Dear Mark Harper …

Dear Mark Harper,

Whatever your, my or anyone else’s views on Brexit, it is surely obvious to all of us that no one man should be able or allowed, in a Parliamentary democracy, to shut down Parliament for fear that it will disagree with his own personally favoured policy. It makes me ashamed of my country.

I know it is difficult for a Conservative MP to take any action against the Conservative Party. But if you have any respect for our democratic system, any concern for those you represent in the Forest of Dean, or any political integrity, you will stand — with members of other parties if necessary — against Boris Johnson’s move to prorogue Parliament for his own personal short-term advantage.

The Conservative Party has been stolen from conservatives by demogogues and would-be dictators. Take it back.

Yours sincerely,

Dr. Mike Taylor
Oakleigh Farm House #F
Crooked End
Ruardean
Gloucestershire GL17 9XF

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I just sent this letter to my MP using writetothem.com. It is quick and easy. I encourage you to write to your own MP.

 

Updating the “About” page

When I started this blog over nine years ago, back in February 2010, I made an about page that said I was 41 years old and had been happily married to Fiona for 17 years. I said I was father to three boys: Daniel (12 years old), Matthew (10) and Jonno (7). And I included this photo of my with them, crouching in front of a whale jaw in the Oxford University Museum of Natural History:

Me with (left to right) Jonno, Daniel and Matthew, in front of a baleen-whale skull at the Oxford University Natural History Museum

What I’ve been reading lately, part 32

Popcorn — Ben Elton

More Elton, this one the story of a film director, clearly based on Quentin Tarantino, who makes very violent but very stylish films; and about two copycat killers who break into his Hollywood mansion and hold him hostage.

Again, fast-moving and compelling. Ironically, though, it falls into exactly the trap that it’s accusing Tarantino of falling into: making the mindless violence seem exciting and sexy. I would like to think that Elton did this deliberately, as a sort of meta-comment, but I’m not sure he’s that clever.

Head in the Clouds

Our family was away from 24th-31st July, cruising in a boat on the Norfolk Broads. In fact, we were in this specific boat, “Glistening Light”:

During that week, my middle son Matthew had a burst of creative energy, and wrote and recorded an EP of five instrumental tracks (six if you count the very short track “(edited)”), which he titled Head in the Clouds. It’s very sunny, optimistic and quirky.