Church governance and cultural mismatch

About ten or twelve years ago, we used to go to a Baptist church (which, note well, indicates a very different denomination in the UK from what it is in the US). Unlike other churches we’d be… | Continue reading


@reprog.wordpress.com | 5 years ago

Doctor Who: Series 1, revisited

My eldest son, Daniel, is back from University for a last holiday before his finals. He’s spending the time with a blend of revision and watching Doctor Who. He’s making his way through… | Continue reading


@reprog.wordpress.com | 5 years ago

Here’s what post-truth politics looks like

I came across an extraordinary short (18 seconds) video, which I will transcribe: Krishnan Guru-Murthy: The Conservative MP Ben Bradley is in the House of Commons. He voted to Remain, then became a… | Continue reading


@reprog.wordpress.com | 5 years ago

What I’ve been listening to in 2018

Here is a YouTube playlist of my now-traditional top-ten list of the albums I’ve listened to the most in the previous calendar year. (See this list of previous entries.) I listen much more to whole… | Continue reading


@reprog.wordpress.com | 5 years ago

Etch-a-Sketch ruined castle

For some reason, in the autumn of 2010 I decided to draw a ruined castle on an Etch-a-Sketch. I just stumbled across a photo I took of the drawing, and quite liked it, so here it is. | Continue reading


@reprog.wordpress.com | 5 years ago

Asking Mark Harper to back the Wilson/Kyle proposal

Poor Mark Harper. As my democratically elected representative, it’s his job to read what I write to him. I last wrote back in early December, and rapidly changing events have led me to write … | Continue reading


@reprog.wordpress.com | 5 years ago

“Why’s it taking so long? We should just leave!”

I’m not going to advocate remaining in the European Union in this post[1]: I just want to address one specific thing that emerges from the present omnisuperubercatastroshambles+++, and that i… | Continue reading


@reprog.wordpress.com | 5 years ago

The Battle of Ranskoor Av Kolos: too late, had your chance, muffed it

Honestly, I am getting tired of writing these reviews. I bet you’re tired of reading them, too. The good news is that this is for the last of the present series. The bad news is that I still … | Continue reading


@reprog.wordpress.com | 5 years ago

A Thursday in December

Starring Gandalf the Grey. It’s probably best thought of as a sound collage, and one that I find strangely relaxing. | Continue reading


@reprog.wordpress.com | 5 years ago

It Takes You Away: interesting, and that’s worth something

For one reason and another, I just couldn’t gather the family to watch this one. After the attempts had dragged out long past the end of the series’ broadcast run, I eventually gave up … | Continue reading


@reprog.wordpress.com | 6 years ago

Lego-ish Blockade Runner and Nebulon B Frigate

Back in March, I and my eldest son Dan both got Lepin STAR PLAN kits — from the same Lego-alike manufacturer that made my STAR WNRS Super Star Destroyer. I got a Tantive IV blockade runner, a kit I… | Continue reading


@reprog.wordpress.com | 6 years ago

Six pies, and more lessons learned

It’s been a while since I did some experimental baking. This evening, the mood took me, and I made six small pies which made just about enough food for the four of us to have a light meal. He… | Continue reading


@reprog.wordpress.com | 6 years ago

My MP wrote to me about Brexit: here’s my reply

As noted in the previous post, my MP, Mark Harper, responded to my three recent letters about Brexit. Here is the letter I have sent in reply. Dear Mark Harper, I’m writing to thank you for y… | Continue reading


@reprog.wordpress.com | 6 years ago

A response from my MP on Brexit

It took a long time coming, but now that I have written three times to my MP about Brexit [first one, second one, third one], I have a reply — and I’m pleased to say it’s pretty good, a… | Continue reading


@reprog.wordpress.com | 6 years ago

Third try: writing to my MP about Brexit

Sigh … Third try … Dear Mark Harper, This is the third time in three weeks that I have written to you about Brexit, and I have yet to receive a reply to my first message of three weeks … | Continue reading


@reprog.wordpress.com | 6 years ago

The Witchfinders: a collision of irrelevances

If I’ve given the impression of not having enjoyed this series of Doctor Who very much, that’s not too far wrong. Here we are now, after eight of the ten episodes, and time is fast runn… | Continue reading


@reprog.wordpress.com | 6 years ago

Follow-up letter to my MP repeating my request that he back a #PeoplesVote

I just sent this to my MP, Mark Harper, via the WriteToThem web-site. It is a follow-up to my letter of two weeks ago, which has not received a reply. Dear Mark Harper, Two weeks ago, I wrote to yo… | Continue reading


@reprog.wordpress.com | 6 years ago

Kerblam!: yes, but what does it all mean?

Another nearly-but-not-quite episode this week. I feel like we’re edging closer to a really good story without quite having got there yet. A novel setting, an interesting mystery, and some fi… | Continue reading


@reprog.wordpress.com | 6 years ago

Demons of the Punjab: close, but no sonic screwdriver

There’s a lot to like about this one. But, paradoxically, the strengths of the episode have the side-effect of laying bare its weaknesses. It all leaves me still struggling to summon up the l… | Continue reading


@reprog.wordpress.com | 6 years ago

The Tsuranga Conundrum: as you were

When this series of Doctor Who started, the big hook was a female Doctor. Was it just stunt casting? Would it explore genuinely new territory? Would she actually be any good? And I think peopleR… | Continue reading


@reprog.wordpress.com | 6 years ago

Letter to my MP asking him to back a #PeoplesVote

I just sent this to my MP, Mark Harper, via the WriteToThem web-site. Dear Mark Harper, As I write, the broad outlines of the withdrawal agreement reached between UK and EU negotiators are apparent… | Continue reading


@reprog.wordpress.com | 6 years ago

Arachnids in the UK: treading water

OK, so a slightly clever title, though only people fifty years old will get what it’s punning on. A decent set-up, exploiting one of the most widespread phobias. A truly nasty bad-guy, who is… | Continue reading


@reprog.wordpress.com | 6 years ago

Are you one of the 10% of programmers who can write a binary search?

There are some programming books that I’ve read from cover to cover repeatedly; there are others that I have dipped into many times, reading a chapter or so at a time.  Jon Bentley’s 19… | Continue reading


@reprog.wordpress.com | 6 years ago

Rosa: now we’re getting somewhere!

As always, I’ve been avoiding reviews until I’ve got my own thoughts down, but I know from last week that a lot of people were looking ahead to Rosa with some trepidation. Elizabeth San… | Continue reading


@reprog.wordpress.com | 6 years ago

Brief thoughts on The Ghost Monument

I’m not particularly planning to blog my way through this whole series of Doctor Who, but you never know. (I didn’t intend to do it with series 5, either, but I ended up doing all of se… | Continue reading


@reprog.wordpress.com | 6 years ago

The Woman who Fell to Earth: some unwelcome opinions

I just found time to watch Jodie Whittaker’s debut episode as the new Doctor. It would seem churlish not to put down a few thoughts about it while it’s fresh in my mind, and before read… | Continue reading


@reprog.wordpress.com | 6 years ago

Just a little late-night snack

I’m working late, so I treated myself to this small plate: The cheeses: Parmesan (Italian) Manchego (Spanish) Saint Agur (French) Wensleydale with cranberries (English) The meats: Parma ham (… | Continue reading


@reprog.wordpress.com | 6 years ago

Taking down trees in our garden

We’re fortunate to have a lot of green space out the back of our house — it came about because we moved out of London to rural Gloucestershire, and the prices of property vary wildly be… | Continue reading


@reprog.wordpress.com | 6 years ago

There’s ignorance; and then there’s wilful ignorance

The Telegraph today reports that “Chris Grayling has no credible plan for ‘no-deal’ Brexit, road hauliers warn”. In a series of tweets commenting on this, the article’… | Continue reading


@reprog.wordpress.com | 6 years ago

A short and simple question for Brexiters

On the whole, the discussion surrounding the Brexit process seems now to be about damage limitation, and earlier talk of it offering us new opportunities has evaporated. I am genuinely interested t… | Continue reading


@reprog.wordpress.com | 6 years ago

What I’ve been reading lately, part 26

You Had Me At Hello — Mhairi McFarlane I can’t remember now what made me read this, as it’s in a genre that I never bother with in the usual run of things: a romantic comedy, or I… | Continue reading


@reprog.wordpress.com | 6 years ago

A treble clef in the wisteria

Late last year, I spotted a treble clef, growing naturally, in the wisteria on the front of our house: | Continue reading


@reprog.wordpress.com | 6 years ago

In one month, I’ve lost 6.4 kg (14.1 lb, 1 stone)

On the 13th of last month, having just got back from a fattening week in the USA, I weighed myself after my morning shower, and registered 105.4 kg. Today is the 13th, exactly one month on, and I w… | Continue reading


@reprog.wordpress.com | 6 years ago

Clematis growing on wooden pallets

A few years ago, I leaned a couple of wooden pallets up against the side of our woodshed, and forgot all about them. In the mean time, some clematis has self-seeded and started climbing up them. No… | Continue reading


@reprog.wordpress.com | 6 years ago

East meets West! It’s the English breakfast sushi roll

I’ve been eating sushi a lot recently, as part of a (very successful) diet where I don’t each much, but everything I do eat is something I really enjoy. Then this morning, I smelled the… | Continue reading


@reprog.wordpress.com | 6 years ago

Four films: Out of Sight, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Abigail’s Party, Three Days of the Condor

Usually, I tend to fill most of my spare moments with work of one kind or another. But this weekend, exhausted, I made a policy decision to ignore the manuscript awaiting my peer-review, my own man… | Continue reading


@reprog.wordpress.com | 6 years ago

Metal Jester at the Marquee in 1991

A few years ago, I wrote about the heavy metal band, Anne Heap of Frogs, that I was the guitarist for in my late teens; and then about Crossfire, the band that come out of that, and some other bits… | Continue reading


@reprog.wordpress.com | 6 years ago

Genesis: a tragedy in 15 acts. Part 2: the Collins years

Last time, we looked at the first six Genesis albums, with Peter Gabriel in the lead singer role. When he left the band at the end of the Lamb Lies Down on Broadway tour, things did not look good f… | Continue reading


@reprog.wordpress.com | 6 years ago

Passing laws and adding BIB-1 diagnostics

Years ago, I was a member of the Z39.50 Implementers’ Group. We’d gather from all around the world, maybe 30 or 40 of us, and meet for several days to discuss and vote on possible exten… | Continue reading


@reprog.wordpress.com | 6 years ago

Genesis: a tragedy in 15 acts. Part 1: the Gabriel years

About a year ago, for reasons that escaped me then and still do now, I found myself writing a whole-career retrospective review of Whitesnake’s albums. They’re a band that I like, but w… | Continue reading


@reprog.wordpress.com | 6 years ago

Bolognese sauce, done right

Everyone knows how to make spaghetti bolognese … after a fashion. It’s classic student cookery, isn’t it? Onions, minced beef and tomatoes into a pot, simmer for a while — b… | Continue reading


@reprog.wordpress.com | 6 years ago

What I’ve been reading lately, part 25

Deep Space Accountant — Mjke Wood This was a BookBub freebie, which I picked up because it was free and I found the conceit amusing. I’m glad I did. It’s much better than it neede… | Continue reading


@reprog.wordpress.com | 6 years ago

Chicken Dhansak

This recipe is my homebrew attempt at synthesising my favourite restaurant/takeaway curry in a quick-to-make form, since all the dhansak recipes I’ve seen are very involved and don’t re… | Continue reading


@reprog.wordpress.com | 6 years ago

What I’ve been listening to in 2017

Here is a YouTube playlist of my now-traditional top-ten list of the albums I’ve listened to the most in the previous calendar year. (See this list of previous entries.) I listen much more to whole… | Continue reading


@reprog.wordpress.com | 6 years ago

Paul Simon: One Trick Pony (1980)

Paul Simon’s fourth post-Garfunkel solo album, One Trick Pony, is the soundtrack to the movie of the same name. The film was pretty much ignored on release, both by audiences and by critics &… | Continue reading


@reprog.wordpress.com | 6 years ago