Tim Hedges's Blog

An expat's view: politics, economics and life in Italy, Britain and other places.

16 July, 2015

George H

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This blog's sympathy to George H Bush, the President who succeeded Reagan, who, at the age of 91, has had a bad fall and broken a bone i...
07 July, 2015

Euclid

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Qn. What do the following people have in common: Joerg Haider, Yanis Varoufakis, Silvio Berlusconi, George Papandreou? A. They have all be...
05 July, 2015

Simony

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Apparently for the christening of the royal princess, as, apparently for her brother, water from the River Jordan will be flown in. Apart ...
02 July, 2015

Parliament

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There are stories that sorting out the structural problems of the Palace of Westminster might cost £7 billion. It is perfectly obvious t...

War again?

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I remember back to the start of the Iraq war. Tony Blair had persuaded large numbers of his own party to back a war but needed cross party ...
17 May, 2015

Alive!

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A HA! I have been trying to get into this blog for some time using one of these tablet things. Harsh words were spoken about Google and it...
18 March, 2015

Andy Fraser

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This blog says farewell to Andy Fraser, the best heavy bassist in the world. He joined Free at 15, having already played for John Mayall. ...
17 March, 2015

Political summary

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The general election campaign seems to have begun in earnest at the beginning of January. Now, in mid-March, there are still seven weeks to ...

Luvvie Fascism

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One has interesting discussions with tailors. sometimes, but I really cannot imagine discussing In Vitro Fertilisation with one. Such, howev...
12 March, 2015

Ciggies

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I knew someone who affected Balkan Sobranie cigarettes, once. They were expensive and tasted like old socks, but they came in different colo...
11 March, 2015

Jeremy Clarkson

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Top Gear used to be owned jointly by the BBC and Jeremy Clarkson and a colleague. The BBC bought Clarkson out last year at a cost of million...
10 March, 2015

The euro

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I see that the euro has fallen to €1.40/£, which, interestingly, was the rate it was launched at in 1999 (bank accounts only). I predicted...

Whose army?

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The Americans are calling for increased defence expenditure in Europe. The fact is that they are tiring of defending an ungrateful but rich ...
28 February, 2015

Out!

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Apparently England's one-day cricket captain, Eoin Morgan, has refused to sing the national anthem. In football, cricket and other spo...

Let 'em die

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Also more tosh on Radio 4 about the number of pandas. These creatures were carnivores which became too lazy to hunt and sat on their backs...

Je suis Spock

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Incredibly I heard a discussion on BBC radio to the effect that the reason we liked Star Trek's Mr Spock was that he suffered racial con...
23 February, 2015

La Barcaccia

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Appalling scenes in Rome last week as Dutch football fans rioted and damaged a fountain. Read about it in The Commentator - it's free!...
22 February, 2015

Greece again

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There has been a lot of talk about winning and losing, and very little about what is best for the people of Greece. It seems Mr. Tsipras h...
18 February, 2015

Greece

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There's a lot of confusion in the press and the markets today to the effect that Greece will request an extension of its bailout, thus c...
17 February, 2015

ISIS

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After the appalling killing of a Jordanian pilot, Jordan has joined seriously in the fight against Islamic State. Now with the murder of a n...
16 February, 2015

Imbeciles

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A conversation I have had this morning 'Hello Mr. Hedges, this is the anti-fraud department at XXXX Bank. Can we ask you some question...
14 February, 2015

Tax, when to pay

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Possibly to Ed Milliband's annoyance, the people seem to be getting bored or confused or both on this business of tax avoidance. Rathe...
11 February, 2015

Pas Charlie

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It seems the British police asked newspaper distributor John Menzies for a list of newsagents stocking Charlie Hebdo and, incredibly, were g...
08 February, 2015

The Commentator

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Do read the Commentator , high quality journalism which is free. My latest article is about the political importance of barbers.

Our NHS

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A report shows that 1,000 people a month are dying unnecessarily in the British Health Service. I can't say I'm surprised, but the...

Our Ukraine

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'Are Merkel and Hollande going to sell out Ukraine?' asked one paper. Now, stop me if I've said this before, but I'm sure ...
29 January, 2015

The top 1%

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I am grateful to Guido for pointing out that in the last quarter of 2014 Apple sold 74.5 million devices. That is to say that in just thre...

Pas du tout Charlie

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This blog covered the events in Paris earlier this month with some scepticism. It is one thing to say 'Je suis Charlie', that is to ...
27 January, 2015

Greece

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It seems one of my New Year's predictions has already come good: that Syriza would win the election in Greece but without a majority. ...

Colouring

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Benedict Cumberbatch, the actor, has apologised for his language on American television. He says he is 'devastated' to have caused o...
24 January, 2015

De mortuis...

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The flags were at half mast in London yesterday and for a while no one knew whether it was for King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia or for Leon Bri...
20 January, 2015

The NHS

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Delighted to hear Nigel Farage saying the NHS will have to move to an insurance based system within ten years. The true ghastliness of the...
18 January, 2015

Italian culture

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Happy birthday to ANSA, the Press agency, which is 70 years old. It performs an excellent service, unbiased although Italian-centred. Its we...
14 January, 2015

Easing

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As I write, the pound sterling has risen dramatically against the euro. The reason is that the markets believe that the European Central B...
13 January, 2015

Aux armes, citoyens!

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So what was it all about, this march in Paris, repeated all over France? Some say 3.7 million people came out. Well....according to Piers ...
11 January, 2015

Hypocrisy (2)

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And I'm afraid a miasma of hypocrisy is settling over the Charlie Hebdo affair. François Hollande, who has done more than most to cover ...

Hypocrisy

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A good article by Catherine Bennett in the Observer today pointing out that there seems to be one law for Ched Evans and another for Roman P...
10 January, 2015

The Commentator

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Do read The Commentator - it's free. My latest article describes Berlusconi's comeback
09 January, 2015

Ched Evans

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An aide to John 'Vince' Cable, the Business Secretary, has interfered in the talk about Ched Evans, a footballer who was convicted o...
1 comment:

2015

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I should have begun the year by giving you my forecasts but to be honest they're more often wrong than right. OK, here we go. In the...
08 January, 2015

Perfect!

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The supremely irritating TripAdvisor - why can't they spell adviser properly? - has just sent me an email entitled 'Paris in 2015 - ...

Je suis Charlie (3)

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The problem now appears to be how people react, in France and elsewhere. France has around 6 million muslims, the highest of any Western Eur...

Je suis Charlie (2)

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By the way I'm not sure I want to hear too much from the French about freedom of speech. If Charlie Hebdo, instead of printing cartoo...

Je suis Charlie

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There is only one way, in my view, to see the attack on the Charlie Hebdo offices in Paris: it was an attack on us all, from the great inter...

Happy New Year

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I have neglected this blog over the last year, partly through illness and partly through getting involved in other projects. It is very much...
1 comment:
12 December, 2014

Immigration

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I read that thousands of people are estimated to have been given British passports even though they are criminals or otherwise quite unsuita...
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