What are you reading now?

[MrGongGong]

The Plan: Twelve Months to Renew Britain

Why DO you waste your time with this nonsense ?

I see one of his proposals is

Holding local and national referendums.

About what ?


Vibrato ?
The significance of the Low Pass filter ?
Whether 4:33" has as much significance in the history of culture as The Sistine Chapel ?

[aeolium]

Coincidentally, I'm about to start reading William Dalrymple's ''William Hill: The Man and the Business''. Looking forward to D's take on one of England's most successful working class entrepreneurs.

I think you may be mistaken about the author of this book - it's not William Dalrymple (at least not the specialist in South Asian history).

[MrGongGong]

Currently dipping in and out of this

http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Engaged-Musician-Sam-Richards/dp/1902086066

[Beef Oven!]

Why DO you waste your time with this nonsense ?

I see one of his proposals is



About what ?


Vibrato ?
The significance of the Low Pass filter ?
Whether 4:33" has as much significance in the history of culture as The Sistine Chapel ?

MrGG, holding local referendums on issues that are important to local communities is a direct way of empowering people and shifting decision-making from the public school/Oxbridge political elite in Westminster.

Given that your competence in political analysis is equivalent and equal to that of 'Citizen Smith', I would have thought you'd approve.

Stick to music, please.

[Beef Oven!]

Currently dipping in and out of this


http://www.amazon.co.uk/The-Engaged-.../dp/1902086066

Thanks MrGG (See post #1084)

[Beef Oven!]

I think you may be mistaken about the author of this book - it's not William Dalrymple (at least not the specialist in South Asian history).

I can offer no explanation whatsoever for this mistake. I downloaded this book and for some reason WD got into my head as author!

[MrGongGong]

MrGG, holding local referendums on issues that are important to local communities is a direct way of empowering people and shifting decision-making from the public school/Oxbridge political elite in Westminster.

Yeah right

And what kinds of "issues" would these be ?

A=440 or 442 ?

(it's a big deal round here matey )

Away from the public school elite then (Dulwich College)
" His father was a stockbroker" ..... Man of the people , salt of the earth Innit

READ Sam's book instead

OR this

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Handmade-Electronic-Music-Hardware-Hacking/dp/0415998735/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1413818202&sr=8-1&keywords=NIc+Collins+handmade

Or even this

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stockhausen-Serves-Imperialism-Cornelius-Cardew/dp/0901539295/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1413818283&sr=8-1&keywords=stockhausen+serves+imperialism

(I think UBUweb has a free pdf)

[Beef Oven!]

Yeah right

And what kinds of "issues" would these be ?

A=440 or 442 ?

(it's a big deal round here matey )

Away from the public school elite then (Dulwich College)
" His father was a stockbroker" ..... Man of the people , salt of the earth Innit

READ Sam's book instead

OR this

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Handmade-Electronic-Music-Hardware-Hacking/dp/0415998735/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1413818202&sr=8-1&keywords=NIc+Collins+handmade

Or even this

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Stockhausen-Serves-Imperialism-Cornelius-Cardew/dp/0901539295/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1413818283&sr=8-1&keywords=stockhausen+serves+imperialism

(I think UBUweb has a free pdf)

I'm disappointed that you defer to the likes of Cameron and Nicholas William Peter Clegg and prefer to centralise power, rather devolve it to the people. What is it about empowering local communities that scares you? (and you were doing so well in post #1083).

[MrGongGong]

I'm disappointed that you defer to the likes of Cameron and Nicholas William Peter Clegg and prefer to centralise power, rather devolve it to the people. What is it about empowering local communities that scares you? (and you were doing so well in post #1083).

False dichotomy alert

many ways to get what you want

Off to the basement with you

[gradus]

Simon Winder's Danubia and Germania, wonderful reads both. The reviews don't lie.

[amateur51]

Simon Winder's Danubia and Germania, wonderful reads both. The reviews don't lie.

I agree!

[Petrushka]

Antonia Fraser: The Gunpowder Plot: Terror and Faith in 1605

Been meaning to read this for years and finally got round to it. Brilliant read, highly recommended to all who don't know it and those who do should read it again.

[aeolium]

I have just finished reading William Dalrymple's excellent "Return of a King" about the first British Afghan War 1839-42. It is well researched and elegantly written with extensive use of Afghan and Indian as well as British sources. It is a story of disastrous diplomatic, political and military failures culminating in the massacre of a British/Indian army which results in brutal reprisals from an "army of retribution". The author points out the parallels and the contrasts with the conflict of our own day. He does write though that "the parallels between the two invasions I came to realise were not just anecdotal, they were substantive. The same tribal rivalries and the same battles were continuing to be fought out in the same places 170 years later under the guise of new flags, new ideologies and new political puppeteers. The same cities were garrisoned by foreign troops speaking the same languages, and were being attacked from the same rings of hills and the same high passes. In both cases, the invaders thought they could walk in, perform regime change, and be out in a couple of years. In both cases they were unable to prevent themselves getting sucked into a much wider conflict."

[I still haven't been able to start reading Torquato Tasso as my reserved library book is still out on inter-library loan...]

[Petrushka]

Voices from the Explosion by Valerie Hardy.

I have a special interest in this as the explosion in question took place a few miles from here and my late parents remembered it vividly.

On November 27 1944 an RAF ammunition dump near Burton on Trent accidentally exploded killing 70 people. 4000 tons of bombs exploded and the resulting blast could be heard as far away as Coventry and Northampton and was registered as an earthquake in Casablanca. It remains, to this day, the biggest non-nuclear explosion in the world - yet hardly anyone has heard of it. Wartime secrecy and censorship shrouded the whole thing in mystery and the official story was released only in 1974.

I've been to the village of Hanbury, where it took place, many times but knew nothing of the full story until I read this astonishing book. The people of the village tell their stories of the horrors of that day 70 years ago and it's a gripping read, one of the best I've had for a long time.

For anyone interested here are more details of the disaster: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RAF_Fauld_explosion

And here is the book: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Voices-Explo...+the+explosion

[Phileas]

Am currently reading Max Hastings' "Catastrophe" mentioned in other threads about The Great War. A gripping read which debunks many of the myths about 1914 - and deeply moving too in its even handedness about the human cost of war. Highly recommended.

I recently finished reading this. It's good, as I expect from Hastings, but my favourite amongs his books is "Armageddon".