I gave my Shaking Hands with History talk to St Albans U3A (University of the Third Age) today. I followed Animal Architecture and the next talk in their series of talks is Open Wide: A Short History of Dentistry. They have eclectic interests, these U3Aers.
It was perfectly sweltering outside and the inside of the shimmering [...]
Entries from June 30th, 2009
Shaking Hands with History
June 30th, 2009 · No Comments · Sandy's blog
Tags:Highfield Centre·Shaking Hands With History·St Albans University of the Third Age·U3A
Why don’t we just use the “c” word?
June 22nd, 2009 · No Comments · Sandy's blog
“Redaction” is a slippery word. I associate it with Bush and Blair and other dodgy neologisms such as “special rendition” for state sponsored kidnapping.
Redaction is just a fancy word for censorship and we should say so. Looking at MP receipts on-line and seeing all those blacked-out details is genuinely shocking. This is [...]
Tags:MP Expenses·old london road·pageant road·redaction·samuel square·watling street
How to make MPs sick and other topics at Marlborough School
June 21st, 2009 · No Comments · Sandy's blog
Excellent session at Marlborough School. First time I have been there in decades and I had forgotten what a pleasant environment it is in terms of the way the buildings are presented and laid out.
I was speaking to Year 12s though a few final year pupils also sneaked in. Given that the greedy [...]
Tags:Marlborough School
Sandy will walk it?
June 14th, 2009 · No Comments · Sandy's blog
“Sandy Will Walk It” was the crassly hubristic slogan of my first parliamentary election campaign in St Albans in 1983 – complete with a little walking stick man figure as the logo. I didn’t then but I did today – the St Albans Half Marathon at least.
I did the Walking Race which has the [...]
Tags:Bedmond·Dominic Easter·Iqbal Zia·St Albans Half Marathon·Verulamium Park
Historic clean sweep for LibDems in St Albans
June 8th, 2009 · 2 Comments · Sandy's blog, Street and Pavement Survey
I do not believe that Conservatives and their forbears have ever failed to win a single council seat in the St Albans parliamentary constituency. Well the impossible happened last Thursday when the Liberal Democrats won every single county council division lying wholly or partly within the St Albans constituency boundaries. As Herts County [...]
Collective Cry of Rage on the State of Roads and Pavements
June 3rd, 2009 · No Comments · Sandy's blog, Street and Pavement Survey
We have finally completed the mammoth task of collating all the responses to our roads and pavements surveys which was delivered earlier this year to over 36,000 households in St Albans and the surrounding villages. Nearly 2,500 households completed and returned the two-page questionnaire. Responses came from all areas and from across the [...]
Gardens of Eden
June 2nd, 2009 · No Comments · Sandy's blog
It is always fun peeking at other people’s gardens. It is even more fun when you are licensed to peer. So I really enjoyed the opportunity given to me by last Sunday’s National Gardens Scheme to see just what creative people with genuinely green fingers can do.
Here are two gardens in St Stephen’s Avenue – [...]