Hiatus

Apologies for the long hiatus- work has been interrupting blogging as has a determined effort to read more and more. I will get back to blogging though now and am writing an article as I write this.

Comment Moderation

I apologise to regular commenters and readers but I've had to insert comment moderation- this is because of a prolonged attack from some idiot who as you can probably see on my sidebar decided that this was a place to advertise his ultimate spamming game site. I do not and will not tolerate anyone posting on my blog solely to advertise their site- particularly their gambling or gaming site- this blog's comments are for discussion of the articles up here, in a civilised and thoughtful way, they are not for commercial gain. (I doubt unfortunately the purveyers of this vile craft will ever read this post- or if they do read it are capable of understanding why everyone sensible on the internet regards them as beneath contempt.)

Thanks

Can I once again thank Sulla for giving some great posts (the New England one I found particularly fascinating) over the period I was away. My job sometimes calls me from my computer- but I'm now back probably through the summer at least. Its going to be hard to meet the standard of the last couple of weeks from him over that period.

Thanks

Well thanks to Sulla for posting over the period I was away. I am back now which probably means the quality of posting will fall! He seems to have done a good job bringing up some interesting issues especially in America and Israel. I haven't read anything in as much detail as I should have but it looks really interesting so thanks to Sulla and I hope the odd guest post will come through (I know he wants to finish off some stuff so there will probably be one over the next couple of days!). I'm back now for a bit- so will resume posting properly myself now (and apologies to people whose blogs I haven't visited recently- the absense will swiftly be made up soon!)

Away

I am away for the next one and a half weeks- a friend of mine who studies history will be blogging here whilst I am away about historical subjects- I shall be back!

Happy New Year

Apologies for the silence- I have a very irritating cold at the moment and am not feeling quite myself. But Happy New Year to all and sundry who visit this blog or who just have come through today through chance- I hope you all have a good 2009, despite the current economic gloom, and had a good New Year.

Happy New Year

Happy New Year everyone- especially Welshcakes who got in to comment before I could put this post up. I really enjoy writing this blog so thanks for reading it- I hope its as enjoyable to read as it is to write it. And I hope everyone who reads this blog has a great 2008 and had a great time last night whether curled up watching a DVD in bed or out on the town somewhere or anywhere in between!

Just a little point about comments

Just a little point on comments- generally I don't delete comments unless they are abusive or obviously spam. I've got two comments over the last couple of days which have basically been compliments with the web address for a gaming website affixed. I'm afraid I treat such comments as spam and do delete them. If you want your comments to stay up, then don't reccomend completely out of context a gambling website at the end of the comment.

Christmas Blogging

I think as you can see that blogging will be fairly sparce over the next couple of days, unlike the fellow above, even your humble scribe feels the need occasionally for a holiday, through Christmas- like most bloggers it seems out there. There may be some articles but the disciplined every day coverage may disappear for a little while- not for long, normal service will be resumed in January- and there will be some items before then. Meanwhile those still needing their fix, can go get a wonderful series of posts from James Higham's latest blogfocus.

Anyway to all visiting here, Merry Christmas- no bah humbugs and a Happy New Year.

Anyone needing a further Christmas fix, just go see Alaistair Sim's film based on Dickens's story from which the picture above is taken, its a good book and a great film

And just in case you are still reading- MERRY CHRISTMAS!

Mike Ion's Appeal

Mike Ion the Labour blogger has had a great idea: to make the political blogosthere into a charitable network for Christmas and use our powers not merely for hitting each other, but also for charity. Mike's post including the links to Crisis is here so show a little Christmas Spirit Mr Scrooge!

Small change

This is a purely administrative post- just to note to people who come here regularly that because this blog covers a wide variety of topics, to make it easier to go through all the posts on a particular field, the field say that you are interested in, there is a linklist to the topics we cover down at the bottom of the page- I hope this makes navigation easier.

This is our inaugural post. Expect postings on the conference season, rumours from westminster and a genuine attempt to discuss the historical and philosophical background of the day's political developments.