Monthly Archives: January 2011

I haven’t been to a pub since I left Devon and the River. The nearest one to where I now live never seems to open in the afternoons when I usually like to drop by, after going out shopping. But … Continue reading →

I’ve been following the Spanish response to their draconian new smoking ban, and reading (as best I can) Spanish blogs and news reports. Today, in El Pais, I came across an article in which the following words appeared. el tabaquismo … Continue reading →

I’ve just watched Sir Paul Nurse in Science Under Attack. Nurse has a Nobel prize for his work on cell division. He’s a biologist. But the programme mostly wasn’t about biology, but about climate science – or rather climate scepticism. … Continue reading →

Fascinating reading in the Daily Mail, where veteran BBC anchor man Peter Sissons’ biography is being serialised. For me, though, the most worrying aspect of political correctness was over the story that recurred with increasing frequency during my last ten … Continue reading →

Last time I was in the River, there was a log fire burning in its traditional fireplace. How long before those become illegal? Hard as it may be to believe, the fireplace — long considered a trophy, particularly in a … Continue reading →

The more I think about passive smoking and global warming, the more I think that we’ve entered a new religious era. It’s not what you know that matters. It’s what you believe. Or don’t believe. The old religion, which in … Continue reading →

I suspect that the following video is from a Spanish antismoking ad. But it seems to have become a pro-smoking ad. “Perro fumando” is Spanish for “Why bother?”, or something, I think. And if I were Bennett, I’d want to … Continue reading →