Luke Akehurst has tagged me in the ‘what were you doing when you heard about…’ meme. Here we go…
Princess Diana’s death - 31st August 1997
Summer holidays, waiting to go back to school. Dad woke me up and we watched things unfold on the television.

Margaret Thatcher’s Resignation - 22nd November 1990
I would have been at school. [...]

Norm Geras (not to mention Simon Thomas and a Random Jotter) are trying to do an A to Z of books they’ve read. Here’s my effort:
a – Jorge Amado – Gabriela, Cravo e Canela
b – Ray Bradbury – Fahrenheit 451
c - Joseph Conrad - Heart of Darkness
d – JP Donleavy – The Saddest Summer of [...]

The Winchester Whisperer has tagged me with a meme about household management - what tips can we pass on? WW has successfully used a stone cat as a mouse deterrent. I have three suggestions:
If you have just spilt red wine on the carpet, white wine is good for removing the stain. Red wine should not [...]

I have stumbled and mumbled my way onto a meme on Chris Dillow’s website - top ten songs beginning with a letter of the alphabet. I’m choosing the letter ‘B’.
1. Brown Eyed Handsome Man - Buddy Holly and the Crickets2. Bridge Over Troubled Water - Simon and Garfunkel3. Blue Suede Shoes - Elvis Presley4. Bleed [...]

Ashok has started an interesting meme - what neglected issues should US presidential candidates address? The one I would go for is an area that affects most other policies - federalism.
I think that the US systems is based on the federal government not having many competencies. Whether this is right or wrong, it is how [...]

The People’s Commissar of Enlightenment has tagged me with the top five political influences meme. In no particular order, they probably are:
The London School of Economics and Political Science: I spent five years at LSE and learnt an awful lot there. Its unique mix of people - it’s very international, but, unlike most universities, has [...]

This was passed to me by The Human Tide; thanks to the blogger.
You’re stuck inside Fahrenheit 451, which book do you want to be?
Now that is a good question. I suspect it might well be Johnny Got His Gun. If I had the power, I would make every recruit to the armed forces, every politician [...]