My father’s brother, Jeremy was a yacht designer and builder, as well as doing quite a lot of sailing. This article is has some random snippets about him, which do not fit anywhere else. Maiden Maiden was the yacht sailed by Tracy Edwards and all-female crew in the Whitbread Round the World Race. Jeremy appears… Continue reading Jeremy Lines
Parcels and Tartan Ties
My Great Aunt, Margaret Box was a nurse with the Elsie Inglis Unit of the Scottish Women’s Hospitals, one of a group of indomitable women who went out to give medical help during the First World War. Margaret travelled to Salonica and Serbia with the unit, and in January 1919 she was working in the… Continue reading Parcels and Tartan Ties
Transparency and Trust
This is a work in progress, published, but not the final article, so it can be referred to from other articles. Trust is really important – particularly when it comes to how we make decisions. (See How to we decide ?) Who do we vote for , what product do we buy, who do we… Continue reading Transparency and Trust
The Box, Braund and Peardon Families
My main purpose in writing the family history bits of this blog was to make the treasure trove of letters and other documents I inherited more widely available. These included Letters written before and during World War One, by my Grandfather, George Edward Lines Letters and diaries written by my Great Aunt, Margaret Box from… Continue reading The Box, Braund and Peardon Families
Edith Lines and James Rae
One of my Grandfather‘s sisters, Edith, known in the family as Dee, married James Rae on the 6th of July 1916. He was a civil servant who rose to Under-secretary to the Treasury, and his papers are in the National Archives, though not digitised. He was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the… Continue reading Edith Lines and James Rae
Klara and the Sun
Klara and the Sun is a science fiction story of a future in which people can purchase an Artificial Friend, an AI humanoid robot, as a companion. It is told from the viewpoint of Klara, who is an Artificial Friend (AF), who is bought as a companion for Josie, a young girl with a health… Continue reading Klara and the Sun
Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do?
Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do? is a book by Michael Sandel. It deals with some of the philosophical thoughts on justice, such as utilitarianism and libertarianism, and links them to real life issues (mostly American). As with my other Book Reviews, this is partly a guide to what is in the book, and… Continue reading Justice: What’s the Right Thing to Do?
The Vicar of Harwell
Harwell is a village in Oxfordshire, probably best know for giving its name to the airfield which became the Atomic Energy Research Establishment at Harwell, now the Harwell Science and Innovation Campus, and where I spent most of my career. It was, amongst other things, a pioneer in computing, the Harwell Dekatron Computer dating back… Continue reading The Vicar of Harwell
Good Economics for Hard Times
“Good Economics for Hard Times: A Radical Rethinking of the Way to Fight Global Poverty” is an economics book aimed at the general reader by two MIT professors of economics who specialise in the economics of poverty, social and political equality, migration and globalization. Economics is important to be as one of the mechanisms to… Continue reading Good Economics for Hard Times
A better kitchen bin
Like many people, we have a kitchen waste bin, with a plastic cannister inside a metal outer. We use a plastic bin liner to keep the waste neatly contained. When the time comes to empty the bin, sometimes the liner is hard to remove because the liner forms a seal round the inner circumference of… Continue reading A better kitchen bin