Retrograder25
retrograder25.bsky.social
Retrograder25
@retrograder25.bsky.social
Historian in search of the ultimate source; sometime political pundit/DJ/tune-sweep; sound- landscape designer; non-devout sceptic; occasionally opinionated.
Aren't memorable moments of political theatre in chamber, e.g. resignation speeches by Geoffrey Howe, Robin Cook, proof that it's the arena where personal/policy clashes are voiced for history? Gvts rush through business. This leaves unelected Lords for scrutinising draft legislation& deliberation.
October 13, 2025 at 5:23 PM
Sorry again-I respect your usual economic insights-but map views offer v limited perspective for planning, ecology, demography. Walking is best. Piecemeal development & Green Belt erosion are already undermining rural Herts' long-term nature. It, & indeed outer metropolis can't absorb new new town.
October 2, 2025 at 6:49 AM
Sorry, but any case for suburbanising Crews Hill deceptive&wrong.Vital #GreenBelt corridor, part of planning integrity between densely populated N.London & what's left of rural Herts. Frank Pick, wise head of London Transport in 1930s, saw saturation point &opposed further development. Unsustainable
October 1, 2025 at 11:19 AM
Yes, apparently in Greek. That would have been the formal or official language, certainly for the well-connected, and in trade, commerce, etc. Both Hebrew and Aramaic, more as spoken languages.
July 9, 2025 at 11:39 AM
Spanky and Our Gang, I'd Like To Get To Know You (1968). Chamber pop going off at tangents, after creepy spoken chat-up intro, as on TV performance. Close harmonies, counterpoints, dreamy sonic interval. On album, even a self-styled Coda to the song.
youtu.be/ahMGnTpByLM?...
March 31, 2025 at 3:06 PM
Eloise, by Barry Ryan (1968). Suitably moody and melodramatic.
March 31, 2025 at 1:57 PM
While the non-drinking can easily stand, RS's cricket affinity does seem genuine. This TMS appearance would otherwise be totally contrived. A more solid radio confessional even than Desert Island Discs.
www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p...
BBC Radio 5 Live - Test Match Special, View from the Boundary – Rishi Sunak
The UK’s Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, joins Johnathan Agnew for a view from the boundary.
www.bbc.co.uk
March 17, 2025 at 5:33 PM
Perhaps that internal Tory divide in 1980s was more of a cultural & generational one than ideological. Much stemmed from whether or not particular figures had WW2 military service, officer class, inevitably. That often shaped Europhile attitudes. Demonising of 'Heathites' within was potent weapon.
February 23, 2025 at 12:11 PM
Yes. And her superb duet on I Got You Babe, with David Bowie, in 1973 must be one of the greatest. A bridge between Pop, Glam Rock, Chanson & sheer stylishness, as only they could forge. Ziggy fade-out into European melancholy.
www.openculture.com/2018/06/davi...
January 30, 2025 at 9:51 PM
Perhaps more Ornamentalist than Orientalist? David Cannadine's book, 'Ornamentalism' views British Empire as 'in large part about domestication of the exotic - the comprehending & reordering of the foreign in parallel, analogous, equivalent, resemblant terms'.
December 3, 2024 at 9:47 AM
Notes by Orrin Keepnews:
"..it can be extremely helpful to know the precise structural and melodic starting point for a musician's improvisations. Communication between performer and audience is, after all, rather important.."
November 25, 2024 at 8:57 PM
'Villa Toryism', linked to successful electoral tactics under Lord Salisbury, 1880s/90s. Diluted class war appeal. As E.H.H.Green argued, its form of Conservatism could 'hold the ring for its varied property interests..in that it seemed to control the mass electorate & forestall a Socialist threat.'
November 24, 2024 at 2:31 PM