 pages of prose plus an introduction and author biographies it was some job to hold in the bath. I apologies if the thought of me in the bath has put you off whatever it was you were doing but … Continue reading Draw your circle
Get a perspective
Image thanks to Archaelogy.org There’s a lot of Dr Alice Roberts on the television these days. It must be the channels that I watch but she seems to pop up everywhere. Most of the programmes I have seen anyway. I don’t watch much television yet sit in front of it a lot. Archaeology is not … Continue reading Get a perspective
The M62 rule
There was a time when I enjoyed driving, a good job too as some years I would cover 60,000 miles. That was a long time sitting in a car. But not now. Other than the occasional tootle in the countryside there is little pleasure in sitting behind the wheel anymore, for me at least It … Continue reading The M62 rule
Part time (as a man)
Image thanks to StudyLink It was one of those strange throw away comments that got me thinking. I was having a long overdue conversation with a colleague, who is a woman. Their gender is germain to the story. We were talking about part-time working and how I was trying to go down from three to … Continue reading Part time (as a man)
Car seats
Other car seats are available Among the joys of having grandchildren, one going on four and one soon to be two, dealing with the car safety seats is not one of them. This isn't going to be some anti-woke rant about mollycoddling children and how we managed without them when we were young. Far from … Continue reading Car seats
Episode #2
I don’t know how many episodes you need to have recorded to call yourself a podcaster. Is two enough? I hope so though I’m not going to stop at that. Just before Christmas, CyberNorth launched its podcast ‘It’s Cyber Up North’ covering what’s going on in the region’s exciting and dynamic cyber security sector. Its … Continue reading Episode #2
Long-termism
The thud of the Byline Times on the doormat marks the passing of another month. Can it really be over four weeks since the last one arrived? It is one of the few newspapers that I read as I get most of my journalism online yet it is still comforting to be able to sit … Continue reading Long-termism
Thoughts from a Guerrilla Worker 