No surprises here then.......I am, however, completely opposed to National Identity Cards and, especially, having to pay 85 bloody pounds to get one.


( Read more... )

There was only one place for me to be tonight - a church. The world has started its deathwatch for the Pope - my Pope, my Holy Father. I spent the good part of an hour in Holy Name Cathedral praying the Rosary and reflecting on the life and death of this man. On coming onto State Street to enter the Cathedral this evening, I was struck by the ( Read more... )

I tend to go down the gym and pool in my building for a workout after 8:00. The crowds are gone and there are fewer people around to make a mockery of me. At that time, the gym is pretty quiet and the pool area almost dead (apart from couples canoodling in the hot tub on Friday and Saturday nights - one of the reasons why I never use the hot tub ( Read more... )

Cubs tickets went on sale on Friday. I couldn't even get into the ticket website until last night and then, when I did make it in last night, I learned that virtually every game was sold out. All I have, so far, are tickets to a Tuesday night game at Wrigley in April - where I am certain to freeze to death. May, June (including an interleague ( Read more... )

So Paul Martin has announced that Canada will not participate in the Missile Defence Shield. Obviously, the view is that such a decision will score points with the boys and girls in the constituencies (particularly in Quebec where the Liberals languish in the polls). Once again, the Liberals have shown that their way of governing when it comes to ( Read more... )

While I was sorely disappointed with the results of last Saturday's England-Wales rugby match (particularly as I had coughed up twenty bucks to watch it on a satellite feed in a bar) I cannot help but think that this individual was overreacting slightly...http://www.

Reading about the French retreat from Russia in November 1812, I was struck by a discussion about the starvation endemic in the French army. The author of the study I'm ready talks of how the most common (and often only) source of food for the retreating remnants of the Grand Armee was the meat from dead horses scattered along the side of the line ( Read more... )

In spite of violence and intimidation, the Iraqi people are lining up to vote today. 65% of them by some estimates. Generally as good, if not better, than what we can achieve when the only threat to us is...well, no threat at all ( Read more... )

I'm currently reading Adam Zamoyski's brilliant new history of Napoleon's campaign in Russia in 1812 called, unsurprisingly "Moscow 1812". Apart from the inevitable performance of Tschaikowsky's absolutely magnificent "1812 Overture", with its commemoration of victory, I think people generally know very little of the campaign ( Read more... )

News from the People's Socialist Republic of British Columbia ( Read more... )