Beautiful places near home

This is Woodbrooke Quaker College, 20 minutes from the centre of Birmingham. Beautiful, tranquil gardens and a real haven from the bustle of the main road just outside.





See their website - http://www.woodbrooke.org.uk/ - for details of the College and the weekend and other courses run there.

Pride in Birmingham

For some more photos, see AmnestyBrum's flickr stream - this year we supported activists from the Baltic countries who stage their Pride festival, for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people and their friends. 

This time, the Amnesty group had a float (ie lorry) to stage their Birmingham/Baltic Pride to support the visitors and their friends back home.  Baltic Pride is in Estonia this year, but due to local difficulties a march isn't planned.  (To see the local reactions to similar events in those countries, try YouTube and "Baltic Pride" and maybe "Riga 2006" to show just how hostile the anti-lobby can be.  A shame, they lose an enriching experience themselves (the antis) and make life colder and crueller for others - in what are beautiful countries with a rich heritage.)

We are lucky to have a great celebratory event in Birmingham, which all can take part in without threat, and where friends and well-wishers can play an equal part.

Espana en Birmingham

Spanish protestors out in Brum city centre today.  Spanish Grand Prix in the background.  See an article in El Pais about the bigger protests in Madrid as elections are held in Spain amidst anger at high unemployment and government austerity policies ... (sounds familiar?)

Concert and more

Symphony Hall 14th May: CBSO.

Shostakovich's 10th Symphony in the second half: stern, dramatic and a little distant emotionally after the orchestral tour de force of the first half with Rachmaninov's 2nd Piano Concerto, sometimes described as an old war-horse but tonight fresh as ever with a subtle touch on the piano and beautiful moments from the orchestra.

Refugee rights (and legal prejudice)

Read this display board from the British Library's current exhibition on the Census: plus ça change ...

(http://www.bl.uk/census for exhibition details).

Back from the Big City

A weekend in London's always an experience, but sometimes it gets too much. So we came back on an earliesh train today, and one of us is resting while the other one's typing this post. Meanwhile, here's a photo from a previous trip. You might recognise the skyline.

Roar ...