There is no easy way to find out that someone you’ve known your whole life is gone. It’s particularly hard to find out via an impersonal company email inviting anyone who knew him to attend his funeral that he left this world a month ago. To know that because he had no family and no next of kin, unless your dad was still working at the same company that they had both been employed by for many…

Today marks the centenary of the first women in the UK gaining the vote and universal male enfranchisement when the Representation of the People Act was passed. The extension of voting rights to women who were not over 30 and did not meet certain terms* was not to come until 1928 and the passing of the Equal Franchise Act. But this does not distract from the landmark victory of the 1918 act.…

After much dithering and changing my mind, I have decided to keep it simple for my very first post on this blog and simply introduce myself. (more…)