What's in a name ? Schizophrenia.

I am taking a course on FutureLearn called Beyond the Ballot. It is about the campaign by women in Britain to get the vote in the early part of the 20th century.  I am learning a lot about the different groups involved in trying to win the vote and about the organisations and individuals who were opposed to it happening.  The suffragettes are one group of women who decided to take direct action to forward their cause. Their motto was " Deeds not Words " and they committed acts of what would now be called terrorism on a large scale. I had heard of women chaining themselves to railings as they did outside Buckingham Palace and parading with placards  but I did not know about the blowing up of the contents of post boxes or the arson attempts on buildings and the physical assaults on politicians such as Prime Minister Asquith. Come this way madam The suffragettes who took part in demonstrations or committed outrages as they were known were liable to arrest, trial , and , if...

Two and a half months into lockdown what are the words and the phrases that surround us on television, the radio, social media and a multiplicity of websites?  I first wrote about this in mid April 2020. So here is an update. Here is my selection :- Covid 19,  the novel coronavirus, is the evil heart of our troubles. As a result we have :- Shops, restaurants, bars and cinemas , all closed. Temporarily ? Sanitiser,  gel and  plain old soap as  the weapons against disease. The R number, the rate at which infection spreads. It has to be below one we are told. Cases  of coronavirus registered,  numbers hospitalised  , deaths recorded, facts ,  figures and statistics updated. The  daily government briefing. Analysis by scientists .nd questions. Questions from press and public. Slogans , sound bites  and catch phrases. Stay alert, protect the NHS , save lives. Shielding the vulnerable and those most at risk. Testing...

I have been reading about the life of David Lloyd George and also of  prime Minister Herbert Asquith and members of the government to which Lloyd George belonged. I have read extracts from the diary of Margot Asquith wife of the Prime Minister as war broke out. When the First World war or Great war as it became known then, was declared on August 4th 1914 the announcement came as a great surprise to many people. Until then the attention of the public and press had been centred on Ireland and the question of granting home rule to that country. The idea of joining all of Ireland as an independent state was strongly contested by many people in Ulster and the militant sections  began arming to fight against it . The Irish nationalists then prepared to fight their corner. The expectation was that civil war would break out. As a result of the war the issue was  put on the back burner by the government not to be resolved for several years and not really resolved then. ...

I have been thinking about how much change I have seen in my lifetime. It's  only when I look back that I can appreciate the differences between my life now and the way things were almost 70 or 60, 50, 40 years ago. Not in terms of my personal life of course but in the way life is lived. I'm thinking here mainly about changes in communication technology. My son made me start these musings when he asked when I had first had a colour television. I replied that it was in the early 1970's, maybe 1973. He was surprised that I had grown up watching black and white television : though in fairness there were colour films in the cinema.  Looking back on a TV series from the 60's , say ' The man from Uncle', do we visualise it in black and white? I guess so. I think I do see Napoleon Solo and Ilya Kuriakin up to their antics  in monotones. The situation may be complicated  however by seeing  repeats of the colour version from the U.S  in recent years. Becaus...

As we plough onwards very slowly through the turgid mud of  this pandemic it might be helpful to know that we are struggling in ways that men and women always have done through time. There has for ever and a day  been confusion, argument, delay, prevarication and criticism by all who know better in times of crisis. Those in power have not always  indeed hardly ever worked together  in harmony :  factions and divisions have caused dithering and delay. Meanwhile the opposition parties have brought to the situation  politics, self seeking and an eye to a future  when they could be in charge themselves. And when the country  trires of one political party and  allows  a new group of people take charge of the government then  the whole cycle begins again. I have been reading about the career of David Lloyd George, During the first world war , as it is now known , he was Chancellor of the Exchequer , subsequently Minister of Munitions , ...

I was speaking to a couple of old  university friends on Zoom the other day. This was a first Zoom call between us. Peter said that we should take each day as it comes and not make plans. He was speaking , of course, in the context of the current global pandemic. This is sound advice I think but it is not so easy to follow. The same sentiment is expressed in the Bible :" Take no thought for the morrow. The morrow will take care of itself." ( Matthew 6 : 34 ) The same thought ,  " Be present in all things and thankful for all things" was advocated by the American writer  Maya Angelou. The mountains will always be here. The problem is that as human beings we are usually thinking about the future in the short or long term. In many ways this is essential in order to live our lives on a practical level. We have to assess what we need before going shopping for food and household necessities. Then if we take medication we 'll need to organise supplies. That ap...

There are rumours that the lockdown may start to ease next week. That is in the week beginning May 11th. But when will Romillys,  in Barry, Coffee 1 's from Cardiff to Bristol,  Costas  everywhere and Crwst in Cardigan  open their doors to us wary lockdowners, starved of coffee and cake and chat and company ? Remember this ? Sorry about repeating an image from a previous blog. I must get on to unsplash images again. Whether  your beverage of choice is a latte, a cappuccino or an espresso, a multitude of drinks hot and cold await your decision. Fruit tea might be more your thing or hot  chocolate with cream and marshmallows. To go with it how about ........... The cake's the thing. Or is it? Toasted tea cakes and scones, if fresh baked, are equally scrumptious.  Muffins, the American favourite come in many guises - blueberry, lemon and poppy seed, chocolate,  you name it.Crwst  has pancakes with Greek yogurt and fruit c...