Simon's Blog

Well I know honeymoons are getting shorter but you have to have a lot of sympathy for Ed Milliband.  I have no idea how he will turn out as the new party leader and the reality is that no one else does either.  This has not stopped whole sections of the press rubbishing him from the moment he was elected.

If this were not enough he has a disgruntled elder brother David Milliband to consider.   It is immaterial whether David would have been the better leader, this also has a lot of question marks hanging over it too, he should do the decent thing and resign from politics and find something else to do.  As long as he is there he is going to be a figurehead around which all the disgruntled MPs can gather.  I also suspect that this might be the best course of action as far as his  personal relations with his brother are concerned.  Nothing good will come of his staying put, let alone getting into the shadow cabinet.

As for the policies that Ed Milliband will put forward who knows how they will work out.   He doesn’t have to rush things over the next year either as the government will become very unpopular by itself.   The best thing for Labour is to play a long game and assume that this parliament will last a full five years.   They should reject any short term love in with disaffected Lib Dems and try and work out how they will govern post 2015.  There are going to be a whole series of pit falls that Labour is going to have to negotiates themselves, not least if the public sector unions try and flex their muscle.  This might seem sensible for the unions concerned but for Labour it will be a death knell as it will only amplify the fact that Ed Milliband was elected by the union’s votes.

So it is going to be hugely difficult for Labour over the next 5 years but it vital to the country that we have a viable opposition.   Should this not be the case then maybe Ed Milliband is Gordon Brown mark 2 or worse Michael Foot and Labour will have to start thinking about governing in the mid to late 2020s.  Now that is a freighting thought.
 

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini

Perhaps I might have been just a little hasty when castigating my ability to create something worthwhile with water colour.  Perhaps.   One of the problems I have with all this art stuff is that I have no terms of reference against which to judge things.   The water colour is a case in point.   I have no idea how long it will take the painting to dry and then what will be the result.  This will only come with experience, time and perhaps professional help (this will not be the first time that I have needed professional help!)   I suppose in the mean time I will just have to continue banging my head against a brick wall until I manage to beat something into it – not sure how many metaphors I mixed there.   Anyway, I just have to keep going. 
 

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini

I had a great day today at my good friend David’s coffee morning for Macmillan Cancer Relief.   It also gave me a chance just to see how artists work.  I am fascinated by other people’s work spaces and this morning allowed me to explore this mild passion of mine.  It really is amazing to see how different people arrange there lives.   It was also inspiring to see so much creativity on display and also rather humbling.  All in all a great day out.
 

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini

This is based on the famous Dorotheia Lange image from the Great Depression and I am not sure I did it justice at all.  Still it is a measure of how far I have come that I am not satisfied with quite a good drawing.
 

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini

I am sure there are many reasons why you would want a 200 mega pixel camera but at the moment I can’t think of any.  So my jaw dropped when I read that Hasselblad are developing such a camera. In truth, of course, this isn’t a 200 mega pixel camera but cleaver use of software that combines four 50 mega pixel image together.  I just don’t understand why you would want to do such a thing – this makes me think of digital zoom which is fatuous I know but the whole concept makes no sense to me.   However, as I am never likely to but such a camera I guess Hasselblad won’t be too worried.
 

Simon Marchini LRPS

Web: http://WWW.simonmarchini.co.uk

Twitter: http://twitter.com/@simonmarchini