‎"This new bottom-up and networked internationalism is offering energy, vision and alternatives"

Absolutely right and that's the future but not within the other stuff they're saying . Its been tried and didn't work , much as the attempt to make the whole planet completely free market isn't going to work that's just a scaling up of nation state failed free markets. Its obvious : sometimes according to social and economic condition's free market practice needs to be at the forefront and government economic and social development in the background . At other times its reversed. We need a government system that transmits that message and organises accordingly. For any party, to identify with free market domination or government public sector domination as the most desirable is crazy! Best thing the 'ol Tony Blair Labour Party did was to do it like the Tory Party because that dropping of party dogma is what should happen. Similar things are going on with the Tory Party right now . Thats good but tough on anyone who believes in party politics. TB for Pope yay, TB for God even ! I'm only agreeing with him!

Last Sunday Fiona and I went to see Joan Baez at the Barbican York. It was very nice to do something on our own without the children! Pulling into the Bootham Bar car park and seeing the huge Ferris wheel on the other side of the River Ouse all lit up by the Railway Museum in the early evening light was truly a joy. We walked the short stretch from the car park down to Lendal Bridge and the River was smooth brown reflecting the lights on both sides.

We decided this would be a romantic evening, so not too much laughing, of course that started a lot of laughing and there was no going back. We nipped into the Cross Keys pub in Goodramgate at about 6:15 and on the way there I was quite surprised that York City Council had removed some of the lighting in the centre of York which gives it a very nice dark mysterious feeling.

Onto the Barbican Venue and whilst stood around in the foyer waiting to go into the concert hall, we were about 35 min early, we always like to turn up early, we met some old friends from the late 80s and early 90s Graham and Katherine Tizziman. Katherine was a teacher at Dunnington school in the york area alongside Fiona and then she went on to be a headteacher and an excellent one. She retired a few years ago just after completing an OFSTED inspection where she got outstanding in all aspects of her school. A truly great teacher. Graham, I think, I can't quite remember, worked for York city council in the planning department and he was a Civil Engineer by training. It was really nice seeing them and they invited us to go and visit sometime over this year. I said we will turn up and camp out on the lawn which got much laughter.

We then moved upstairs because we had balcony seats and I was just stood around minding my own business and my ex partner in romance and her new husband, Toni Bunnell and Paul, she seems to like men called Paul, bumped into me and we had a nice little chat. We bumped into Toni at Whitby over the Christmas period and it was nice to see her again and I chided her that I had phoned her about meeting up after christmas, left an answerphone message, but she claimed she could not hear it and it is best to text or e-mail. One thing I like about Toni as I do about most women and men I know, is they tell me what to do when necessary!

Joan Baez was amazing, moving and really entertaining with her little anecdotes about spending time with Bob Dylan and the various musicians she met over the years. Right from the start I had tears in my eyes with that amazing transcendental voice that just takes you to another place and keeps you there. She did a handful of songs on her own and then a percussionist and multi-instrumentalist joined her a multi-instrumentalist guy a young Louisianan who played keyboard, fiddle, banjo, guitar and bass guitar and was totally and absolutely amazing. It made me acutely aware of the wide gulf between people who play music and musicians. In relation to that guy I am not sure where I am between those two conditions myself. It made me think that a musician like that just cannot be produced in this country at the moment because we do not have a culture where a lad like that could express his talents. His fiddle playing was absolutely amazing the total real thing and it was not just that he was technically good at playing the fiddle, I have heard a lot of those over the years, you could tell that he had been playing with musicians and was from a culture where a way of play music to a very tasteful, exciting and high standard was the norm. If there were any other musicians in that concert Hall they should sit up and take note. I did!

It was an amazing one hour and 40 min which will have a special place in my heart and mind for the rest of my life something I will never forget. We are definitely going to see her again if she comes to England next year. She is also a piece of living history with one foot walking in the civil rights movement and the other walking in the peace and Justice issues and organisations she has involved herself in over the years. An amazing, talented and beautiful lady no doubt about it.

After the concert whilst people were flowing from upstairs to downstairs I bumped into one of our Baha'is, Barbara Gilbert, with her husband and they had come down from Bishop Auckland in County Durham to see the concert. That was really nice. Fiona decided she was hungry so we went to McDonald's and had a very tasty hamburger which I proclaimed was about 800 cal worth of food per burger and of course McDonald's now print their calorie amounts on their burgers, well not on the burger, on the package that it comes with, and it was indeed 835 cal and my pretty, beautiful wife was quite impressed with that. I am glad she gets impressed with these silly little observations of mine.That's all I've got really! We then trucked off back to the Cross Keys to have some more orange juice but Fiona still wanted a bit more to eat, specifically nuts, and the pub did quite large bowls of pistachio nuts which you had to shell yourself and the lady serving us dutifully gave us a small glass to put the the nutshells in. So we spent the next 40 min, chatting between sipping orange juice and munching pistachio nuts. Which at this stage of our marriage constitutes a whole lot of fun and not only that it is something we rarely do so we really enjoyed it.

As usual halfway back to home Fiona was fast asleep as I kept the car on the road and just basked in the warm glow of a very beautiful, romantic and cracking night out.

Whilst out walking around York with Clifford a week last Wednesday I decided it would be nice to get some pussy willows for Fiona to cheer her up because she has on and off been pretty ill over the last few months. My inspiration for this was getting some for her last year which came about because I noticed several women between around 25 and 35 walking around the centre of York clutching bunches of pussy willow's and I swear they all looked like primary school teachers which they probably were because primary school teachers do tend to have a "look" I should know after all because I have been looking at one for the last 23 years.

Well on that dubious knowledgebase and the more sounder one which is that Fiona over all of the time that I have known has at this time of the year stopped the car when we have been going down a country lane and dashed up to the nearest tree which had pussy willows and neatly cut down a few of them for the particular nature table in her classroom. Over the years because of the ecological unfriendliness of this act, a possible contravention of the Countryside and Wildlife legislation and just the general way it looks to the public i.e. a maniacal primary school teacher doing a gurrilla raid on various trees, as well as my having to stop her carrying a 12 inch Bowie knife in her rucksack at this time of the year, that being the most effective means and swiftness to sever these hapless pussy willows from the parent tree, I thought it wiser that I should now start purchasing these things for her.

Of course she absolutely loves pussy willows and the ones I brought back last year put me in her good books for most of the year and amazingly enough they have been on our kitchen table alive and well for all that year. In terms of longevity our marriage, relationship and pussy willows seem to have something in common. But anyway, I also thought this was a good time to show Clifford what a thoughtful husband I am and we looked around the York Market to get some pussy willows which we did, four pounds for 10 and they were nice big bushy ones as well which I knew Fiona would really like. I also gave Clifford my little speech, lecture, explanation that it is nice to do things out of total love for your wife, have the purest of motives, but also see and understand that there are tangible benefits from such actions as well in terms of stupid things you may do viewed in a more benevolent light and so on. I also said that his mum would just be absolutely delighted with these.

When we got back home Fiona was still feeling woozy and was crashed out in bed so I strode up the stairs and gave her a nudge out of her doziness and showed her the pussy willows and she was absolutely delighted and did exactly what I said to Clifford she would do she sort of stroked and fingered them and said how beautiful they were. Amazing! These little biological marriage savers are on the kitchen table right in front of me now and they seem to have some sort of yellow pollen all over them which has just appeared no doubt to be distributed by the wind because there are no bees around at this time of the year and I hope these big fat pussy willows last the whole year as well as a good hedge and buffer to Fiona's doghouse reactions when I get in trouble. Pussy willows: amen!

I have been off my blog since my mother-in-law, Veronica, died a couple of weeks ago. But it is time to start up on it again. A week last Wednesday I had a really nice day out walking around York with my youngest son Clifford. Fiona and Miles had bad colds so stayed at home. It was really nice just me and Clifford going out and on the way down to York he quietly read his book about Stalingrad.

Because it was a day out we parked up at Clifton Green and then walked a mile into town and had biscuit break pretty immediately because we both fancied a coffee and a huge cookie that they do at our favourite cafe right next to Bootham Bar. When walking around York Minster I popped into the prayer Chapel as I often do and said some prayers for my mother-in-law as well as Simon Hoban my good friend from the 80s and early 90s. Clifford was asking all sorts of questions about the structure of the Minster and he took a particular interest in the organ pipes wondering why they were there and how they linked up to the keyboard so we had a good discussion about that. He also had a good look at the imitation East Window because the real thing is being renovated at the moment. God at the top: Creation in the middle: the Apocalypse at the bottom. Very good stuff!

Onward through the town and over the new footbridge across the River Foss and we walked around the University. Parts of the lake still have ice on them which was surprising because how warm it had been but also indicated how cold the Vale of York had remained because of the low mist which lays over it at this part of the year locking in the cold. The Yorkie Bars as I confectionately know them most of the time cannot see this because they are too close to it that is they are in it but every time we travel into Teeside which is at the head of the Vale of York and slightly above it we see the thin mist about 100 m high lying over the valley and nearly always comment on how cold it must be in York .

When we got back into town we had our statutory Cornish Pasty and another great cup of coffee and then just did a couple of circular walks around the town looking at anything that interested us in the buildings. The new York Council extension near the railway station was very interesting. Clifford is such great company a delightful young man and in the melee and cut and thrust of the discussions that we have as a family when we go out I tend not to notice him as much, so this day was a great opportunity and reminder of what a nice kid he is, a quality I have found through talking to many young people over the years. God bless him and God bless them! And God bless Joe James for getting me to write in paragraphs. He is totally right: it is easier on the eye and reads better. Thanks Joe!

Thought I'd put this in my blog . From my Facebook encounters!

"I believe in the idea of cosmology "proving" a creator simply because if the cosmologists show that creation goes on forever , i.e. it has no cause or end this very stuff that we are , standing on , breathing in etc is in its complete explanation outside of the purview of the scientific framework to explain . No cause , no effect therefore: no science! So , the religious views Bahai mostly, possibly Buddhist as well , that the universe has always and will always exist will be as good an explanation as science simply because science by its own definition would have no basis at all to offer an explanation other than theory , sorry religion, sorry theory . Take your pick!. I'm into both. Thus , possibly , one of the pretty fundamental meeting points of science and religion will be established and both will be seen eventually as mutual parts of the same enterprise : coming to know and love God : or : coming to know and love creation, the only effect of God one can know ! There are holes in this argument and they're not just black ones. The creator will be proved simply because we are here , we are created, but there is no physical explanation for it ! Religion : don't it get a man thinking ! Science does as well. Woof woof!"

Well, I walked around Durham today without my family because my Mum didn't want a visit and they didn't want to walk with me . Bad dogs . Anyway the weather was cool but grey and sultry and I had a look at a new extension to the library Durham Uni are putting up . All brash wood and turf roofs. Very nice , classy in fact .

Then I trundled past along the road with a good overview of the Cathedral and the River Wear and decided to have a Starbucks Coffee at their spot just before Framwellgate Bridge . There was a stall outside because they were fundraising for Breast Concern so I put my best " I'm concerned about breasts " look on my face and walked in and there were about 40 young women in there and just a couple of guys , three with me .

Got my coffee and sat down and got several smiles from these femme youngies , I must have looked really concerned , was going to ask the guy in the seat next to me "Are you concerned about womens breasts " but thought better not he might find that scary so I had a nice 20 minutes sipping the great coffee feeling concerned and wondering whether to say to the nearest young lady " Are you going to India or China" but pulled my self up with the thought, " Numb nuts , that was Breast Awareness week" and then thought in a giggling kind of way to myself " I'm probably more concerned and aware of breasts than most of the femme concernos because of the advanced age of my wife!" .

Well on that morally dubious superior note I headed over the Framwellgate Bridge and sneaked up on the unsuspecting guitarist busker who was pretty good but would be better with me blowing harmonica and singing with him and got chatting , we exchanged cards, there will be an exchange of musical notes I hope in the near future and was delighted by the talent , brains and good naturedness of this young chappie. He's a computer science graduate , just finishing his Masters , wondering whether to do a PhD but is open to wasting his life doing music for funk and profit. Good lad . Jake Rigby is his name and he knows how to make basic sound fresh, new and good and that is in my view a big step to advancement and cashola.

Well all good things must come to an end and its now back at home , a spaggheti needs a cooking , but it is so great to part of this lovely family of mine!

Well, another interesting Sunday. It started out with taking Miles down to RKade Skate park in Redcar with the roads in Darlington covered in snow. I was not sure how the heavier car we have now would manage the snow but it was fine. Going down the A66 from Darlington with a 50 mile view down the Vale of York to my right and South East and the North Yorkshire Moors was stunning as usual and there was a fine mist laying in the valley which I knew would keep the temperatures low for the day.

It was supremely cold in the skate park and some parents were shivering after about an hour. Got to wrap up warm folks. We went to visit my mother in the afternoon and she was in good fettle but has some mild health problems. We cheer her up with our slightly anarchic behaviour but she does not mind that. We will be taking her out for a meal on her birthday soon and she always enjoys that because we link it with Miles's birthday so it is a double celebration. The snow had nearly melted in Richmond in the afternoon leaving the fauna all wet looking and fresh almost springlike. A very good day but I'm feeling a bit at a loss what to do at the moment. Geology!

This afternoon with the family I went out into the Lower Weardale Durham City outskirts for an adventurous winter walk into the centre of the city and back. I had intended to take the family up to Yad Moss in Upper Teesdale but it was way too cold for Fiona and a touch exhausting walking around the Yad Moss slopes.

Anyway, through a increasingly snowy and sombre sky we padded around the River Wear and God bless them, the Durham University students were having a boating regatta in subzero temperatures and there were about hundred young people and some oldies on the water with their coxed and non-coxed fours and twos. One young guy was sat in his boat with his shirt off and a good set of muscles bracing against the very cold wind and the snow. Brilliant, there is always one who just has to do it their way.

We saw very little bird life because the regatta crowd was taking up a fair bit of space on the River but walking up to Durham Cathedral from the West End was atmospheric and moody due to a lowering of the cloud as we approached the city. We had biscuit break in the Courtyard and after 5 min Clifford was complaining about being really cold which isn't surprising because he is very long long limbed and has a lot of muscle on him but it is all stretched out which must lose the heat a lot faster than a meso morph like Miles who seemed totally happy in it as usual. So was I, I love the cold. Then again knowing my youngest son as I do I did tell him to put on his body warmer for the walk, back at home, and he said he didn't need it and for once I allowed him to suffer the consequences of his own decision and cold he got. He's a good lad, it got even better when we got home when he was very surprised how fast I worked out 10% and 1% of some calorie comparisons we were doing between Greek yoghurt and the chocolate synthetic gunk that Fiona and Miles are having for their treat tonight. He complained that he did not understand what I was saying because I had not explained how I had arrived at the answer to which I countered with "You should understand how to do percentages in your head by now!" Oo, given his fairly good mathematics abilities it felt good saying that. I then also offered the idea that children's intelligence is often an average between one parent and the other and that when it came to percentages it looked like he was at the lower parent end. Much laughter and he is a good laugh because he can be on the receiving end of a joke as well as tell them.

Durham Cathedral was all lit up inside because it was so dark outside in spite of it being only mid afternoon but it gave the building a completely different look because most times they do not have the internal lights on and we could see all of the nooks and crannies which greatly added to the beauty of the sandstone and construction. A wonderful place, often with a quiet feeling particularly today in the winter light.

Walking back to the car we all got a bit cold in part because we were not walking at our usual pace due to Fiona still not being quite up to scratch. This persisted even when we got home and I have had to put the heating on for a whole hour in order to get the house warm. Tomato sauce and meatballs are on the way prepared by yours truly and we are having my favourite fat pasta with it which really cheeses Miles off because believe it or not he finds it hard to eat. It is just really long and chunky cylinder like pasta which I absolutely adore. A lovely afternoon out, at the back end of a good day and an evening of Star Trek and wonderful music crashing out with Fiona will follow.

Yesterday 31/1/12, my fine and beautiful mother-in-law Veronica, grandmother to our lads, peacefully passed away in Barrow in Furness General Hospital. She had been fairly ill since we last saw her a week earlier and when we saw her on Monday she had deteriorated so badly that she had lapsed into a coma but looked very peaceful.

I had known Veronica for 24 years and whilst at first she found it a bit taxing to adjust to such a rough and ready lad like me then she was quite happy to give consent to Fiona and I getting married because at the time she was a Baha'i and we require the consent of all the parents for marriage. At no point over the years did she ever lower her standards and over that time my actions and thoughts became more consistent with hers completely in line with levelling up to her way of living. She was a powerful influence on keeping our finances in order and she warmly approved of the home education that our lads received although at first she did find it difficult to accept , particularly with Miles because we had such an individualistic as well as pretty smart child. However, after she saw the amazing quality of the work that he did for a five years of age child as well as the amount of it and also his uncanny ability to be able to talk about what he was doing at length she was completely convinced. Same with Clifford.

She was a tremendously loving mother to my lovely wife and supported her wholeheartedly with her aspirations to become a headteacher as well as the change of direction when she no longer wished to do that. Our lads, Miles and Clifford always loved visiting her not least because it was always after a good hike around somewhere in the hills so they were ready for a sit down as well as a good feeding up. The times we had together in her Ripon flat were really good but when she moved to Ulverston in the South Lakes there was an even greater sense of occasion because it was such a long journey from this side of the country in the East to the West.

I am a better person for knowing her over the years and I also felt this progressed my own intellectual and social standards knowing that what I did was under her eye. It is strange that even though we had mild disagreements about various economic as well as educational issues she was always led eventually by whether the facts that occurred led to progress and prosperity or not. I grew closer to her over the years and it was amusing to see that quite often Veronica and I understood each other when talking about economic matters so perfectly whilst Fiona her daughter was completely in the dark because she does not take so much of an interest in these things. I was hoping that she would live for a few more years because I wanted her to see me doing a job other than being a househusband but I have every intention for the rest of my life living up to her high expectations and she was very pleased with how I executed being a househusband as well as taking charge of the education of the lads because Fiona was so busy earning the money with her extremely time consuming teaching job. She knew that both of the boys were brought up do the one thing which is totally vital to humanities future and that is to do what society needs as well as fulfilling their own ambitions as well. God bless Veronica and I will truly miss her.