Longrider

Here’s another picture from that old dinosaur book. The title is “Dinosaurs and Other Prehistoric Reptiles”. It was published by Hamlyn in 1966. This edition was 1968. The illustrator was Rudolph F. Zallinger. I did a little Googling on Zallinger and came up with this - The Mural at Yale Peabody Museum. As these murals were completed between 1943 and 1947, the images are as out of date as the one below. Never mind, they are great pictures in their own right - enjoy.

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Big Blunkett is, apparently, still hanging on in there. Despite opposition calls for his resignation he is insisting on waiting for the outcome of the inquiry into the allegations about abuse of power.

Whatever the rights and wrongs - and his attitudes in his personal life do, to some extent, reflect on his professionalism in public life - there comes a time when his position will be untenable.
The press will just keep on digging away and camping on his doorstep until they get what they want; Blunkett’s head on a platter. It is always the same. Evidence has nothing to do with it. Guilt or innocence is irrelevant. He is the story of the moment and the only thing that will make it go away is a resignation. Every cabinet minister in this predicament has eventually caved into the inevitable. Eventually, the Prime Minister will have no option but to ask for a resignation because the publicity is interfering with the governments’ ability to conduct its business.

Normally, I take the view that this is an indication of how sick our media is. I still take that view. On this occasion, however, there will be a side benefit. With Blunkett gone, some of the more extreme policies might be watered down or quietly disappear with a new hand at the tiller.

This cloud has a silver lining - even if not for David Blunkett.
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As a child I was fascinated by dinosaurs. It’s a fascination that has never left me. Yet the pictures in text books of thirty odd years ago are now seriously passé. The idea of those huge sauropods sitting all day in lakes and swamps to support their weight has been completely overturned. That’s the thing with paleontology; it is always open to new ideas prompted by the discovery of new fossils.

They’ve discovered a new one in Brazil. Not a large animal - Unaysaurus tolentinoi is only about 2.5 metres long it would seem. This is interesting as paleontologists believe it was related to Plateosaurus, which has been found in Europe, rather than South America. Plateosaurus was also somewhat larger. So, one find suggests a large land mass during the Triassic that connected what is now Europe with the American continent.

I have always had a fascination for the Triassic period. After all, that is when we first had tortoises on the earth. Tortoises may not be the brightest creatures, but they’ve been with us for 250 million years, so I guess they are doing something right. I have a vested interest here as I have four of them.

It seems that George Galloway is busy enjoying the Telegraph’s discomfiture. And, going by this article, so is the Sunday Times. Clearly this newspaper doesn’t share its rival’s opinion that the judgement was a black day for journalism. In the true spirit of no honour among thieves, the Sunday Times is making the most of the copy that the Telegraph’s costly mistake has provided. As George put it:

“That is 5% of the company’s annual profit, just pissed away!”

I’m amused to see that when referring to George Galloway’s successes as a litigant, the Sunday Times likens him to the Red Baron - not our dear Red Baron I presume.

Anyway, it looks like George is on a roll. He plans to expose those he claims knew that the allegations were false and use parliamentary privilege to do so. Not only that, he is considering legal action against the erstwhile owner of the Telegraph, Lord Black and editor, Charles Moore. All the while claiming conspiracy.

He is also planning to contest the Bethnal Green seat at the next election. Given the high proportion of anti-war Muslims in the constituency, the Times concludes that he has a fair chance of winning it.

George, is predictably, larger than life and where would political life be without the George Galloways of this world?

According to the Guardian the signs and portents predict a hard, cold winter much like the one of 1963. I am just about old enough to remember that winter. The slushy iced up snow seemed to hang about for months and everything was so cold. Central heating for us ordinary (poor) folk was the stuff of dreams. We put our heating on overnight this week when we had a hard frost. In 1963, we had to put up with ice on the inside of the windows while we put an extra blanket on the bed.

So, here we are, despite warnings of global warming, facing a bitter cold winter. At least, if you believe that the arrival of waxwings and the wealth of berries on the rowan trees signifies such an event. On the other hand, if you believe the Met office, it’s going to be average or warmer than average. Take your pick.

I, on the other hand will be longing for the first signs of spring, whatever the outcome.

The entry below prompted me to dig out that old book I was talking about. I’ve scanned in one of the pictures - Brachiosaurus in a swamp. To give you an indication of how old this book is, the price tag says 12/6d - that’s around 65p in new money.