He was a great source of selfless assistance when I was tracing the history of the Sunderlands for my book. That is very sad news. RIP

Allan

I feel that some tragedies, eg Kennedy’s assasination, Lady Diana, 9/11 etc create such shock and surprise that human nature can’t accept that chance or fellow humans could have been so cruel or random.
Looking for conspiracy theories is in a way their way of coming to terms with the horrific occurance. I wonder if a similar thing happens to some people with fantastic acheivements like going to the moon for instance.

You may have a point – although I would leave the Diana conspiracy off your list. In her case, I first saw the seeds of the conspiracy theory being sown by a spokesman for Mr Al Fayed, now you might ask if he’d spotted the early signs or if he just wanted people not asking questions about his hotel and his security.

On a programme debunking the Moon Landing Conspiracy, one of the proponents for the fake story said that we simply did not have the technology at the time to get to the Moon. So either he cannot grasp the level of technology we had – as you suggest – or NASA did a far more remarkable thing in getting to the Moon with stuff that was only just capable of doing it and riding on a lot of luck. Probably both.

It was a good programme, straightforward evidence taking apart every single one of the arguements being put up – much as the thread did here.

Allan

RIP to both of them. We will remember but with nobody left from that conflict in this country, it is also now our responsibility to pass on those memories to new generations.

For those who don’t already know, then poet laurate Andrew Motion wrote about Harry Patch:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/3671688/The-Five-Acts-of-Harry-Patch.html

And you can hear it here: (Scroll right down, he is the ninth poet up from the bottom)
http://www.wordsworth.org.uk/poetry/index.asp?pageid=256

Allan

Curious. They haven’t tried to package this as anything other than needing more money to look after the collection. There was quite a lengthy discussion on some of the difficulties facing the museum (see this thread here). I hope they are tackling those other issues and not just hoping to raise a bit more money from visitors.

Peter, in the UK National Museums (and some others sponsored by the government) went for free entry about eight years ago in an effort to increase visitor numbers – one point of museums being to let people see what they are preserving. The RAF Museum is not part of that scheme but went free after a deal with the MOD to cover the costs of free entry. Adding this charge does seem to go against the spirit of free entry.

Now if they had packaged it as an environmental scheme to get people onto public transport then . . . but they haven’t.

It’s been persisting down here in Manchester since about 10:00, and I came out without a jacket or an umbrella because it was so warm early this morning.

But you’re in Manchester – my excuse is I was in a desert.

Phew what a scorcher!

For the benefit of those who do not understand British weather I should perhaps explain that we have a moderate climate.

We have moderate temperates which is why the health service phone number is on our weather forecasts when the temperature hits 30C (86F) even though it is the same as in the Los Angeles valley at the moment during what they call June Gloom. Just up the road (I-15) is the World’s largest thermometer at Baker where the temperature this weekend was 46C (115F). We know that.

We also have moderate lengths of summer – this couple of weeks is probably all we’ll get – please don’t spoil it by stopping us talking about how hot it is.

And remember, our systems for dealing with the weather are also moderate. We don’t have air conditioning, systems using waste water to keep the grass green when it hasn’t rained for two weeks or enough snow ploughs for the winter which surprises us every year. The only thing that is not moderate is how much we talk about it all.

Do please try to understand that we have a very British heatwave right now. It is just that most of the world would call it a nice day. Thank you.

Here’s a few pictures from my recent roadtrip showing very non-British weather experienced over two days:
Baker thermometer at 104F (40C)

Heavy rain and thunder storms flooding the road – in the Arizona desert. My terribly British waterproof jacket was 400 miles away to the west. Quite unnerving

A small spiralling wind – may or may not be a tornado, also in Arizona.

Well done – just go and enjoy it. Antony Gormley is one of the best artists this country has at the moment. This is quite an interesting idea he’s had. I hope it comes off.

Allan