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Thursday 8th May 2008

Could the Clinton Campaign go Bankrupt?

News reports say that Hillary Clinton has had to lend her campaign money again - $6.4M in the last month, and the campaign already has debts of more than $10M. So anyone donating money isn't really going to move things forward, they're just going to put a small dint in a very large debt, and if Hillary does manage to pay off the money she owes everyone else, then donations will be going towards paying her back her $6.4M! According to Slate "What happens to Hillary Clinton's debt when the primaries are over? ", senator John Glen's debts after his presidential attempt lasted more than 20 years!

Still, with a joint income of $109M over the last 8 years she should be OK for money.

So what happens next with the democratic nomination? I can't see Obama giving Hillary the VP spot, for one main reason - the VP become president if the incumbent dies, and having seen how she campaigns, would anyone really trust her not to push him under a bus?

Wednesday 7th May 2008

Testing The Echo by David Edgar

A great play which looks at the new UK Citizenship test. It doesn't come to any conclusion, but does raise a lot of issues. Just what questions should be in a citizenship test? Should we have one at all? What does it aim to achieve? One issue the play only touches on is why the "testees" are here in the UK and applying for citizenship in the first place. Other play's I've seen recently (e.g. If Only The Dead Could Listen) and the testimonies I heard at the Independent UK Asylum Tribunal have dealt with some of the more horrific reasons why people come to the UK, but that wasn't the focus here.

The actors demonstrated some amazing transformations, playing different characters so well that I was hard pressed to workout how many actors there were!

Discussing the citizenship test in the Rep bar afterwards, I wondered if the right question was "Who would we want a UK Citizenship test to reject?"

Monday 5th May 2008

Walking at Edgehill

Edgehill is in Warwickshire, not too far from Stratford and very close to Compton Verney . We'd headed out to see the gallery, but as the clothing needed for the weather changed from waterproof-trousers to shorts, we decided to give the indoors a miss and get straight out in the sun.

We followed a nice circular route, first through sheep fields with lambs, the fields still ridged from medieval strip farming .

Hairy headed sheep

Sheep and Lambs

Undulating fields

Next we climbed through some young woods, and did a quick steep uphill section on the road which brought us to the top of the escarpment, know as "Edgehill" as it's a kind of linear hill. We then followed a narrow path through woods thick with different native plants, including bluebells. I was on the lookout for wild garlic, but didn't spot (or smell) any, though it's easier to find when in flower.

Path through woods

Bluebells

Three quarters of the way round brought us to our pub stop, a fantasy castle shaped pub, the Castle Inn. It was built by the local landowner on part of the site of the first battle of the English Civil war. It also served a very tasty pint of Hook Norton beer!

The Castle Inn

After a drink and a sit down, with a nice view over the land below, we headed off again, back into the woods and then down to the village we'd started in. What a nice way to spend a bank holiday

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