Thursday, January 08, 2015

Six of the Best 486

Slogger O'Toole offers a host of reasons why the rise of referendums in British politics should be resisted.

"The former mining towns of the South Wales Valleys have one of the highest levels of antidepressant prescribing in Wales, attracting lurid newspaper headlines about areas 'hooked on happy pills'. According to Cwm Taf University Health Board, which covers former mining towns including Merthyr Tydfil, Aberfan, and Pontypridd, as many as one in six of its residents are on antidepressants, the highest prescribing rate in the UK." Anne Gulland on why medication is the the answer to social and economic problems.

Hynd's Blog knows what is wrong with our politics. Not referendums. Rosettes.

Andrei Tarkovsky's Solaris and Stalker are examined in a BFI feature by Stephen Dalton.

"History is written by the winners. And good luck to the members of the Crazy Gang who have dined out on the stories of their victory in the 1988 FA Cup final for more than 25 years. But ... let’s get this straight: the stories have been embellished to the point where they bear little relation to reality. I know, because I was there." John Barnes on a famous match.

Spitalfields Life has some photos of this quarter of London in 1984.

2 comments:

wolfi said...

It's still not too late to wish you, Jonathan, and all your readers a Happy New Year!

Thanks very much for that link to the SF films and the BFI!
I'm an old SF fan (literally, turned 72 right now ...) and used to drive my car to England (via the ferry of course) at least three times a year to buy books at Forbidden Planet and the Fantasy Centre (used book shop) - oh those were the days ...

Jonathan Calder said...

And a happy new year to you, Wolfi.