Thursday, March 31, 2016

Cruella is baaaaaaaaaaaack


Well sort of. There have been several reminders, varying in gentleness, by readers of this blog that I seem to have forgotten about it. I had not forgotten but I have spent the last several weeks wrestling with health problems that I am now getting over though I still think my body must be rattling with all the medication (being cut down) I seem to be taking. Anyway, enough of that. The point is that I am picking up the pieces of what is laughing known as life, writing articles I ought to have written a while ago and preparing some bigger projects.

The next biggish project is a talk I shall be giving at the Deptford Heritage Festival about Peter the Great's semi-incognito visit in 1698. Amongst all this the blogs (this and the Conservative History Journal) have been put on the back burner, not least because this break seems to me a good opportunity to do a little thinking about their future, in particular, the future of Your Freedom and Ours.

The fact that it needs to have its heading redesigned goes without saying. At present there is nothing but the green benches, which makes it look like a blog about the House of Commons. It is most emphatically not a blog about the House of Commons. I tend to write more about the House of Lords, if anything. In any case, parliamentary matters form a small part. There are other issues that I would like to cover: the referendum up to a point as it is covered by a very large number of other people and I remain unimpressed by all the various campaigns (which ought to mean that I should contribute my own tuppennyworth), other political matters in Britain and other countries; subjects I am generally interested in, such as books I am reading and, perhaps, reviewing, detective stories, their history and relevance, history of cookery and cookery books, films, particularly anti-Communist ones and random observations. All of which is difficult to put together.

One possibility is separating some of the subjects out and have another blog, let us say, about detective stories (I do actually have a title for it) and then pull all of them together on one website that could also have some longer essays. Sounds good, huh? Unfortunately, as all who know me realize, my tecchie knowledge is minimal and my erstwhile tecchie assistant has gone on to doing far bigger things in life.

Or I could keep it all one one blog with several sub-headings, do a number of short entries as I skim through news and other stories with the periodic longer piece.

Anyway, you see my problem, gentle reader. I shall continue mulling and any, but any helpful advice is welcome.