Finished the Editor’s Briefing for the August issue of the BJGP that goes to print this week. The issue is themed on cancer and I had cause to go back and read the late John Diamond’s C: Because Cowards Get Cancer Too. It was first published in 1998 and I don’t think it is over-egging it to call it a classic.

My Fourth Time, We Drowned by Sally Hayden has won the Orwell Political Writing Book Prize. And that is because it is superb. Harrowing, yes. Essential, absolutely. In a miserable sordid political climate where second rate ideologues can pursue policies as grim as the UK’s Rwanda migrant relocation plan this is a book that reminds us of the importance of committed journalism.

https://www.orwellfoundation.com/political-writing/my-fourth-time-we-drowned/

This storefront in Kendal is being stripped back revealing adverts for mintcake and chocolate. I wonder how old they are.

The dogs enjoying a cooling drink and a dip in Crosdale Beck this weekend.

From the Guardian’s Andrew Sparrow today:

“…for the third time in six years, the prime minister of the United Kingdom is due to be chosen by around 200,000 Conservative party members (predominantly white men over the age of 60 living in the south of England). That is more akin to what happened before the Great Reform Act of 1832 than what you would expect in a modern democracy.”

From Politics live with Andrew Sparrow

Some thoughts on Billy Connolly’s book Windswept and Interesting: https://euanlawson.com/windswept-and-interesting-by-billy-connolly

Temperature inversions - they just never get old do they? My morning run up Winder today.

I’ve good memories of Billy Connolly. I can recall watching his ‘Audience with…’ programme in the 1980s with my family and us all laughing uncontrollably. Yet I’ve mixed feelings about this book. I’ve never read any of Billy’s books but, even for me, there was barely an anecdote/joke in here I haven’t heard before at some time. I have to admit that some of it is getting a bit tired.

He asserts he is not a violent man but he fully admits that he is free with his fists and has a casual approach to violence. He tells several tales along those lines. Yet, there is a disconnect between his attitude and the reality. Violence is OK when he does it as he is one of the good guys and he tells it as part of a funny story. All those who he lamps deserve it and he offers sage advice on how to best use violence. On those occasions he imbues it with a cartoonish quality, all the better to minimise the bleak ugly reality of violence. Of course, Connolly had a traumatic upbringing and he endured some horrendous abuse but, sadly, he revels in violence he has meted out, quite unapologetically, despite the awful toll it took on him.

There are other small paradoxes and if Connolly has more profound reflections on his own personality and behaviours he doesn’t reveal them here. It all feels a little superficial and, occasionally, one feels his ego just running away a little with the stories. Undoubtedly, he has a considerable amount of which to be deeply proud and he is one hell of a character.

Like just about everyone, I like him and I’m charmed by him. His tales are all told with enormous charisma and his trademark humour but I found it hard to ignore the underlying tensions.

It might be in the very recent past but the history of the internet is fascinating reading in Ben Tarnoff’s book Internet for the People. And, while I am not sure the solutions are entirely clear, the problems of private ownership of the internet are certainly apparent.

OK, just updated my DOI page ahead of speaking at the RCGP/WONCA conference: euanlawson.com/doi. As usual I have used the Internet Wayback Machine to log the previous version.