Day by Day

It has been customary to hold General Elections in the UK on Thursdays since the 1930s. The tradition originated because Thursday was often Market day and voters would be in town. Now, as a result of the ill-advised Fixed-term Parliaments Act of 2011, they are held every five years on the first Thursday in May.… Continue reading Day by Day

How to be an STO

Who appoints the LTOs and STOs on an EOM? If you don’t know what the initials stand for, read yesterday’s post.

OSCE/ODIHR

Election observation amongst OSCE member states has developed since the 1990s. The Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) itself is more than twenty years younger than me.

Published
Categorised as Politics

Mission to Moldova

I spent yesterday travelling to Chisinau on Turkish Airlines with a stop-over in Istanbul. I am here as part of an Election Observation Mission (EOM).

Pierre Bonnard

I don’t want to patronise you but, as I knew nothing about Bonnard, you might like the basics: born 1867, died 1947, French. Tate Modern, a right dump, has an exceptional exhibition of his work that you can see until 6th May.

Published
Categorised as Art

Bag a Brompton

My Brompton sits forlornly in the hall alongside landing nets, fishing rods, wading sticks, a bowler hat and other forsaken sporting impedimenta.

Published
Categorised as Local

Sermon on the Flat

Most of you have de-camped to sunnier climes. Readers have reported in from Sri Lanka, Rajasthan, the West Indies, Spain , North Africa and New Zealand. Well, it’s not so bad in London.

Published
Categorised as Religion

The Dragon Book of Verse

The Dragon Book of Verse was first published in 1935. The introduction to my (1937) edition was the property of Leighton Park School in Reading; a Quaker school founded in 1890. The Introduction explains that it is divided into two Books.

Flaming Way

The Royal Artillery Gold Cup was inaugurated in 1862 and, with interruptions for the Boer War and two World Wars, is probably more hotly contested today, well yesterday, than at any time in its long history. Since 1921 it has been run at Sandown Park.

Skin in the Game

I don’t like the expression ‘skin in the game’ but I cannot think of another way of putting it.

Published
Categorised as Business