Comments for No more wriggling out of writing ......

Comment on Lets focus on the day job….On life coaching, creativity & the local economy by Coaching Artists in Somerset | Counselling Somerset | Newleaf UK

Coaching Artists in Somerset | Counselling Somerset | Newleaf UK — Mon, 29 Apr 2013 07:46:25 +0000

[...] Creative Economy Coaching Report by Suzie Grogan [...]

Comment on Let’s focus on the words: Peter, Tony, and a Portrait of Keats by amanda

amanda — Mon, 22 Apr 2013 09:28:35 +0000

Hi Suzie.
Great piece. Been thinking some more … I would love to know the previous provenance of the painting – if it had been in America before the 1930s. Elsewhere, on the Keats forum, someone suggested it may have actually belonged to Keats’s brother George, especially in the light of the letter John wrote in which he asked George to “show his picture” to the baby.

There is a lot of high falutin stuff (in the interests of auctioneers and their clients) about things being “painted from life” and “by” or “circle of”. But we should take into account that so many people, especially The Ladies, in those pre-photography days were pretty hot with a pencil and watercolours. Who’s to say, in an age when a “likeness” was everything and I don’t think psychological insight was much considered by the emigrating masses, that this wasn’t an amateur copy by say, Mrs George Keats (to pluck a name from the air) of a painting done by and borrowed from a family friend (Severn)? To take with them to the Americas. I can imagine George leaning over her and saying, “Very good, m’dear, but I’m not sure about that funny eye…”

Right, that’s my pen’orth before I ramble off into fantasy.
And my favourite is STILL the Brown pencil sketch, btw! (Another amateur!)
Amanda
xx

Comment on In praise of daytime antiques programmes – a tribute to David Barby by Dottie

Dottie — Sun, 14 Apr 2013 12:21:22 +0000

We too have only recently heard about the sad passing of David, both myself and my husband were very shocked, not only at the news, but that we hadn’t known anything about it. Although we are avid fans of all the antique shows, there are invariably some that we miss, shopping , holidays, etc, we really felt that not enough coverage was given to this very sad event, he was as popular as many pop singers, but much more is made of their deaths than of Davids, R.I.P. David, you will be sadly missed, xxx

Comment on Why Mrs T should have left the room quietly, closing the door behind her…. by Treegray

Treegray — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 18:36:47 +0000

In death there is still a marked division. I wanted to ‘not comment’ ‘like’ anything on FB or anywhere and carry on with my daily grind – it is hard to escape it though – especially as I am (in FE/HE) still dealing with the children (and grandchildren) born in, or after her lasting period of impact. She is however, mortal. She leaves people who loved her – but I guess many more who loathed her.

Comment on Why Mrs T should have left the room quietly, closing the door behind her…. by keatsbabe

keatsbabe — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 17:36:06 +0000

Two years of counselling still hasn’t identified the reason why my views are so different from Dad’s but I am so glad they are. He was a wonderful, brave man and I am sorry that he found me difficult because I expressed myself in plain opposition (and probably badly) but he was very anti-Europe (a little ironic considering his name), was a great fan of ‘;Love thy Neighbour’ and said some terribly homophobic things. Mum is actually quite different in many ways – maybe because she fell in love with a Spanish man and had a number of crushes on men who turned out to be ‘sensitive’ (her words). And of course, Dad only read the Express for the crossword….

Comment on Why Mrs T should have left the room quietly, closing the door behind her…. by keatsbabe

keatsbabe — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 17:30:36 +0000

Like many I still mourn the loss of John Smith. I think Britain would be a kinder (and less broke) place if he had been around long enough to ensure Tony Blair’s real politics had become obvious.

Comment on Why Mrs T should have left the room quietly, closing the door behind her…. by keatsbabe

keatsbabe — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 17:29:14 +0000

She certainly splits opinion. We could never forget her could we, living in her consituency as we did? My siblings do not necessarily agree with me (see Phil, below!) but I have always maintained my dislike of her policies and of her as a woman. Frankly, she would have scared me witless.

Comment on Why Mrs T should have left the room quietly, closing the door behind her…. by wurzelmeone

wurzelmeone — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 15:45:14 +0000

I still remember the massive hangover I had on the 23rd November 1990, the day after she resigned as prime minister. It turned out that that was a celebration too soon. Unfortunately, just as her resignation did not signal the end of ‘Thatcherism’; nor will her death. It is a shame that we cannot put all of her dogmas and ideologies into her coffin with her.

Comment on Why Mrs T should have left the room quietly, closing the door behind her…. by Phil

Phil — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 15:42:27 +0000

No diatribe from me in response Suzie, even though you probably know I don’t agree with some of the above. I’ll simply say that there were some things that really needed to be done (however difficult the transition) and she had the balls to do them. Odd that we’ve had 4 male PMs since and none of them have had the balls she had!

Alas, I must concede that some things really didn’t need to be done, but she did those too. She will always be a divisive figure for this reason alone.

Interesting that your view of Dad’s politics is that UKIP would be his natural home now – I’ve thought the same myself more than once. I do wonder that you managed to grow up a dyed-in-the-wool(ly) liberal in a household which took the Express as its daily paper!

Comment on Why Mrs T should have left the room quietly, closing the door behind her…. by sally

sally — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 13:23:02 +0000

Here! Here!
My husbands family were all coal miners in Scotland. They were handed four pounds each per week to live on – 3 coalminers in the family twelve pounds for seven people to live on a week, no help from the government, no council tax paid, no benefits – the children were entitled to free school meals after 6 months on strike, and all the coal miner family children were ostracized at school by having to sit on separate tables to those who paid for their meals. Countless people over the country were donating food etc for the miners families, but when it reached the mines, it was the managers who were going home with their car boots full, and they were all still on full pay because they had to ensure the mine was safe. Miners had to go on a rota system to cover safety, working about 2 – 3 days in the whole year they were on strike.
My husband is currently going around humming or whistling the song from the Wizard of Oz – Ding dong, the witch is dead.
No other Prime Minister in the past 100 years will held in such disdain as Margaret Thatcher.
Communities are still reeling and trying to recover from her policies.