You can starve on benefits

http://www.theguardian.com/society/2013/sep/18/jack-monroe-starve-benefits-england

I fear there is too much emphasis on how to eat cheaply. Yes it is possible, yes I have done it, but there is a limit to how much an ordinary person can cut back on food.  Even a saving of £10 a week can be blown alway by misfotune.  I am not saying it isn't a help, of course it is, but you don't get  a fortune from eating more cheaply.

Rock Roadie - by James Tappy Wright

James 'Tappy' Wright worked with many of the 1960's rock stars - The Animals, Jimi Hendrix, Tina Turner, and he met with Elvis and a number of Hollywood Stars.

This is a odd book in that it jsut stops in 1973 despite being published in 2009, so more a memoir than an autobiography.  It is an entertaining account of rock bands in the early 1960's, it conrain rather a lot of references to the sexual exploits of Tappy and various band members

if you could read my mind

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l-ij_iTQt2w

Country Joe and the Fish

http://www.countryjoe.com/uncut.htm

Why do people get so angry at someone havinge a 'spare' room ?

Even the supporters of the spare bedroom subsidy have to answer the questions.  What about people who have no money to move - how does leaving them with less money help free up 'spare' rooms ?  What about the people who want to move but have no smaller accomodation to go to - how does that free up spare rooms ?  What about the people who live  in properties adapted to cope with disabilities - how does that save the tax payer money ?  And why the obsession with bedrooms ? what about the other rooms in the property ? Why should a couple and child people living in a house with two bedrooms, garden, garage, conservatory, kitchen, sitting room, bath room, loft, cellar, utility room and get full housing benefit, and an identical couple  in a 3 bedroom high rise flat, including two box rooms and a single open plan living area  and shower/toilet get their benefit cut ?

Joan of Arc

Joan of Arc was really one of the most unusual historical figures.  It is startling to learn that she is one of the most documented figures of the middle ages.  For all that, like many famous people, the legend is better know than the reality.  Over time people reinvent Joan of Arc to fit in with their needs for a certain type of hero or certain reinterpretation of history.

The author goes back to original sources and meticulous research.

Joan wasn't a peasant or a shepherdess, not really, although she was from a modest background.
She did hear voices and was very religious. She did persuade nobles and the Dauphin (King) to follow her lead or at least let her get on with what she wanted to do, although only up to a point.  She was highly intelligent and her achievements changed the course of history.

Strangely, the main offence she was convicted of at her trail was the wearing of mens clothing.


The Virgin Warrior - the life and death of Joan of Arc by Larissa Juliet Taylor ISBN 978-0-300-16895-2

from the USA

I recommend a trip to the American Museum in Bath. The current guest exhibition is on gunslingers to gangsters - and has items that come from gunslingers and outlaws such as Jessie James to the gangsters of the 1920's and 30's such as Al Capone along with items that once belonged to robbers Bonnie and Clyde.