Ten days ago I blogged about the exciting upcoming exhibition from Eva Sajovic, the Slovenian photographer who has worked extensively with Gypsies, Roma and Travellers, including Traveller families from Basildon, for the past two years. The exhibition opens on Thursday (4 February) and runs until Saturday 20 March. Throughout both months there are various events [...]
Archive for January, 2010
Eva Sajovic’s “Be-Longing: Travellers’ Stories, Travellers’ Lives” opens Thursday #sajovic #travellers
Posted in arts, local, national, tagged arts, basildon, eva sajovic, gypsies, travellers on January 31, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
“Mother and Child” in ice
Posted in personal, tagged arts, basildon, me on January 31, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Em and I were struck in town by how beautiful the “Mother and Child” statue looked yesterday afternoon with the fountain flowing. As we got closer we realised that the water had frozen on parts of the statue.
Bird songs and calls – a lucky buy
Posted in natural world, personal, tagged environment, me, natural world on January 31, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Popping in to town with Emma yesterday, we dipped into The Works for the last day of their sale. There I found a copy of Geoff Sample’s Garden Bird Songs and Calls. I have always wanted to be able to identify bird song properly. This book is accompanied by a CD and, ripped to my [...]
“Men of the Hills”: Reflections on a Winter’s morning walk and the frosted beauty of Langdon Hills
Posted in natural world, personal, tagged basildon, essex, family, langdon hills, me, natural world on January 31, 2010 | 1 Comment »
Ever since my childhood, there has been an association between walking around Langdon Hills and Saturdays. Autumn walks particularly are fixed in the memory, the family – not just parents and siblings – slipping into boots and pulling on coats and setting out into Coombe Woods an hour or so before dusk (Coombe Woods is known [...]
Yet another good reason (or five!) why not to get an iPhone #iphone #n900
Posted in comment, tech, tagged apple, iphone, me, n900, nokia, tech on January 28, 2010 | 4 Comments »
So buying a phone really shouldn’t be a political exercise, should it? The fact is, though, that the iPhone is the epitome of the corporatisation of our social networks, looking to control and mould the way we interact rather than giving us a tool to empower us creatively. You’ll probably read this as just another anti-iPhone rant [...]
Lest we forget: Holocaust Memorial Day 2010 – The Legacy of Hope
Posted in comment, current affairs, history, international, national, politics, tagged bosnia, cambodia, darfur, history, hmd2010, holocaust, holocaust memorial day, international, nazi, nuremberg, politics, rwanda, sierra leone, world war two on January 28, 2010 | 2 Comments »
It was more made more striking by its ordinariness: a standard-issue Council desk with a signing book and cheap pen placed neatly in the middle and little yellow booklets strewn about. The foyer of the BasCentre bustled, but the space around the table was poignantly empty. Sitting at the desk, words failed me and I [...]
A History of the World in Objects – a brilliant idea from the BBC #bbc #history
Posted in comment, history, personal, tagged bbc, history, me on January 25, 2010 | 1 Comment »
As part of my recuperation I spent a morning out walking in the hills, enjoying the bleak beauty of the Langdon ridge in winter. As I tramped I listened to Radio 4 – a regular vice. One of the programmes advertised was A History of the World in 100 Objects. Narrated by Neil MacGregor, director [...]
BBC World Service on Syria
Posted in comment, current affairs, human rights, international, politics, syria, tagged free speech, haitham al-maleh, human rights, international, kamal labwani, labwani, maleh, politics, syria, syrian opposition on January 23, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
Thank you to Maureen Thomas for drawing my attention to two important internet broadcasts by the BBC World Service. The first is with Iyas Maleh, whose father Haytham al-Maleh was imprisoned by the Syrian regime last year. He talks here about the circumstances that led to his arrest and the character of one of Syria’s greatest [...]
A Mike Leigh gem – going “Nuts in May”
Posted in arts, film, personal, television, tagged arts, film, me, television on January 23, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
I’ve just spent a very happy hour and a bit slumped on a sofa in front of a roaring fire, Em on one side, a mug of tea on the other – and “Nuts in May” by Mike Leigh on the television. As with all his films, it is a perfect study of the quirks [...]
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About Me (Ben Williams)
With far too many interests, I've never been known to be short of an opinion - to the infuriation of friends and family alike. As a result, over the years I've come to recognise that "contradictory" and "contrary" are not unfair descriptions of me.My Lib Dem politics, my doubt-stricken Christianity, my love of revolution, my fear of change, literature, art, music, writing, my fascination with new tech, gaming and MMOs, diabetes, my passion for poker, my disdain for gambling, Cornwall, Bavaria, the places that inspire and depress me, my relief in lonely countryside and my attraction to the cruel crush of the city: at some point it will all end up here.
This is my space to share those reflections on all the things that provoke me and just perhaps I'll capture some of those fleeting fragmented thoughts that otherwise are lost in the ether of busy days.
Ben
N.B. For the time being I am taking a little break from the political commentary. History, art, social observation, culture, technology, weather, people, places, faith, religion, entertainment, the arts... But no politics. ;-)
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I am a center-left moderate social libertarian
Left: 1.64, Libertarian: 3.29
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Eco-catastrophe, Apocalypse, a matricidal teen prophet and psycho-babble galore: a rapturous read
Posted in arts, comment, personal, tagged arts, books, fiction, me on January 28, 2010 | Leave a Comment »
It’s rare for me these days to be gripped so completely by a book that I can’t put it down. I’ve just finished Liz Jensen’s The Rapture. It is simply, chillingly brilliant. Set in the near future, Jensen draws you right inside the head of her main protagonist, Gabrielle Fox, carefully weaving the breathy pace [...]
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