After the great successes of 2012, you may be looking for further achievements by British people. I have one that may surprise you.
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Category Archives: Features
Anything and everything
English Law
“Where law ends, there tyranny begins.” (William Pitt, the Elder)
These days it seems as if the government is constantly making new laws, but it’s not always a ‘bad’ thing – the Equality Act 2010 incorporates anti-discrimination laws and makes everyone equal, no matter what their nationality, beliefs, gender, disability or sexual orientation. The Human Rights Act 1996 gave everyone the right to make a claim in the English courts against any public organisation they think is infringing their liberty.
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Brighton Science Festival 2013
From before the cradle to beyond the grave
This year the Brighton Science Festival straddles four weekends for four very good reasons.
Firstly (Feb 9-10) All of Life
Science has proved what we always knew: the most important thing in life is sex (Robin Ince’s Dirty Book Club, Friday Feb 8 and The Science of Sex, Saturday Feb 9). We also celebrate the 60th anniversary of the unravelling of life’s blueprint, DNA. Like a bomb that won’t stop exploding, the double helix is still blowing our minds six decades later (DNA DAY, Sunday Feb 10).
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One Man’s Journey
Some readers of The Whistler may remember that in an earlier edition I wrote about my obsession with jazz, which began in the 1950s. Recently I came upon an obituary in The Guardian (24.10.2012) which took me back to those years.
As I learned more about jazz I started to visit the London clubs. At first I wanted to hear Traditional bands, so I went to sessions by Ken Colyer, Humphrey Lyttelton, Chris Barber and other musicians playing in that style. But my friends at University persuaded me that there were other styles of jazz on offer. Soon I was visiting clubs in Soho like The Flamingo and Studio 51. I discovered that these clubs were quite different. The music, the clientele, the dress, the style of dancing (if dancing was allowed) all contrasted quite markedly with the Traditional sessions. I enjoyed both styles, but there was clearly a great divide, with most fans firmly on one side or the other. I felt like a double-agent, but I am sure I was not alone.
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A life in the day
City College Prince’s Trust Team Leader, Kyle Holman, writes…
The Prince’s Trust Team rolling programme challenges 15 local young people as a team to believe in themselves, complete goals and gain direction. We deliver the course during an all-consuming 12 weeks.
My day starts with a chat with the baby at breakfast. Commuting from Crawley to City College with the radio on means I can pick up local news stories relevant to the young people. During an hour’s meeting with the student social worker and volunteer assistants we catch up on latest social barriers, progress and agree our day’s focus. We update our Facebook Group about the day’s plans, check messages, email partnership workshop providers, then prep our resources.
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The Whistler 