Author: jp

I write the following as a result of the boy being stabbed outside a youth club. At about ten, I visited a youth club, not of the quality of the one referred to in the press, but a miserable little room, in the loft of an old stables, dark and poorly equipped. I never went… Continue reading Latchkey, loneliness, criminality

To day for the second time since the scheme opened, my plastic and paper waste-bin has received a note of complaint due to ‘contamination’, this time by a tub. I am not an inveterate complainer, but I do expect logical, reasonable and courteous service, as I believe the residents to be the council’s employers. The… Continue reading An open letter to my Councillor.

Several things have come to light in the last few days that I have found beat logic, that those involved seem to have got away with it. The biggest one of course is the question that we are all asking, where has the money gone that used to be swilling about in the financial world,… Continue reading Amazed they get away with it.

Do I believe any more, the things that our politicians are telling us? Either yes or no! For starters, while they were assuring us of how well they were managing the economy, they, nor their highly paid advisers, saw what was happening in the world stock exchanges. Surely it is unfair for David Cameron to… Continue reading I am asking myself a question.

I read a piece in the UK News section of Google, which gave the league tables of the first hundred universities of the world, starting at the top with America. It was noticeable how few British universities appeared on the list. The comment accompanying this list was a verbal wringing of hands. To me, who… Continue reading University education today

Forgive me for plagiarism but I believe the phrase fits the bill. I’m referring to Peter Mandelson’s return to British politics from his role as Trade Commissioner to the EU. I find it surprising in view of the fact that he resigned twice from the Cabinet in his days with Tony Blair. What astonishes me… Continue reading I am all astonishment.

Art today is driven more by money and exposure, than by genius and the quality of the work. So many of the artists, whose paintings are now so in demand as investments, were quite often very poor. In the earlier centuries they had to depend upon patronage or commission. At the time of the Impressionists… Continue reading Criticism,Art and Chicanery