Jim Webster's Blog, page 60

Maggie was right? Or are Nurses Angels?

Well that’s got your attention I suppose. Perhaps we could fall back on Plato who said “This City is what it is because our citizens are what they are.” What set this off was the fact that during the last three months or so I’ve walked, lonely and largely unafraid, through the highways and byways …

Computers, politicians and pig slurry

A lot of years ago now I was in the 5th form at school; (This is in the good old days before they changed everything to years etc) and we had, believe it or not, a careers master who would talk to us. Admittedly he was a maths master who did careers as well but …

Welcome to the Muppet show

I mentioned some time back I’d had cataract surgery. They did one eye and about ten weeks later they did the other. Because after the operation I couldn’t drive, get dirty or lift, I got signed off on the sick for two weeks. First time this happened I filled in the form over the phone …

Waiting for the Barbarians

Why are we in the mess we’re in? Plato probably summed it up when he said; “One of the penalties for refusing to participate in politics is that you end up being governed by your inferiors.” Someone drew my attention to the poem “Waiting for the Barbarians” and it did the most dangerous thing a …

Decommissioning the magical tat.

We’ve had compulsory education since 1880 and over a thousand years of Christianity, and people will still toss coins into wells, puddles, pools and fountains to propitiate the spirits and bring luck. I starting thinking about this last night. Dropped by to see someone, he had a cow to calve to I jumped into his …

The Cartographer’s Apprentice

Roll up roll up roll up. We proudly present the Cartographer’s apprentice, the finest work of fiction every to see the light of day in these benighted times. Do I ask ten pounds? Do I ask five pounds? Do I ask one pound? No, to you lady, the one with the bright light of intelligence …

Beyond words?

Someone asked me about the recent terrorist attacks in Kenya and Nigeria. What can anyone say? It’s getting popular to say that people believing in some sort of faith are dangerous and mad. I’d beg to differ; the danger comes when people no longer ‘care’. It comes when ‘the cause’ is more important than ordinary …

A traveller in search of the exotic

Having spent time in a small city isolated from its hinterland by wide sprawling villages of slight loveliness, it behoves me to pass on to you a feel for this exotic place. Let us spend a day wandering its streets and watching its people. Dawn, rosy fingered or otherwise, awakens to find the city already …

A touch of class

What is a ‘touch of class?’ Indeed why do we want to know? It was Voltaire who said; “By appreciation, we make excellence in others our own property.” It seems that whatever this touch of class is, we all want it. It’s very much a case of it being something you recognise when you see …

Living the third great lie.

The three great lies. Of course I’ll still love you in the morning. The cheque is in the post. I’m from the government and I’m here to help you. There’s been a bit of a fuss about food banks and why people have to rely on them. But two figures interested me. 34% of food …