HOLIDAYS

There can never be too many holidays.

AGE

Care for the elderly should be at the top of the list for government spending.

TIME

How much time is lost?

GARDENS

Seeds which grow at the wrong time often die.

ASPIRATION

Inspiration blurs with disincentive.

DEMOCRACY

If you have food and clothes, education and somewhere to live, freedom to travel and money to spend - why would you need democracy?

TRAVEL

What is more important - seeing the world or having a pension?

OCCUPATION

After four hundred years of occupation, how could the Romans leave Britain?

NECESSITY

Do we need more than a laptop, friends and food?

DEMOCRACY

How can MPs vote in the way their constituents want when their constituents don't agree with each other?

CHILDREN

What is the point of children?

SOUND

Can The Earth be heard humming from space?

HUMANS

Why care whether humans survive?

ART

Painting a house before selling it is stealing from the buyer.

PUDDINGS

People who want to be healthy should eat puddings.

CHESS

It's handy to know how to play chess, even if you never want to play it.

WASTE

The store rooms of packaging factories should be on everyone's syllabus.

GENDER

Boys are not girls.

POLITICS

Imagining how we would rule the world is not day-dreaming.

LIBRARIES

Libraries should also be bookshops.

CHILDREN

Why import workers when you can grow your own?

ART

Paint peeling from wood looks good. Paint peeling from plastic doesn't.

FRIENDS

If you have no friends, move.

LEADERS

Leaders do not always have the same values as their followers.

COMFORT

Don't over-rate clean houses.

THE GOOD AND THE BAD

Villains can do good -can't they?

MUSEUMS

Does paying to enter a museum interfere with the way you see the exhibits?

TEACHERS

Teachers need to be better trained. Head-Teachers need to be re-trained.

COOKING

Why do so few of us understand the chemistry of cookery?

THE ELECTION

People who like 'Shouting at the Radio' may also be interested in LUCY AND ESTHER TAKE ON THE ELECTION.

Susan

INTELLECT

Do clever people with clay feet have reason to laugh at those with clay heads?

HUMANS

Apprenticeship to be a human: One hundred Years.

HAPPY EASTER

HAPPY EASTER!

GOOD FRIDAY

A day off work is not necessarily a festival.

LIBRARIES

Should there be public loos in public libraries?

ASPIRATION

Make the most of your dreams before they aren't fulfilled.

TAXES

Progressive taxes may be of less use to the poor than clarity about what they might have to pay.

KINDLINESS

Do we under value kindliness?

FILMS

A film doesn't need a moral.

FOOD

If crisps weren't in the news, I'd never think of eating them.

ECONOMY

If we all wear old clothes, where will the people who make new ones work?

FESTIVALS

We need new festivals.

PARENTS AND CHILDREN

There have always been teenage mothers.

SEEDS

Every child should be given a seed.

FREEDOM

We are always trapped by something.

EMPIRE

Learning about empire is pivotal.

INSTINCT

On schooldays, parents wake their children.

On weekends, it's the other way round!

.

CAUSE

Sometimes the cause isn't the point.

RESTRAINT

To do is easier than not-to-do.

CHARITY SHOPS

Why do charity shops all smell the same?

HELP

Being helped and being threatened can feel the same.

BARTERING

Bartering benefits the strong.

RESPONSIBILITY

Today a child. Tomorrow an adult. Same person.

Today an adult. Yesterday a child. Same experience.

SOLUTIONS

For a problem to be acknowledged, a solution needs to be at hand.

SPIRITUALITY

'Spiritual' is not a category.

COOKING

Cooks should do the washing up.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

HAPPY NEW YEAR, EVERYONE!

MESSAGE

Not vanished - but pausing.

SEEING

Every ten year old should be given a camera.

JUSTICE

What if wages were reduced retrospectively?

ART

Would people read Roald Dahl if it weren't for Quentin Blake?

CLIMATE CHANGE

Star warm or fly?

SYNONYMS

Compassion, mercy, forgiveness  -  are not synonuyms 

BLAME

Why blame?

INTERNET

Broadband equalises.

FREEDOM

I'm glad I'm not The Queen.

COMPUTERS

Will instant translation bring peace?

WAR

Who chooses to be a soldier?

PARLIAMENT

The 'silly season' is when we should think.

BUSES

Buses on Sundays, please.

DEATH

Death is death; whoever you are.

MUSIC

The world would be happier if music lessons were free.

CAPITAL LETTERS

Is the moon 'The Moon'?

EMPIRE

Who owns the moon?

EDUCATION

Teachers should teach as well as mould.

DEMOCRACY

Policies matter.

POETRY

Poetry isn't serious.

DEMOCRACY

Pencil and paper  -  the foundation of democracy.

DEMOCRACY

What is normal for one person is affluence for another.

HAPPY EASTER

- A very one.

SECURITY

Why issue plastic folders to civil servants?

SPRING

Spring would be alright if it weren't for slugs.

POETRY

Poetry is worth learning by heart.

HOW WE LIVE

What would William Morris be saying?

PACKAGING

It's hard to return something if you've damaged the packaging.

JEALOUSY

Jealousy isn't good.

COLOUR

If clothes were brighter, streets would be less bleak.

SHOPS

Shop assistants should know their stock - not just what's in stock.

NUMBERS

Why persuade people to have fewer children - then say we need more people?

ELECTIONS

Why be interested in elections when we have no vote?

DESERVING AND UNDESERVING

Have we heard the last of 'Hard Working Families'?

CLIMATE CHANGE

If we all turned down our central heating thermostats by one degree every time we were advised to do so - our homes would need industrial scale refrigeration units.

MONEY

Sometimes, it's hard when what others recommend as economies are things one couldn't afford in the first place.

WINDOWS

UPVC windows and deny a street its character.

TRAINS

How can people be expected to travel to their holidays by train if there is no-where to put the luggage?

PRESENTS

People need presents.

MONEY

Sometimes there is comfort in knowing one is already poor.

LIBRARIES

Libararies are not for eating in.

ENERGY

I wonder if scientists at Cerne take care not to over fill the kettle.

GARDENS

What is a garden?

NEWS

Would people read more international news if papers put it first?

PRIVACY

The Housing Asociation from which we rent our home is asking for the

National Insurance Numbers, Sexuality and Economic Status

of all its tenants and of the people who live with them.

WORRY

Will 21st September be the end of the world?

TAXES

Are Windfall Taxes just?

INTERNET

Will broadband end rural community?

OBSCENITY

'Adult' is not synonymous with 'obscene'.

BABIES

Breastfeeding is the default option.

SPORT

If swimmingpools were more elegant - would we swim more?

SPORT

Let the elite compete. May the rest of us simply enjoy.

CHARITY SHOPS

Charity Shops have a responsibility towards the community in which they are set.

ART

Art is as important as sport.

BUSES

Bus tickets should be cheap enough for people to buy.

ANONIMITY

Vera Lynn expressed the twentieth century's longing; Marni Nixon its joy.

PEACE

Nuclear weapons in Poland.

Peace?

.

ARMY

Royal Corp of Plumbers

Royal Corp of Construction Workers

Royal Corp of Road Builders

Royal Corp of Refuse Collectors

Royal Corp of Domestic Electricians

Royal Corp of Power Engineers

Royal Corp Water Supply and Sewage Workers

should be on standby to put countries together again straight after conflict.

LIBRARIES

Abolish library fines!

AGE

The pain of middle age is that older generations can't care for you - and younger ones don't need to.

ENERGY

Clothes don't come clean at 40 degrees.

HISTORY

The lesson best learnt from history is knowing when to forget it.

NEWS

History ignores holidays.

IDENTITY

I don't like being called 'A Brit'.

SUBVERSION

If an idea is perceived as subversive - it is subversive.

JUSTICE

The smoke on your clothes may be from a neighbour's bonfire.

FREEDOM

We'd all like something censored.

LIFE

If your washing machine leaks - empty it.

DEMOCRACY

If democracy is imposed - is it democracy?

PARENTS AND CHILDREN

More adults than children become orphans.

DEMOCRACY

An M.P. who resigns - makes the reason memorable.

BEAUTY

When is an ugly building beautiful?

GROWING THINGS

It is better to grow one carrot than to grow nothing.

NOT KNOWING WHAT TO DO

'SITTING, SILENT AND SHOCKED IN FRONT OF THE RADIO' . . . would not be a good title for a blog.

SCHOOL

Another mother has been sent to prison because her child did not go to school.

AID

If we had floods in England, earthquakes and hurricanes,

our disasters might seem to have doubled

- when ships from Russia and China came to our coasts,

(their leaders promising aid).

.

QUESTIONS WE AREN'T ALLOWED TO ASK AND THINGS WE AREN'T ALLOWED TO SAY,

In the debate on abortion, the age from which a premature baby can survive is irrelevent.

FEELING UNCOMFORTABLE WITH LIFE

Sometimes, I am overwhelmed by my good fortune - that I live here - and at this time.

GARAGES

If I had a garage - I'd put a ping pong table in it.

FEELING COMFORTABLE WITH LIFE

If it didn't rain on a Bank Holiday, we'd be disappointed.

BUSES

Perhaps it is visionary to promise buses which don't exist?

DEMOCRACY

Not everyone has a blog.

DEMOCRACY

A local election is not a national election.

CHARITY SHOPS

Charity shops aid recycling.

CHARITY SHOPS

Why are people who set prices for Charity Shops forgetting illness and poverty are linked?

DEMOCRACY

Being prepared to change a policy that turns out to be wrong

. . . this indicates a government is strong.

DEATH

Someone dieing is a reminder that impossible things happen.

GARDENS

I don't suppose there are many architects or planners who would like to have three inspections covers in their own very small gardens - and another by the front door.

GARDENS

One bonfire can solve many problems.

FUNERALS

Crematoria could be better.

Couldn't they?

WASHING LINES

Today (19th April) is 'National Hanging Out Day' in the U.S.A. .

Washing on a line is considered 'unsightly'.

In some areas, it has been banned.

'Hanging it out' has become a radical act.

!

SPORT

In what way is cricket interesting>

ROADS

Building a new road to speed traffic into a gridlocked town is pointless and expensive.

QUESTIONS WE AREN'T ALLOWED TO ASK AND THINGS WE AREN'T ALLOWED TO SAY

Why does Israel exist?

DOORS

The interior of a house can never be beautiful if the doors are flat and synthetic.

SCHOOL

School terms should be equal in length.

JUSTICE

Justice should not recognise geographical borders.

POWER

If parents are legally responsible for the education of their children . . . how come schools have so much power?

BICYCLES

Rickshaws would make excellent family cars.

MUSIC

Music in restaurants is bad enough. Music in a doctor's waiting room is worse.

PUBS

A pub which sells books is a bookshop.

OLYMPIC GAMES

Wouldn't it be good if Greece took back the Olympic Games - and kept them?

BICYCLES

No bike should be without a bell.

WORK

Saturday shop-workers should be better trained.

ETHICS

Becoming an Epicurean after a life of Stoicism - is Painful.

RENT

Banks and building societies should prepare to be landlords.

CLUTTER

Clutter can be creative.

(More from our kitchen!)

WASHING LINES

Let's have a moral crusade in favour of washing lines!

PRIORITIES

Which is more urgent to sort - plastic carrier bags or the wrappings round our purchases?

GARDENS

When we know there are floods if the ground can't take up rain;

When we know trees and plants improve the air;

When we know things which grow will slow the world's warming;

When we know that the birds which eat insects are gone:

Why pave our gardens and fill them with cars?

.

ART

We all need more Art Galleries.

DEMOCRACY

If M.P.s are exptected to share one opinion - why have more than one M.P.?

HAPPY EASTER

HAPPY

EASTER

EVERYONE!

.

CYNICISM

'Cynicism' is the cover chosen by idealists who have run out of energy.

PHILANTHROPY

Why leave the world a better place?

WHAT I WISH FOR

My Heart is Socialist - my Daydreams are of Capital.

SPRING

In February, I posted this:-

"How can we tell blackbirds it isn't spring?"

I took it off the blog - (and posted something different) - after discussing the issue with a worker at the R.S.P.B. .

He said the young of birds who nested early last year . . . did better than those of birds which nested later.

(The wet summer lowered food supply.)

He said it's 'Swings and Roundabouts'.

Now, headlines say creatures are endangered by the disruption of Spring.

That's what I'd thought.

Should I have left the post as it was?

WINDOWS

Sash windows allow:-

a.) Air in - while keeping burglars out.

b.) Air in - without letting children out.

c.) Straightforward escape (in a fire).

d.) Shutters.

Why don't more houses have sash windows?

.

TRAFFIC

When I am an old woman
I shall shout abuse
At drivers
Who don't use their indicaters.

WALLS

Wouldn't it be good to have thicker walls?

ARCHITECTURE

If you can visit Poundbury - do.

THE NATURE OF BREAKS

Making tea and making coffee induce different states of mind.

NIMBYs

Hurray for NIMBYs.

LIBRARIES

Libraries should open early . . . close late . . . and serve coffee.

LOYALTY

Being invited to swear an oath of allegiance brings to mind reasons for not doing so.

SCHOOL

The best time for families to take holidays is during S.A.T.s

CUPBOARDS

If architects have strips of melamine stuck round the edges of their own cupboard doors - I'd be surprised!

CELEBRATING

When I sing 'Rule Brittania' - I am not thinking of Britain as a 'POWER' but of our spirit as a nation - and of what is good in it. It is about the only time I ever experience any sense of 'belonging' here.

When I sing 'Britains Never Shall be Slaves' - I am joyfully and determinedly celebrating the freedom and energy of our brains and beliefs - and our political freedom too.

Seems ok to me!

IMMIGRATION

All immigrants are brave.

DEMOCRACY

In a referendum on the European Treaty, I could never have been an honest voter.

I don't understand the issues.
I don't understand the legal language.

There wouldn't have been room for 'ifs' and 'buts'.

QUESTIONS WE AREN'T ALLOWED TO ASK AND THINGS WE AREN'T ALLOWED TO SAY

Why does the statement

'Mothers should stay at home with their children'

cause such a degree of panic in those who disagree

- that discussion often has to be avoided.

HEATING

Central heating should be de-centralised!

LIBRARIES

There should be lots of tables and lots of chairs as well as lots of books - in libraries.

DOORS

Why did the architect of our house not realise that a front door which opens flush with the hall floor leaves no place for a doormat?

PLACEBOS

Are spouses as effective as placebos?

RIGHTS

No-one has the 'right' to know everything.

SCHOOL

If your fifteeen year old son is

bigger than you

and

stronger than you

and,

unlike you,

doesn't mind

causing offence

or using violence . . . . .

if he doesn't want to go to school

what are you supposed to do about it?

BEAUTY

Ballet is a cruel sport.

PLACEBOS

Are placebos under-rated?

LARDERS / MEAT-SAFES

Does anyone have experience of using a larder set into the wall of a house and kept cool by air entering from outside through a wire mesh . . . ?

Or of the kind of 'meat-safe' which is a mesh-doored-cupboard fixed to the outside of the house . . . ?

TAKING THINGS SERIOUSLY

If a large number of people believe something . . . their opinion is significant, whether we agree with them or not.

POPCORN

'The price charged for popcorn in cinemas is too high.' - I agree!

JUSTICE

If victims influence sentencing - justice will no longer be blind.

RECYCLING

A recycling policy which depends on every citizen owning a car - isn’t a very good one!

BEAUTY

Our house has a chimney pot but no fireplace.

All the houses in our street have pretend chimney pots.

It makes them blend in with the older ones.

When we first moved here, I thought it was naff.

Now, when I look across the roof-scapes, I think the architect was right.

CONGESTION AND POLLUTION

Are congestion charges and pollution charges interchangeable?

EDUCATION

The most important event in a school day . . . is hearing a story read out loud.

FREEDOM

The state should leave us free to conceal our identities.

PHILANTHROPY

If I were a philanthropist . . . I'd give every town a gallery for modern photography.

POLAR BEARS

If polar bears have Teflon on their insides, why must school trousers have Teflon on their outsides?

IMMIGRATION

Are Bangladeshis the only people who can cook Indian food?

WHY?

Why, simply by virtue of being a mother, am I deemed capable of making costumes for musical theatre?

WATERBOARDING

Waterboarding is torture. And torture is wrong.

ATTICS

Wouldn't it be wonderful to have an attic?

HEADLINES

If the Archbishop of Canterbury's comments on law can engage the media for days on end . . . I'm hoping he'll say something about nuclear power soon!

THINGS WHICH DO . . . OR DON'T . . . HAPPEN

If yesterday's radio could be filled with people saying what they think
. . . about what they think might have been said
. . . at a lecture
. . . they didn't attend
. . . on a subject about which they know nothing . . .

. . . why bother with events?

.

(On February 7th, The Archbishop of Canterbury delivered a paper entitled
'Civil and Religious Law in England: a religious perspective'
at the Royal Courts of Justice
in which he discussed the development of a relationship between British Law and Sharia.)

ART

Couldn't art be taken more seriously in infant schools?

HOMEWORK

No-one under the age of eleven should be required to do homework.

RENT

Unless I am working from home . . .
Or am suspected of doing something illegal . . .
The person who owns my house . . .
Has no right to ask where I get the money from to pay my rent.

(Housing Minister, Caroline Flint, floats the idea that seeking work should, in future, be part of the tenancy agreement for unemployed people living in council or housing association accommodation.)

TRAVELLING

Unless I see more of this planet before I die . . . I will have wasted my time on earth.

?

Jack Straw and Peter Hain used to be such exciting young men!

GARDENS

Big plants suit small gardens.

MATHS

More people might like maths - if it were taught as history.

MEALS

It is anti-social to read at meal times.

FRIDGES

. . . . . and for that matter . . . . . why put cheese in a fridge?

THE GOOD AND THE BAD

Are good things done by bad people as 'good' as the same things done by good people?

MONEY

David Blunkett M.P. - Gives his girlfriend a train ticket which should have been for his wife’s use.

Reaction - Shock, Horror, Moral Outrage. He can’t possibly keep his job!

Peter Hain M.P. - Lack of appropriate and public accounting for £103,000 in donations to his campaign for deputy leadership.

Reaction - incompetence - being busy isn’t an excuse - just shows how you can’t get good staff nowadays . . . how silly of him to think he had a chance of winning anyway! . . . No-one thinks he’s corrupt but He Really Will Have To Resign! (Soon, probably, we think . . . )

Derek Conway M.P. . . . Employs his son (a university student) and pays him handsomely for work he hasn’t done.

Reaction - Well, the £50,000 involved was less that Peter Hain’s undeclared campaign money.
Perhaps . . . David Cameron should withdraw the whip?
Perhaps . . . Mr Conway shouldn’t stand at the next election?
Perhaps . . . he gave his other son a similar amount . . . Or more?

Me - Totally perplexed and puzzled. When I worked in a factory bakery, anyone caught taking a bun and eating it could be sacked on the spot for theft.

THE MOON

The moon has no way of knowing the world isn't silver.

WINDOWS

Why don't we have shutters on windows?

FREEDOM

For some . . . 'being institutionalised' . . . means . . . 'freedom'!

CLEANERS

Vinegar and baking powder are under-rated household cleaners.

C.C.T.V.

Are C.C.T.V. cameras unfair to shoplifters?

GOOGLE

How do we know Google is benign?

SPORT

Is sport not supposed to be for fun?

KITCHENS

No kitchen should be built . . . . . . unless it is big enough . . . . . . for a table . . . . . . around which may be seated as many people as live in the house . . . . . . . plus two.

LOOS

What's wrong with outside loos?

PACKAGING

Packaging that unravels itself in the bin and jumps out when next you open the lid . . . . .
. . . . . couldn’t we ban it?

TRAINS

Shouldn't there be more tables in train carriages?

BEAUTY

Sometimes I look at the lights twinkling on a chemical factory, or the steam rising from cooling towers - and think how beautiful they are!

It’s a right nuisance.

DEMOCRACY

People in the U.S.A. won’t be choosing ‘the next leader of the free world’ (nor anything even vaguely along those lines).
Most of ‘the world’ doesn’t have a vote in America . . .

CLUTTER

Clutter reveals the history of a household.

To illustrate the point . . . this is a photo

of my husband (being proud of a squash he has grown)

. . . in our kitchen . . . with our usual level of 'clutter'.

.

STEPS

Our house has no back-step.
Our kitchen has been built flush with the garden - presumably on the off-chance that someone in a wheelchair will visit.
Which, mostly, they don’t.
But slugs, worms and leather-jackets potter in and slither across the floor at will.
Is this acceptable?

PARKS

To build a good park, you need at least ten swings.

SMALL HOUSES

Why are old people expected to live in small houses?

HEADLINES

Man dies of old age.
(Sir Edmund Hilary) - Top headline on Radio 4 news this morning - Today Programme.
Whole population put at risk for millenia.
(British Government invites tenders for building nuclear power stations.) Not in the headlines - 'Yesterdays News'

GARAGES

A garage for one car takes the space of a bedroom.

POINTING

'If your teachers are spoiling a good story by making you say every word out loud - ignore them.' (Ben)

EDUCATION

Defending our children against an excess of education is as important as encouraging them to pursue it.

FRIDGES

Why put tomatoes in a fridge?

SHEDS

In the temporary solitude of garden sheds, harsh words have been left unspoken. Sheds save families! Gardens save families.

LIGHTS

In October we went to London and stayed for a few days with friends in the East End. The lights of Canary Wharf filled the night sky beyond their garden; a great grid of white squares, every window lit, stunningly, mesmerisingly beautiful.

At home, we turn the hall light on at the foot of the stairs and turn it off when we reach the landing.

It’s hard not to feel bitter.

LOOS

Why are the downstairs loos in new houses built close to the front door?

CELLARS

People who live in houses with cellars, don't need fridges.