tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-77477588808604985782024-03-13T20:41:38.378-07:00David Lloyd - RamblingsThe challenges and successes of life
Davidlloydradiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13020918919770051596noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7747758880860498578.post-58614571905254488622019-07-13T05:24:00.003-07:002019-07-14T16:51:13.384-07:00The Parkrun Experience<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bbE4Ptkv94Q/XSnHPTaq9FI/AAAAAAABcxY/f5VYtgdgbD8kStzI1xPwG8kzzgvsSjQFwCLcBGAs/s1600/eventhomepagepicture.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="342" data-original-width="450" height="243" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-bbE4Ptkv94Q/XSnHPTaq9FI/AAAAAAABcxY/f5VYtgdgbD8kStzI1xPwG8kzzgvsSjQFwCLcBGAs/s320/eventhomepagepicture.jpg" width="320"></a></div>
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The chilled laddo with the hint of a ginger beard looked as though he
knew what he was doing as he geared up for his <i><a href="https://www.parkrun.org.uk/" target="_blank">parkrun</a></i> this morning. Yet something
about the way he looked around suggested this was a fresh experience.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It transpired that, although a first timer at this nice
flat <i>parkrun</i> at <a href="https://www.parkrun.org.uk/rushcliffe/" target="_blank">Rushcliffe Country Park</a>, he was more familiar with the
Devon-flavoured version of the event at </span><span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><a href="https://www.parkrun.org.uk/woolacombedunes/" target="_blank">Woolacombe Dunes</a>. En route to watch the cricket, he’d just stopped off to
take part in one of Nottinghamshire’s 12 <i>parkruns</i>. Although Devon’s <i>“one continuous lap
on a mixture of stone tracks, sand dunes and beach”</i> sounds picture-postcard,
I’m told it is one of the toughest routes in the UK. If you’ve ever run
through sand, you’ll know why.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 107%;"><br></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 107%;">That’s the thing about <i><a href="https://www.parkrun.org.uk/" target="_blank">parkrun</a> </i>- the</span><span style="background-color: white; color: #272727; font-family: "montserrat" , sans-serif;"> <i>'free, weekly, 5km timed runs around the world' </i>-</span><span style="background: white; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 107%;"> once you sign up and get your treasured 'bar-code for life', you can turn up anywhere and just join in –
regularly or occasionally. The other point is that </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; line-height: 107%;">everyone
at <i>parkrun</i> has their story. For some, that story is short; for others it’s a heavy
novel.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">You see the wiry teen with his gangly legs, alongside the
portly chap with a mid-life crisis. The woman who takes part just so she sees
her friends every week; to the one whose doc suggested she really out to be
doing a tad more exercise. The bloke fighting back to health; to the woman
using the <i>parkrun </i>to prepare for a sponsored half-marathon she’s planning in
memory of a dear friend.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Like so many pasty-legged participants, I suspect, I was the sort of lad
who was only reluctantly selected for football teams in school games lessons. A
snotty-nosed lad called Adrian and I would always be last to be picked, and only when all
other options had been exhausted. I hated PE. Deliberately forgot my kit for
Games. Forged notes from my mother. And, whilst generally active these days and a fast walker by virtue of sheer impatience,
I hadn’t come close to a pair of track suit bottoms ever in my life before turning
up at my first<i> parkrun </i>last November.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">However different the motivations, the spirit is shared.
Everyone wants to achieve something, and whilst a run not a race, the pace of those
around you makes sure you really do strive for your personal best.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">You can smell the spirit of generosity. Newcomers or loners are welcomed; there's a jolly briefing just before lift-off; and, as I found out one week,
if you injure yourself along the way, everyone makes sure you are not about to
die, regardless of the cost to their own run time. Frankly, if the country were
run exclusively by <i>parkrunners</i>, it would be a nicer place.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">One friend of mine suggested he couldn’t be doing with the
camaraderie and I assured him that some mornings, I barely acknowledge another soul.
You can be as sociable or miserable as you wish - although you do have all the excuses a Brit needs to strike up a conversation with randoms should you wish. And it's certainly no beauty contest - everyone's face looks angry when they're running.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Some run alone, determined, head down; others chat with friends.
Some hold their beloved terrier on a short lead – and others run with their children.
I suspect the determined little lad running alongside his dad - and overtaking me at some speed - will adopt that same focus with whatever he does in life. Another littl’un was
rather enjoying being pushed along at great speed in the sort of sporty
pushchair I always wish I’d had.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">At the rear of the throng plod a few cautious participants
for whom 5k is a mountain, accompanied routinely by smiling volunteer tail runners, ensuring
all is well.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Although their times may be amongst the slowest, their sense of victory at the end will be of Everest proportions.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A prompt email afterwards lets you know the precise duration of your suffering. Whilst this is a run and not a race, you can, if you wish, see
how well you are doing against those your age. There is always some cheer to be had from your
own achievement.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It’s free too, thanks to sponsorship from the likes of <a href="https://www.parkrun.org.uk/sponsors/vitality/" target="_blank">Vitality health and life insurance,</a>
with which I have no connection, but I’m asking for a quote to recognise their contribution.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Parkrun </i>manages to strike the balance between being sufficiently
well-organised so that everyone knows what they are doing and remains safe - and yet casual
enough not to scare the hesitant newcomer. Little wonder these seriously informal
events attract over 2m runners around the world, with 330 runs on Saturday mornings across the UK.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">If you peer down at a stomach which used to be a different
shape, make noises when you tie your shoelaces, can’t fit into things in your
wardrobe and truly hate the thought of exercise or joining in anything, <i>parkrun</i> is for you.</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Be careful though, it’s addictive.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">David Lloyd</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br></span></div>
<br>
<i><br></i>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>I usually write about <a href="https://www.davidlloydradio.com/blogger" target="_blank">radio matters</a>. I know more about that than running.</i></span></div>
Davidlloydradiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13020918919770051596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7747758880860498578.post-25998073767849475982016-10-05T00:45:00.002-07:002019-07-13T05:57:38.930-07:00Hammer the Landlord<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="color: #454545; line-height: normal; margin: 0px;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Amber Rudd's got the answer to our immigration challenges.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">The Home Secretary proposes to make it a criminal offence for a landlord to house a tenant who cannot prove they can sing the National Anthem and recite the names of the last ten Prime Ministers. Actually, from February this year, and even earlier in Birmingham, it's already been an offence they can fine you £3000 for, although that seems to have been forgotten in the press coverage.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">The majority of landlords are not horrible bullies who abuse tenants. 78% of them have only one property. They're often accidental landlords, inheriting a house or failing to sell one, or moving round the country owing to work. Or they have put their savings in a property because, rightly, they have no faith in banks or pensions. They probably try to keep the property decent and the tenants happy so they can have decent stretches of tenancy without the risk of emptiness.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Suddenly, we accidental landlords are the devil, more so with every announcement. We're now no longer </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">to be allowed tax benefit from the mortgage repayments. No, we are taxed on profit we have not made. We take on all the risk of a property, with little benefit. Indeed, sometimes no benefit, when you get a tenant who destroys your property and won't get out.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">But we are the devil.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">What's this latest proposal? That we lay-landlords perform due checks to make sure we are not housing an illegal immigrant. If we fail, we can go to prison. So, we are landed with doing the job that her Majesty's Border Force fails to do. Will those uniformed folk go to prison too if they let someone through they shouldn't?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">What next? Let's make Sainsbury's do immigration checks before they deliver your kippers, kiwis and Kit Kats. After all, if illegals can't eat, that's got to be good news, surely. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">This vicarious legislation is ill-judged, headline-grabbing and reactionary. Another attack on people trying to run their lives efficiently so that they can afford to stay in a nursing home which serves proper tea when they're old. </span></div>
<div style="color: #454545; line-height: normal; margin: 0px; min-height: 24px;">
<br /></div>
</div>
Davidlloydradiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13020918919770051596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7747758880860498578.post-88356856448741972792016-09-08T10:25:00.003-07:002019-07-13T05:58:58.228-07:00Britain's Comprehensive School Mistake <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />
<header><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span><div style="clear: both;">
</div>
</header><br />
<div class="float_right padding_left_10">
</div>
<!-- Article Text Body --> <!-- Entry main text --> <br />
<div class="content" id="mainentrycontent">
<div class="float_left">
<!-- AD ads_sharebox_260x60 --> <br />
<div class="ad_share_box">
</div>
</div>
<!-- Entry Text --> <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LkWd4odCSkg/V9GesMnAAcI/AAAAAAABMXI/U4Z6BHjFqQwR5uBvrm-rtAW0c8sbUNfAgCLcB/s1600/teo%2Bin%2B1972.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LkWd4odCSkg/V9GesMnAAcI/AAAAAAABMXI/U4Z6BHjFqQwR5uBvrm-rtAW0c8sbUNfAgCLcB/s200/teo%2Bin%2B1972.jpeg" width="127" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Britain had just gone decimal, T. Rex were riding high and I donned the over-long trousers of my shiny black uniform for the first time to attend my battered seventies Comprehensive school.<br /><br /> An old boys’ flat-pack technical Grammar building had been welded to a former Girls’ Technical Grammar school; a tiled annex was erected hurriedly up a muddy bank nearby; and an old brick Victorian infants school was commandeered as an annex. Home to over a thousand spotty random adolescents overall, this sprawling ‘complex’ was the start of the great comprehensive experiment. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">It failed.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Throw everyone together, it was thought, and they’d all be gifted the same opportunity. Most classes, in this pure stage of the experiment were accordingly a motley mixture of pupils, from the truly gifted to those who would much rather be somewhere else and took every opportunity to express that view. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">The DNA of the teachers was also comprehensively different. Candidates of various flavours had been sucked in from neighbouring secondary or grammar schools, distinguished by whether they preferred to glide round clad in dark cape or a threadbare corduroy jacket. The rebels were seemingly tolerated too, despite straggly beards, baggy jumpers and tight jeans.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Entrance to the school was governed by one of those yet-to-be-invented postcode lotteries. Offspring from one side of a village would be despatched in blue blazers to a much-sought after shiny converted Grammar school a mile away, whilst the unfortunates from the other side had to hop on an aged lop-sided bus to join me in our tatty complex.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">I’d hoped for more. At my intimate primary school, I had been billed for greatness. Whilst others sat cross-legged in the hall being read to in whiney fashion, I was allowed into the library to read for myself. When others were weaned on the ITA, the puzzling Inishal Teeching Alferbet, I was allowed to devour proper books with proper words. I was given the purple maths text book, when everyone else appeared to have a red one. Whilst others were given the smelly class hamster to look after during the holidays, I was loaned a box of colourful Cuisenaire blocks to hone my mathematical instincts. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6x2eU5koyxg/V9GeF2wHvEI/AAAAAAABMXA/4c2ndcwEgTc_HtbsHTc5271dP0eYfbAgACLcB/s1600/book-blackboard-shutterstock-blackboard-650.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="196" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6x2eU5koyxg/V9GeF2wHvEI/AAAAAAABMXA/4c2ndcwEgTc_HtbsHTc5271dP0eYfbAgACLcB/s320/book-blackboard-shutterstock-blackboard-650.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Milk monitorship was entrusted to me. The privilege of that leadership meant I could avoid having to drink the foul lukewarm milk from its silly little bottle.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">That early promise was not to be fulfilled. My quiet reputation faded to anonymity as I became just another name in an over-lengthy register, surrounded by a majority of noisy pupils with a lesser appetite for success.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">English lessons had become progressive and creative. Spelling was not taught; and poor spelling in essays went uncorrected. When my mother queried why, she was told that youngsters needed encouragement not the pain of the red pen. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Grammar was not taught by nor, I fear, understood by, some teachers. I recall one of those delicious-smelling purple-inked Banda work sheets, being handed out by a curly-haired Chemistry teacher, replete with spelling errors. Fuelled by a blend of genuine annoyance and typical teenage awkwardness, I challenged his efforts. Before storming off to the fume cupboard, his haughty rebuke was that he was a chemistry teacher, not an English teacher, for goodness sake.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Our petite French teacher hailed from that great country, and was familiar with its more traditional approach to education. She was accordingly puzzled when her mentions of verbs, objects and nouns were met with blank stares from her bright pupils who had been introduced to no such concepts in their native language.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">CSEs and O Levels were the order of the day. Hard-working teachers were thus obliged in a single lesson, to attend to both syllabi and keep order amongst those who sought neither qualification. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As a fifteen year old, staring at the clock willing each lesson to end, I failed to understand why anyone could imagine the pure Comprehensive system would reap rewards. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As an English assignment one week, I chose to write angrily on the topic. Worried about my honesty, however, I struck out the most assertive critical comments in black felt tip prior to handing in the essay. The work was returned to me the following week with a smile, an A+ and a huge red, tacitly supportive, exclamation mark.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">At a parents’ evening some months later, I gather this discerning teacher remarked on my essay and suggested it had attracted wide support in the staff room. It transpired that a magnifying glass had been taken to the redacted comments to try to ascertain what lay under my paranoid black smudges.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Whilst my views on many things have softened through the last forty years, I suspect I would stand by that teenage appraisal were I able to find it in the loft. I gather my old school is now, thankfully and wisely, very different and enjoying success.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3qc9twU6WaQ/V9GeQy2QPjI/AAAAAAABMXE/0_er5IDL0OA342WovpwoA4xd4oaB57JwQCLcB/s1600/modern-school-classroom-17263185.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-3qc9twU6WaQ/V9GeQy2QPjI/AAAAAAABMXE/0_er5IDL0OA342WovpwoA4xd4oaB57JwQCLcB/s320/modern-school-classroom-17263185.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Treating everyone the same does not give equal opportunity. Each of us thrives in a different environment. It was wrong to think the ‘one size fits all’ Comprehensive philosophy would work, just as it is wrong to think that getting as many people as possible through the doors of universities is a worthy pursuit. As the percentage of debt-laden students armed with irrelevant degrees grows, it further diminishes the esteem in which the remainder of non-academic individuals are held. Yet here is a country crying out for those with practical and technical skills, hungry to get on with the job.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Each person has unique interests, abilities and gifts. Great secondary and tertiary education should identify those - and provide the specific environment where they can be nurtured. Some academic, others more practical. Whilst I have done relatively well in life through my own toil and initiative, my education added little, and I remain angered by that. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">As this first Valerie Singleton comprehensive generation filters through to senior government posts, let us hope that it reflects sufficiently to avoid repeating the mistakes of those concrete and Caramac days.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i><br /></i></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>This is my personal views blog. Radio matters are covered at http://davidlloyd-radio.blogspot.co.uk/</i></span></div>
</div>
Davidlloydradiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13020918919770051596noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7747758880860498578.post-37356128542192836682015-04-06T06:18:00.001-07:002016-09-08T12:45:17.843-07:00My Monochrome Nottingham<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Photography is not my thing. There are many better-skilled. But I love my City - and here's my tribute.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oU3H271LIWI/VSJ-uoZcSTI/AAAAAAAA6mM/EHNxyITSarE/s1600/IMG_3205.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-oU3H271LIWI/VSJ-uoZcSTI/AAAAAAAA6mM/EHNxyITSarE/s1600/IMG_3205.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Back of Council House, officially opened May 22nd 1929</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lLGlJqOVrXk/VSJ_rheIPWI/AAAAAAAA6mU/gnQcO5LFpBo/s1600/IMG_3209.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lLGlJqOVrXk/VSJ_rheIPWI/AAAAAAAA6mU/gnQcO5LFpBo/s1600/IMG_3209.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Inside the Exchange Arcade, Nottingham's first shopping mall</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TmlKf1_ZtKk/VSJ-rWrc3mI/AAAAAAAA6l8/NPwBtuDx6W0/s1600/IMG_3202.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-TmlKf1_ZtKk/VSJ-rWrc3mI/AAAAAAAA6l8/NPwBtuDx6W0/s1600/IMG_3202.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-prsGxMELgv8/VTORPq1qZ0I/AAAAAAAA6z0/KqTSxqSJAUI/s1600/IMG_3261.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-prsGxMELgv8/VTORPq1qZ0I/AAAAAAAA6z0/KqTSxqSJAUI/s1600/IMG_3261.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wnSl4o9BCRU/VSJ_0vZkqUI/AAAAAAAA6mc/o-Z_Kx6b85c/s1600/IMG_3208.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wnSl4o9BCRU/VSJ_0vZkqUI/AAAAAAAA6mc/o-Z_Kx6b85c/s1600/IMG_3208.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jesse Boot's first shop on Goose Gate</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1B655QLb81s/VSKBN-9N9vI/AAAAAAAA6ms/4ZlxqEEGSVY/s1600/IMG_3211.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-1B655QLb81s/VSKBN-9N9vI/AAAAAAAA6ms/4ZlxqEEGSVY/s1600/IMG_3211.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Inside the Council House Dome</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AQeqS2bvBJ8/VSKBcY5d4jI/AAAAAAAA6m0/BkhC9dRiwpc/s1600/IMG_3213.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AQeqS2bvBJ8/VSKBcY5d4jI/AAAAAAAA6m0/BkhC9dRiwpc/s1600/IMG_3213.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Council House Dome</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P9eqQA9-hkI/VSKCIDQa1NI/AAAAAAAA6nE/t-1qSajFXHo/s1600/IMG_3216.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-P9eqQA9-hkI/VSKCIDQa1NI/AAAAAAAA6nE/t-1qSajFXHo/s1600/IMG_3216.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nottingham's second generation trams</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-I69x2V8lZFk/VSKCnAHoajI/AAAAAAAA6nM/w5yJrz7-E_M/s1600/IMG_3218.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-I69x2V8lZFk/VSKCnAHoajI/AAAAAAAA6nM/w5yJrz7-E_M/s1600/IMG_3218.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Flying Horse, former pub</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Zc3sT7jvGCA/VSKDHkN_CMI/AAAAAAAA6nU/mIE_0TeJFJE/s1600/IMG_3220.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Zc3sT7jvGCA/VSKDHkN_CMI/AAAAAAAA6nU/mIE_0TeJFJE/s1600/IMG_3220.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Smith's Bank - the UK's first provincial bank, established 1658</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ldBdA__WwNk/VSKHD0K0VUI/AAAAAAAA6nw/SN9Qc4nsd10/s1600/IMG_3225.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ldBdA__WwNk/VSKHD0K0VUI/AAAAAAAA6nw/SN9Qc4nsd10/s1600/IMG_3225.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nottingham's Old Market Square 'Slab Square', refur</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ly_KfkDqevE/VTORhjM_OOI/AAAAAAAA6z8/m47Kp8syk8c/s1600/IMG_3276.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ly_KfkDqevE/VTORhjM_OOI/AAAAAAAA6z8/m47Kp8syk8c/s1600/IMG_3276.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gaLiF0s8Vx8/VSKEUXx4j9I/AAAAAAAA6nc/RZyt1gsyMB4/s1600/IMG_3222.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gaLiF0s8Vx8/VSKEUXx4j9I/AAAAAAAA6nc/RZyt1gsyMB4/s1600/IMG_3222.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Smith's Bank</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FCT1LkoZ68I/VSKE6i777TI/AAAAAAAA6nk/uxMbEUSRG_8/s1600/IMG_3223.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FCT1LkoZ68I/VSKE6i777TI/AAAAAAAA6nk/uxMbEUSRG_8/s1600/IMG_3223.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Debenhams - formerly Griffin & Spalding, launched by Dickinsons in 1846<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FCT1LkoZ68I/VSKE6i777TI/AAAAAAAA6nk/uxMbEUSRG_8/s1600/IMG_3223.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FCT1LkoZ68I/VSKE6i777TI/AAAAAAAA6nk/uxMbEUSRG_8/s1600/IMG_3223.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MOptJ1tsD1I/VSKph5bdjGI/AAAAAAAA6oA/1NW7gAB3WHg/s1600/IMG_0871.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-MOptJ1tsD1I/VSKph5bdjGI/AAAAAAAA6oA/1NW7gAB3WHg/s1600/IMG_0871.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9fNIOR4GOEA/VSKpjlwpLjI/AAAAAAAA6oI/yFmEBDaBgf4/s1600/IMG_0870.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9fNIOR4GOEA/VSKpjlwpLjI/AAAAAAAA6oI/yFmEBDaBgf4/s1600/IMG_0870.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gaLiF0s8Vx8/VSKEUXx4j9I/AAAAAAAA6nc/RZyt1gsyMB4/s1600/IMG_3222.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gaLiF0s8Vx8/VSKEUXx4j9I/AAAAAAAA6nc/RZyt1gsyMB4/s1600/IMG_3222.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ly_KfkDqevE/VTORhjM_OOI/AAAAAAAA6z8/m47Kp8syk8c/s1600/IMG_3276.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ly_KfkDqevE/VTORhjM_OOI/AAAAAAAA6z8/m47Kp8syk8c/s1600/IMG_3276.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Former Nottingham General Hospital</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gdMFBWM2Gzk/VVYQwCtvFaI/AAAAAAAA7oI/Wv9j0VP5BdA/s1600/FullSizeRender%2B(19).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="298" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gdMFBWM2Gzk/VVYQwCtvFaI/AAAAAAAA7oI/Wv9j0VP5BdA/s400/FullSizeRender%2B(19).jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Robin Hood statue, unveiled 24th July 1952</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-z3NYgY6nDTo/VVYRLU5GWwI/AAAAAAAA7oQ/V8rVDBlDd8E/s1600/FullSizeRender%2B(10).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-z3NYgY6nDTo/VVYRLU5GWwI/AAAAAAAA7oQ/V8rVDBlDd8E/s400/FullSizeRender%2B(10).jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Severn's House - m<span style="background-color: white; color: #333333; font-size: 13px; line-height: 20.7999992370605px;">edieval oak-framed house originally on Middle Pavement, moved to current location in 1969</span></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ty7eiW09NsI/VTOR3wr-hLI/AAAAAAAA60E/axmglt_2xtw/s1600/IMG_3268.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Ty7eiW09NsI/VTOR3wr-hLI/AAAAAAAA60E/axmglt_2xtw/s1600/IMG_3268.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Nottingham's 60s shopping mall! West End Arcade - containing the City's first escalator</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6jCB6D55t-g/VTOUiDA7vpI/AAAAAAAA60Y/lf7-Vui2JWw/s1600/IMG_3264%2B(2).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6jCB6D55t-g/VTOUiDA7vpI/AAAAAAAA60Y/lf7-Vui2JWw/s1600/IMG_3264%2B(2).JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Theatre Royal</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ak-JeQcJiiw/VTOSWg0u96I/AAAAAAAA60M/ZOt9Rj1Mpz4/s1600/IMG_3265.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ak-JeQcJiiw/VTOSWg0u96I/AAAAAAAA60M/ZOt9Rj1Mpz4/s1600/IMG_3265.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Corner House</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-e_br7tzCuqA/VTOVf7yHpOI/AAAAAAAA60g/K9vI_Z7_AjA/s1600/IMG_3270%2B(2).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-e_br7tzCuqA/VTOVf7yHpOI/AAAAAAAA60g/K9vI_Z7_AjA/s1600/IMG_3270%2B(2).JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Co-Op Parliament Street</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Z6-PLqwqMoI/VTOXujWinKI/AAAAAAAA604/dAIWaG8S8ao/s1600/IMG_3274%2B(2).JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Z6-PLqwqMoI/VTOXujWinKI/AAAAAAAA604/dAIWaG8S8ao/s1600/IMG_3274%2B(2).JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">St Barnabas<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DuDqLsHK2MY/VVYR1Q7IS9I/AAAAAAAA7oY/A7Vno759JMk/s1600/IMG_3343.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-DuDqLsHK2MY/VVYR1Q7IS9I/AAAAAAAA7oY/A7Vno759JMk/s400/IMG_3343.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R4Svj7PD2W4/VVYSx4ZlQeI/AAAAAAAA7oo/mChXMFn8nmM/s1600/IMG_3337.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-R4Svj7PD2W4/VVYSx4ZlQeI/AAAAAAAA7oo/mChXMFn8nmM/s400/IMG_3337.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-K9M_9PxI8oo/VVYSTyYuJ6I/AAAAAAAA7og/SjFqZoVkU7c/s1600/FullSizeRender%2B(18).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-K9M_9PxI8oo/VVYSTyYuJ6I/AAAAAAAA7og/SjFqZoVkU7c/s400/FullSizeRender%2B(18).jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Former women's hospital and Radio Trent building on Castle Gate</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
Davidlloydradiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13020918919770051596noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7747758880860498578.post-74412254712070678722013-09-14T03:41:00.000-07:002015-10-04T14:50:04.232-07:00A Bag for Life?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dAWTFJ_IKZI/UjQ7nnoU6lI/AAAAAAAAsuM/e8aWYvJUCGs/s1600/candystripe_vest_carrier_allcolours_front_4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dAWTFJ_IKZI/UjQ7nnoU6lI/AAAAAAAAsuM/e8aWYvJUCGs/s1600/candystripe_vest_carrier_allcolours_front_4.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As you seize your toothpaste, bag of sugar, toilet rolls, packet
of tea bags and pint of milk from the conveyor belt, the assistant with the DYMO
badge and Crimplene costume asks whether you want a bag. "No", you say, biting your tongue. You'd prefer
to embrace all said goods between your arms like a long lost lover and hope you don't
drop any. It's manageable - just - if
you clutch the top of the bag of sugar by your teeth. </span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There are some pretty awful things happening in the World. In the UK, front page news appears to be that
we are insistent on charging 5 pence for a carrier bag. I had rather hoped this thing had been wisely and quietly forgotten about.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">At a checkout until now, oh how we've relished the excitement of the
choice between a proper fit-for-purpose carrier bag; or a free one. The free one being too small to hold anything
more than a single yoghurt with ease. So
thin it's unsafe for any journey further than the escalator. Helpfully, sympathetic assistants, with
Valerie Singleton skill, insert two or
three inside each other. And, lo, they make, well, a thick carrier bag. Like the
ones we used to have.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">They do smile, these tolerant shop assistants, and suggest that
all my five pence goes to charity. Reading the small print, actually it does
not; it's usually just the profit which goes to charity. So, the retailer has saved the cost of what
he used to spend on bags. If there were a moral cause, they'd donate all such monies
to a swan sanctuary or something.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Like many, I re-use my carrier bags. They are deposited
temporarily in the internationally-agreed
hoarding place under the sink, before being turned into liners for my pedal
bin. If I didn't use one of those, I'd
deploy an industrial-sized black bag, which are readily on sale, despite their
criminality. I rather suspect the small Sainsbury bag would have been less destructive
to the environment.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fnOhEozf6sY/UjQ8fNXMyyI/AAAAAAAAsuU/2BmaC63eivc/s1600/bag.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-fnOhEozf6sY/UjQ8fNXMyyI/AAAAAAAAsuU/2BmaC63eivc/s1600/bag.jpg" width="237" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I was delighted when a segmented refuse-disposal system was introduced in my neck of the woods. We were asked to segregate all recyclable paper and put it in, well, a plastic carrier bag. They helpfully supplied lots of these special orange plastic carrier bags for me. Carrier bags I would not otherwise have used.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The new <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/single-use-plastic-carrier-bags-why-were-introducing-the-charge/single-use-plastic-carrier-bags-why-were-introducing-the-charge" target="_blank">law </a>suggests that bags issued by large companies are worse for the environment than those from small companies; or if you sack a few staff you can live without the charges. It means that companies no longer have to pay for their own bags. The customer now does. And if you manage to sort a bio-degradable bag, well, there's still a charge. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If the company was giving the profit (not proceeds) to charity, it now no longer has to. It can merrily charge because 'it has to'. Government will 'report' on what companies do with the cash, presumably hoping that the press will pick on offenders and govern vicariously.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There was a report on this stuff. I guess there've been
many. The Environment Agency-commissioned report "<a href="http://www.biodeg.org/files/uploaded/Carrier_Bags_Report_EA.pdf" target="_blank">Life Cycle Assessment ofSupermarket Carrier Bags</a>" set out to find out which of seven types of bags
have the lowest environmental impact by assessing pollution caused by
extraction of raw materials, production, transportation and disposal. Important too to trace the <i>whole</i> life cycle to make fair comparisons; given that things need to be created in the first place. It concluded: <i>“The HDPE </i>(plastic carrier)<i> bag had the lowest
environmental impacts of the single use options in nine of the 10 impact
categories. The bag performed well because it was the lightest single use bag
considered</i>"</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I'm not saying 'let's just use things for the sake of it'. I'm saying why are we obsessed with the
carrier bag? If they really are so bad - and we really seek a powerful policy - let's enforce a £1 charge. At just 5p, I question the motives.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If we are concerned about the environment, let's have
councils not distributing weighty tomes of printed propaganda house-to-house,
using the thickest paper. Let's not
bother with all those printed pointless Census forms. Let's not fly to
fact-finding missions across Europe every ten minutes. Let's not have traffic systems which mean you
travel a mile to get ten yards. Let's
make public transport cheaper. Let's not package items in thick impenetrable
packaging which takes a carving knife to enter. And - as pointed on in Radio 4's wonderful 'More or Less' programme, the eco-damage of your drive to the supermarket in the first place is many times worse than any carrier bag.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cW8VIlRJwgw/VhERASHXSgI/AAAAAAAA_KE/aDlKeoccGBg/s1600/B9Z7vBkIUAEDN9c.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-cW8VIlRJwgw/VhERASHXSgI/AAAAAAAA_KE/aDlKeoccGBg/s200/B9Z7vBkIUAEDN9c.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I smile as I am charged 5p at Boots for a carrier bag, when they demand I grab a bottle of Coke so my lunch might become a 'meal deal' and magically come down in price. So, they charge me less for taking home some more plastic. Clearly a miraculously different plastic the civil servants care less about. It can be re-cycled, I gather, but most ends up in landfill.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LvAfrdaQyxk/UjSKmtzUQFI/AAAAAAAAsuk/HyogGOU6gBo/s1600/bag-710069.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LvAfrdaQyxk/UjSKmtzUQFI/AAAAAAAAsuk/HyogGOU6gBo/s1600/bag-710069.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As for 'bag for life'. Tosh. When I am 93, I'm going to take one back to the shop with a hole in it. There'll be a whole host of similar court cases. It'll be like mis-sold PPI all over again.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Bags for life are riddled with germs. I'll sue.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This has been a simple, populist cause which is taking far
more of our time and energies than it warrants. It has attracted public attention, regar</span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">dless of the facts. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Yes, there is a case for us to watch all our consumption and waste in how we live our lives, but that is a far larger issue with more generalist conclusions and measures warranted. A 5p carrier bag charge is a ridiculous start, making little real difference to the key issue and earning the supermarkets more money. The law is ill-framed; and will seem as pointless, in time, as all the tax benefits offered as recently as 2001 to encourage diesel cars as they were supposedly 'better for the environment'. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Let's govern on science and facts and make change which genuinely helps our planet. Let's give our civil servants something more productive to work on that <a href="https://www.gov.uk/guidance/carrier-bag-charges-retailers-responsibilities" target="_blank">this drivel</a>, causing yet another futile administrative burden for industry.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The matter of carrier bags should be left to retailers and public conscience; and we should educate more generally about all the things which genuinely make a long term
difference to our environment. The Government's legislative timetable should be reserved for matters of education, the economy, health, life & death.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<i>Written Sept 2013. Updated Oct 2015</i><br />
<br />
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">Related, but unrelated. <a href="http://youtu.be/KSZr0Rf9CdY" target="_blank">Steve Allen in fighting form about bags on LBC</a>.</span></i><br />
<i><span style="font-size: x-small;">This is not my main blog. That is all about radio - at <a href="http://davidlloyd-radio.blogspot.co.uk/">http://davidlloyd-radio.blogspot.co.uk/</a></span></i></div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></o:p></div>
</div>
Davidlloydradiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13020918919770051596noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7747758880860498578.post-1028628967959144452012-04-17T15:14:00.000-07:002012-04-29T12:24:50.000-07:00A Vision for Nottingham<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
As midnight approached on New Year’s Eve, crowds gathered near the imposing gates of Nottingham Castle. Excited families chose their spot. Generations of good Nottingham folk, from pensioners to pushchairs, excited by the unusual magic of their City at midnight. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For the last few years, a rather impressive firework display had been staged there. It had enjoyed modest advance publicity over the years. Indeed, I once attempted to sponsor it and was told that the Council did not seek to draw attention to it lest crowds arrived. I wonder if Edinburgh Council ever considered the same policy: ‘ssshhh, don’t tell people about the comedy’. Or Lincoln: ‘Let’s have the Christmas Market in June, so no-one finds it’. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Anyway, last New Year’s Eve, as the peaceful crowd in good spirits blossomed, a little concern arose, given no-one could see any evidence of the display being installed by men in fluorescent jackets. As midnight came and went, it was clear that there was to be no display. Without any advance publicity, the Council had chosen to cancel it.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The sight of maybe a thousand disappointed folk wandering down Friar Lane summed up 21<sup>st</sup> Century Nottingham. A disappointment. A poorly-managed disappointment.<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9ZZWMK0E-Z8/T43zfAXM1pI/AAAAAAAAAEE/03JOQhpz2Qg/s1600/3756993747_50e928f86b_z.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="140" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-9ZZWMK0E-Z8/T43zfAXM1pI/AAAAAAAAAEE/03JOQhpz2Qg/s200/3756993747_50e928f86b_z.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Whilst born and bred in Nottingham, my work has taken me across the country, but this City has always been my home. I have experience of working with ambitious and forward-looking authorities across the country. Watching the pace of Manchester from my seat on its City Centre Management Committee around ten years ago , I drew comparisons with my pedestrian home town.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
West Bridgford was where I came into this world. Born in the big front bedroom of a rambling four-bedroomed semi. Back then, Nottingham just assumed it was ‘something’. ‘Town’ was proud. The sight of the stone frontage of the Council House and the guardian Iions suggested this truly was some City. A City with not one, but two shopping centres enveloping a great colourful pedestrian-friendly hub of shops. Little wonder it emerged from several surveys, well into the 90s, as one of the UK’s top cities for shopping.<br />
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A City with a business heart: Raleigh, Players, Boots; and now Experian. Highly regarded Universities including Nottingham Uni, described as ‘the embodiment of the modern international university’ (Sunday Times); and Trent Uni, its fashionable partner. A City with a beautiful circumference: Wollaton Park; Goose Fair; and the National Water Sports Centre.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For tourists too, a City of history. The birth of lace, Paul Smith and of course, the legend of Robin Hood. With this equity alone, Nottingham could have been a leading UK City. Forever. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
But just imagine now a tourist venturing to our great City. They’d arrive at an unfinished railway station; cross a chewing gum-stained pavement; before jumping into a cab piloted by a driver who did not know the way. Or one who fails to put on the meter and tells you he does not have to because it’s a ‘City Centre job’. Yes, mine did that. I did complain, but that is another story altogether. They then arrive at ‘the Tales of Robin Hood’. Actually they don’t now. They must have an old map, it is now Tesco. Ah well, maybe the Costume Museum is worth a visit. No, that is closed now and an unsightly ‘For Sale' sign adorns the building. It’s been empty for years. Had it been my property, I think I may have thought about selling it rather sooner. So, where next? Aha! The 15<sup>th</sup> Century timber-framed Severns building, home of the Lace Centre. One of Nottingham’s oldest building, painstakingly moved from its old home in 1969 to one adjacent to the Castle walls. Don’t bother. It is now empty: you can just see the squinting tourists reading the dirty plaque on the wall. Anyway. At least one has the 17<sup>th</sup> Century Nottingham Castle to look forward to. Not so fast, brigadier. It’s Monday. It’s closed. I recall, last Spring, even seeing the Tourist Information Office closed. On a Bank Holiday Monday<br />
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fHUJJQQLjQc/T430PKLQitI/AAAAAAAAAEM/XerYzhiBP94/s1600/4625174226_ddf859f3c8.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fHUJJQQLjQc/T430PKLQitI/AAAAAAAAAEM/XerYzhiBP94/s200/4625174226_ddf859f3c8.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
How can any City treat its tourists this way? Maybe they’d be more impressed a little later on in the evening; watching the City’s youths urinating on the streets. Or seeing the broken bottles outside the pubs. They can write and complain on the impenetrable Council website but, if my experience is anything to go by, they won’t get an answer. Shopping to look forward to? No. Other cities have now overtaken us. The Broad Marsh Centre, particularly, no longer offers much for the discerning shopper. So, might our typical tourist just seek to escape by car? Not down the A453 they don’t. Oh no. The major artery to the South is still single carriageway. How can a City the size of Nottingham hold its head high when travelling to or from it is a day-long job?</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Sadly, my own experiences of any dealings with the Council have also left me rather unimpressed. That sedate pace suggests those in the front line know what times they have to be at work, but not really why they are really there. If I ran my business like that, I would not be around too long. There are gifted, hard-working individuals there too, of course, but even they appear frustrated by the Council machine. I remember seeing the might of the Council in action in a planning enquiry. It left me more than a little unimpressed. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Away from Nottingham, I mention the name of my City. The response used to be a smile and the words ‘Nottingham Forest’ or ‘Brian Clough‘; now the retort is ’gun crime’. It is almost criminal that our reputation has been so, so polluted. Do they have any public relations? I see a 75k post last year for the director of communications; and one imagines that is just the start.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I could much write a much longer piece than this about what is right about the City which I love so much. I am a huge fan. But one can be honest with one’s family. So let’s be honest amongst us Nottingham folk: there is too much wrong here. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
I was once no supporter of the office of elected Mayor. In London, I saw it as yet another tier of needless bureaucracy. I have changed my mind. Whether Livingstone or Boris, the Capital has been better for a leader. Thankfully, party politics seem to have become rather a side issue. London has renewed vigour and evidence of direction and of decisions. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
If any city needs a Mayor it is Nottingham. It needs a vision; a visionary; and the energy of a great practitioner to make sure it happens. And it needs it now. This great City’s neglect in the last generation makes me angry.</div>Davidlloydradiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13020918919770051596noreply@blogger.com7