Simon Varwell's Blog, page 6

May 1, 2017

Review: Skating to Antarctica, by Jenny Diski

This post is a part of my year-long quest in 2017 to read only female-authored travel writing. Find out more about it on the project’s main page.

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Published on May 01, 2017 08:36

April 11, 2017

Preview: Skating to Antarctica, by Jenny Diski

This post is a part of my year-long quest in 2017 to read only female-authored travel writing. Find out more about it on the project’s main page.

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Published on April 11, 2017 13:59

March 30, 2017

Review: Travels With My Radio, by Fi Glover

This post is a part of my year-long quest in 2017 to read only female-authored travel writing. Find out more about it on the project’s main page.

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Published on March 30, 2017 14:14

March 13, 2017

Brexit, the EU and Scottish independence

I blogged a couple of weeks ago in what I feared might be the first in a second wave of posts about Scottish independence. Going by today’s announcement that the Scottish Government will seek permission to hold a second referendum, it looks very much like my fears will be realised.

A few thoughts I’ve had bubbling in my mind regarding the question relate to the very origin of this second movement for independence: the Brexit referendum of June 2016. In that controversial vote, the United King...

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Published on March 13, 2017 16:18

March 6, 2017

Preview: Travels With My Radio, by Fi Glover

This post is a part of my year-long quest in 2017 to read only female-authored travel writing. Find out more about it on the project’s main page.

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Published on March 06, 2017 13:04

March 4, 2017

Review: Full Tilt, by Dervla Murphy

This post is a part of my year-long quest in 2017 to read only female-authored travel writing. Find out more about it on the project’s main page.

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Published on March 04, 2017 09:05

February 27, 2017

Here we go again

With the prospect of a second independence referendum beginning to dominate the already crowded political debate in Scotland, I had in recent days been dusting down my keyboard to prepare to enter the Scottish political blogosphere once more.

My first post was going to be about the chief reason for the return of independence as a question: last year’s vote for Brexit. And I will write about that in a later post.

But it’s been temporarily overtaken in the news and in my mind by a second issue...

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Published on February 27, 2017 13:29

February 11, 2017

A proportional response

It’s hard to know where to start on how and why the UK is a sick, failed country that is letting its people down and unfit for purpose.

The incompetent government we currently have, driving a vile, unethical foreign policy and wreaking havoc with a disastrous march towards Brexit? The deep-rooted racism in our country, which is a (literally) bloody legacy of centuries of imperialism, jingoism, ignorance and a bigoted media? The gross inequality? The march towards private sector influence inan...

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Published on February 11, 2017 12:06

February 8, 2017

What can I do?

Stalls you can believe inThese are politically extraordinary times. Though readers are welcome (and likely) to replace “extraordinary” with a whole host of (probably negative) adjectives.

Uppermost in the causes of these extraordinary times is the election of Donald Trump as President of the USA. Despite the USA having elected some horrible presidents in recent years (and a monumentally disappointing one in Barack Obama – but that’s another discussion), and the country seriously lacking in a number of areas (inequali...

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Published on February 08, 2017 12:59

February 3, 2017

Preview: Full Tilt, by Dervla Murphy

This post is a part of my year-long quest in 2017 to read only female-authored travel writing. Find out more about it on the project’s main page.

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Published on February 03, 2017 13:38