Monthly Archives: January 2017

WHY MARK 27 JANUARY HOLOCAUST MEMORIAL DAY?

Holocaust Memorial Day takes place on 27 January each year. It’s a time for everyone to pause to remember the millions of people who have been murdered or whose lives have been changed beyond recognition during the Holocaust, Nazi Persecution and in subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur. On HMD we can honour the survivors of these regimes and challenge ourselves to use the lessons of their experience to inform our lives today. 27 January marks the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, the largest Nazi death camp.

HMD is a time when we seek to learn the lessons of the past and to recognise that genocide does not just take place on its own, it’s a steady process which can begin if discrimination, racism and hatred are not checked and prevented. We’re fortunate here in the UK; we are not at risk of genocide. However, discrimination has not ended, nor has the use of the language of hatred or exclusion. There is still much to do to create a safer future and HMD is an opportunity to start this process.

The aims of HMD are laid out in the statement of commitment. HMD activity organisers bring together the diverse strands of their communities to commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day in their neighbourhoods. This is a real demonstration of how the lessons of the past can inform our lives today and ensure that everyone works together to create a safer, better future.

Bus Pass

One of the joys of living in London is that at the age of 60 you get free travel on the bus and tube. So I have just applied for my card and it will be on the way soon. Hurray.  My photos been approved so I just need to wait till it turns up in the post.  It seems strange though. I may do a little idle exploring of course for which it should be jolly useful. Apart from that nothing to report really. But you hear you say hang on a minute there must be something else going on or this will be the world’s shortest blog.  Pause to scratch head and look puzzled.  I know I will write about breakfast. I had some toast. No its not really working is it. Wait for it , it will come to me. Nope it hasn’t so on to the next thing.

Diana Stone Moody Musician

As usual I am working on a couple of music projects, a couple of tunes sort of half written, and some lyrics which need a bit of editing. the creative process seems to be alot of no inspiration whatsoever followed by an idea manifesting and trying to tie it down before it fades away or floats off into the either. I have also been looking for copies of some old  “home” video which may be floating around somewhere in the flat on dvd. I found a couple of things, but not what I was actually looking for, as you do. I also strained my back trying to get stuff down off a shelf. I read in article in the papers that a lot of 60+ folk are turning up at the GP’s with minor aches and pains and being very worried about them, because we don’t expect to be feeling any older. Mostly it’s just normal stuff but apparently ancient lycra clad cyclists are insisting on not going gentle into the night. At a certain age bicycles should have a wicker basket on the front. You’re not in the tour de France. I haven’t ridden a bike for ages, though I used to ride to work on one for several years. We have bike hire (what used to be called Boris Bikes) available outside the block, so I really ought to try one. That would get me a bit of excercise I guess. I might end up looking like Marina  from “Last of the summer wine” on it  though. LOL.

Last weekend was slightly frustrating as one gig was canceled due to a double booking. Its rare for that to happen fortunately, but it leaves you at a loose end. Sundays gig was quite good fun, in a fairly downmarket (but in the nicest possible way, though it bit of a fight nearly broke out) place that’s a fairly regular gig for us. It was at the end of the evening so it didn’t cause us any problems.  Local pubs are perhaps the last refuge of the rutting male, where they may make their traditional territorial displays. Having made suitable noises and postured with the appropriate level of bombast they then generally wander off into the night.  The protagonists on the night are known to each other and will no doubt buy each other a drink on next meeting honor having been satisfied.

I don’t really relate to pub culture much, its just that I play gigs in a lot of them. For many years I was rarely in one.  They do all have very different atmospheres. Often the best ones are slightly tatty, and vaguely bohemian. That sort of place is dying out though as everything becomes more corporate. And of course many pubs are being sold off and converted to flats now.  Also many places are under threat due to complaints. This often happens when people but a property near to a pub, not realising there will be a certain amount of noise and generally going on going on. I would be happy to live near a pub if it was a decent one. We do have a pub just across the street, but its not exactly the right vibe and I never see anyone in it most of the time. There are a few with in walking distance that are quite good, but very studently as we have Chelsea Art College annex here now. They get very busy at certain times of year too.

I do wonder how London will be if article 50 goes through.  Very different I suspect.
Why people would vote to crash their own economies, reduce employment and very possibly loose out in several other ways eludes me.

in other news I have finally got around to getting my broadband upgraded which means I now have no excuse for not kicking off a few web based projects.

Lets be carefull out there.

 

Did they or didn’t they?

So then. Did they or didn’t they? I wonder….

US Intelligence report on Russia’s role in DNC hacks by Indy USA on Scribd