Let’s face it. Would I want a concrete mixer or a tractor (or an antique seat from an early model thereof) as my legacy?

March 24, 2026

Let’s face it. Would I want a concrete mixer or a tractor (or an antique seat from an early model thereof) as my legacy? So often you have a dream and many people are proven to have got therefore before you. There is a Bamlett House in Thirsk, possibly related to the real estate ‘mogul’, … More Let’s face it. Would I want a concrete mixer or a tractor (or an antique seat from an early model thereof) as my legacy?

The threat of involuntary laughter – a release of tension or a weapon.

March 23, 2026

The threat of involuntary laughter – a release of tension or a weapon. Asked to define the issue in which a person laughs AT another person, or type of person, my AI Co-Pilot comes up with two categories, one a symptom of mental disturbance (katagelasticism) , the other a supposedly common emotional strategy for managing … More The threat of involuntary laughter – a release of tension or a weapon.

The meaning of the weather depends on what its changes mean to you, your community, your present and your future. This blog is about seeing the Opera North production of ‘Peter Grimes’ at the Theatre Royal Newcastle at 7.00 p.m Friday 20th March 2026.

March 22, 2026

The meaning of the weather depends on what its changes mean to you, your community, your present and your future! This blog is about seeing the Opera North production of ‘Peter Grimes’ at the Theatre Royal Newcastle at 7.00 p.m Friday 20th March 2026. Theatre Royal. Awaiting the performance I prepared myself as always to … More The meaning of the weather depends on what its changes mean to you, your community, your present and your future. This blog is about seeing the Opera North production of ‘Peter Grimes’ at the Theatre Royal Newcastle at 7.00 p.m Friday 20th March 2026.

Long before this prompt became favoured as an interview question, Christians were told they had a ‘one-word’ answer to it. The word that describes each one of us is ‘sinner’.

March 19, 2026

To tell truth, this question is one the many hoary interview questions that are prompts to elicit from their respondent a word they think makes them seem acceptable to the interviewer(s) and avoid those which can be predicted to make you seem unacceptable. Nothing is further from its purpose than to elicit truths, or even … More Long before this prompt became favoured as an interview question, Christians were told they had a ‘one-word’ answer to it. The word that describes each one of us is ‘sinner’.

And yet, in humans, I know my love as rare / As any they belied with false compare.

March 18, 2026

I am fairly sure I have never received a ‘compliment’ in which I believed that formed itself in words and metaphors, for these things are essentially fictive and their truth at the same remove from simple belief as anything else significant that is still composed of fictions. We can’t live without fictions but we should … More And yet, in humans, I know my love as rare / As any they belied with false compare.

Each day I wish I could find the will to write things ‘technically harder’ than is the norm in order to give me significantly ‘better practice’ in writing. This blog examines as a case study Rupert Brooke’s one-act play: ‘Lithuania’ to show whether he could, as Maurice Bowra claims he wanted to in writing it, forefront ‘the expression of character, not of personal feeling, …’.

March 17, 2026

Each day I wish I could find the will to write things ‘technically harder’ than is the norm in order to give me significantly ‘better practice’ in writing. This blog examines as a case study Rupert Brooke’s one-act play: ‘Lithuania’ to show whether he could, as Maurice Bowra claims he wanted to in writing it, … More Each day I wish I could find the will to write things ‘technically harder’ than is the norm in order to give me significantly ‘better practice’ in writing. This blog examines as a case study Rupert Brooke’s one-act play: ‘Lithuania’ to show whether he could, as Maurice Bowra claims he wanted to in writing it, forefront ‘the expression of character, not of personal feeling, …’.

I wish for that ‘extent of subtleties’ Virginia Woolf discerned in Vita Sackville-West’s ‘Passenger to Teheran’: ‘the sly, brooding thinking, evading Vita. The whole book is full of nooks and crannies, the very intimate things one says in print’.

March 16, 2026

I wish for that ‘extent of subtleties’ Virginia Woolf discerned in Vita Sackville-West’s Passenger to Teheran: ‘the sly, brooding thinking, evading Vita. The whole book is full of nooks and crannies, the very intimate things one says in print’. [1] You glance at the photograph of Vita Sackville-West, taken on her own camera en route … More I wish for that ‘extent of subtleties’ Virginia Woolf discerned in Vita Sackville-West’s ‘Passenger to Teheran’: ‘the sly, brooding thinking, evading Vita. The whole book is full of nooks and crannies, the very intimate things one says in print’.

We think we have the right to travel long distances based on the convenience to ourselves alone of our choices, but to go ‘cross-country’ was also once a choice about how much we have a right to militate against the country in the interests of congregations of human self-interest represented by towns.

March 15, 2026

We think we have the right to travel long distances based on the convenience to ourselves alone of our choices, but to go ‘cross-country’ was also once a choice about how much we have a right to militate against the country in the interests of congregations of human self-interest represented by towns. Cross-country is now … More We think we have the right to travel long distances based on the convenience to ourselves alone of our choices, but to go ‘cross-country’ was also once a choice about how much we have a right to militate against the country in the interests of congregations of human self-interest represented by towns.

In Michael Clune’s 2025 novel ‘Pan’ the narrator sees that sometimes what we think of as negative, like the black ‘fly-tree’ he sees traced in a window pane’ and determines to be ‘Pan’s insight’, exists out there irrespective of our thoughts and strategies to deal with them, because, perhaps: “You can’t change the way you are”.

March 14, 2026

In Michael Clune’s 2025 novel Pan, the narrator sees that sometimes what we think of as negative, like the black ‘fly-tree’ he sees traced in a window pane’ and determines to be ‘Pan’s insight’, exists out there irrespective of our thoughts and strategies to deal with them, because, perhaps: “You can’t change the way you … More In Michael Clune’s 2025 novel ‘Pan’ the narrator sees that sometimes what we think of as negative, like the black ‘fly-tree’ he sees traced in a window pane’ and determines to be ‘Pan’s insight’, exists out there irrespective of our thoughts and strategies to deal with them, because, perhaps: “You can’t change the way you are”.

Why we look at a ‘two-dimensional’ picture but watch a picture that contains movement.  The possible role of attentional features of vision.

March 13, 2026

Why we look at a ‘two-dimensional’ picture but watch a picture that contains movement.  The possible role of attentional features of vision. It seems entirely innocent to us to talk about ‘watching’ a film, TV or a ‘movie’ but we don’t often distinguish ‘watxhibg’ from a rather passive act of looking at or gazing at … More Why we look at a ‘two-dimensional’ picture but watch a picture that contains movement.  The possible role of attentional features of vision.

Do I have enough confidence  in my ability to rate how confident  other people are?

March 12, 2026

Do I have enough confidence in my ability to rate how confident  other people are? Confidence is another one of those slippery words as a noun. The adjective appearing to relate to it, as used in our prompt, appears less slippery but isn’t. When we name a person confident we usually mean, so much so that … More Do I have enough confidence  in my ability to rate how confident  other people are?