We often hear about the “Great Firewall of China”, the filter put in place by Chinese censors to prevent access to material that is disapproved of by the Chinese government. For example, there is no access to BBC News. However, for those in the West, it’s usually only possible to read media reports, or hear […]
I came across a site, Learn History, which offers revision materials for GCSE History exams. As part of its “Crime, punishment and protest” section, it has a gallery showing aerial photos of prisons in England and Wales. This is the photo which they claim is of Leicester prison: As anyone from Leicester will realise, the […]
In the early hours of this morning, the UK Theme was played for the last time on BBC Radio 4. Like many people, I’m not awake at 5:30am. But despite the fact that it’s broadcast at such an unearthly hour, the announcement in January that the theme would scrapped caused an outcry that reached as […]
Today it has been widely reported in the media that the House of Commons public accounts committee have recommended that people who find themselves in trouble while on drunken stag weekends abroad should have to pay for consular assistance. The going rate is £84.50 per hour, but this charge is rarely applied. Charge stag-nighters for […]
Ever since Google extended their Local service to the UK, satellite photo coverage has been, quite literally, rather patchy, with not many areas covered by high resolution images. Recently, however, they have been extending the detailed images, and there has been discussion about whether they are now using aerial photos from aircraft rather than satellite […]
The most recent twist in the “cash for honours” saga currently afflicting the UK government has seen the the arrest of Des Smith, the man responsible for raising money for the City Academies scheme. Some people have asked why donors to the Labour party, or to the Academies, are so keen to buy themselves a […]
It’s nearly four years since I bought my digital camera. I chose the Canon Powershot A40, and at the time it was pretty much at the top of the consumer range of digital cameras, with two million pixels. The more “standard” model was the A30, with 1.2 million pixels, so two million seemed a huge […]
According to BBC News, the Scottish National Party (SNP) have drawn up a blueprint for the first 100 days of an SNP government, should they win a majority in the next elections to the Scottish parliament. Amongst the generally left-of-centre policies is, unsurprisingly, a plan to hold a referendum on Scottish independence. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/4892814.stm They say […]
Recently it occurred to me that when I’m writing my name or introducing myself, I never include a title: I’m simply Jonathan Rawle. The question of titles is particularly significant for me at the moment, as people who know me might understand… Anyway, my preference is not to use a title, and when I’m addressing […]
Today finally sees the launch of my new website, which has been several months in the making. Most of the old features are still here, perhaps in new locations, so please have a careful look around if you followed a broken link in. Of couse, the major new feature is the tab labelled “Weblog”. I’m […]
