England

RT @cricketanalyst: England do tamper with the ball... but it is legal via @Telegraph

Nicola here, back from a holiday sailing on the Norfolk Broads. The Broads is a vast area of connected rivers and lakes in the East of England and it has been a tourist destination since the 19th century. I’ve wanted to go sailing on the Broads since I read a book by Kathleen Fidler called “The Brydons on the Broads” when I was about 12 years old. The Brydons were a family who had lots of adventures but I remembered the story set on the Norfolk Broads in particular because it involved the children seeing a ghost ship and finding a secret Broad. Exciting! One of the special things about the Norfolk Broads is that when you are there, the atmosphere is so strong you can really imagine this happening. There are all sorts of secret little waterways with sailing boats slipping silently by. A kingfisher will flash past flying along the river and disused windmills stand sentinel over the reed beds. It’s a magical landscape.   A Brief History The Norfolk Broads look like a natural phenomenon but they are manmade. From the 9th century people cut the peat in the area to use as fuel for heating and cooking. This was a major industry until the 14th century but when sea levels began to rise the water filled the holes created by the peat cutting and formed a series of lakes, the Broads. In the 16th Century, Norwich was England’s second largest city after London and it was very convenient to have a network of waterways to transport wool and agricultural produce for export. For several hundred years Norfolk wherry ships were an iconic sight on the Broads. We saw several restored wherries that are still sailing today, including the one in the photo. By the 18th century work was underway to drain the marshland of the Broads because it was becoming too flooded. It is from this time that we have the other iconic Broads image – the beautiful windmills that were used as drainage pumps. Some of these have been turned into houses. Others have fallen into ruin. Most are extremely photogenic! By the 19th century the Broads was starting to be used for pleasure. Fishing was very popular as were the sailing “frolics,” the forerunners of regattas. During the Victorian and Edwardian era the Broads became a holiday destination for rich families seeking an “adventure” holiday! These days anyone can visit the Broads for an adventurous holiday afloat! The Broads also have a connection to Horatio Nelson; his sister lived at Barton House in the village of Barton Turf. It felt pretty cool to be sailing on Barton Broad and thinking that Nelson had probably done the same thing! St Benet’s Abbey One of the places I was keen to visit was St Benet’s Abbey, a monastery founded before the Norman Conquest of 1066 and the only abbey in England that was not closed as part of Henry VIII’s Dissolution of the monasteries. There is a major archaeological project taking place to excavate St Benet’s. You can read about it here. In the 18th century a windmill was built into the ruins of St Benet’s gatehouse, which gives it the rather extraordinary appearance that it has today. St Benet’s is a very atmospheric place so it is fitting that there are lots of ghost stories associated with the ruins. One refers to a monk called Brother Pacificus who can be seen rowing across the river in a small boat, accompanied by his dog. It is said that the wherrymen would refuse to moor overnight near the ruins of St Benet’s because they were afraid of the ghosts. St Benet’s was also a very special place for us for finding a rare butterfly – not the very beautiful swallowtail, which we also saw, but a Wall Brown. This was first named in 1699 and referred to as “The golden marbled butterfly with black eyes.” Fairhaven There is a rather nice UK/USA connection at South Walsham, where we visited the Fairhaven Water Gardens. When we went there we discovered that Lord Fairhaven, who created the gardens, took his title from Fairhaven, Massachsetts, which was the p

No sooner was the ink drying on the piece below when the argument for and against sightlines in London cropped up on America’s NPR. This time Paul Finch, a critic at Architects’ Journal, is concerned by what he says is the implication that instead of just preserving views of the Tower of London, UNESCO is [...]

England Under-20s coach Nick Walshe is expecting a "tough challenge" against Wales in the IRB Junior Championship final on Sunday.

An article by doctors David U. Himmelstein and Steffie Woolhandle, published by the Boston Fed, gives a stark picture of the extent and severity of medical indebtedness in the US, and why Obamacare won’t remedy that problem. And we’ll discuss later that getting the machinery running looks likely to be another serious shortcoming with the program. Himmelstein start by reviewing the scale of the medical bankruptcy problem. In 2001, medical bills contributed to 50% of bankruptcies. By 2007, they played a role in 62%. The medical debtors were typically middle class. And of the people who declared bankruptcy for medical-related reasons, 78% were had medical insurance. As bad as that is, it masks the size of the overall medical debt problem. Consider: 53 million working age adults reported having trouble paying medical bills in 2010. 30 million were contacted by a debt collector. 44 million were paying off medical debts on an installment plan In 2010, 20.9% of all Americans lived in a household that struggled to pay medical bills. And insurance didn’t make a dent, since it a virtually identical proportion, 20.2% of insured, non-elderly people lived in a household with medical expense problems A 2011 survey determined that 51% of uninsured 19 to 29 year olds had trouble paying medical bills or debts. But so did 29% of people in that age group who did have insurance Consumer Reports found that the biggest financial problem for American households is paying for medical care The article also stresses that Romneycare has not put a dent in medical bankruptcies in Massachusetts, that the 59% of bankruptcies before the program that had medical expenses as a trigger is “statistically indistinguishable” from the 53% afterwards. And if you look under the hood, you can see why. It’s crappy insurance. The authors write: Consider that the cheapest coverage available through the state’s health insurance exchange to a single 56-year-old Bostonian who is not eligible for subsidies (in other words, one who has an income above 300 percent of poverty) costs $4,744 and comes with numerous restrictions on which doctors’ and hospitals’ bills it will pay. If the policyholder is sick, the policy doesn’t start paying bills until after the policyholder has taken care of the $2,000 deductible. The patient also is responsible for about 20 percent of the next $15,000 in medical expenses. Obamacare also leaves individuals shouldering a large proportion of medical costs: Nationally, the Kaiser Foundation estimates that in high-cost regions like New England, the unsubsidized premium in 2014 under the ACA will run $10,585 with additional out-of-pocket costs adding up to $6,250. Such costs will predictably leave tens of millions with large medical debts and drive more than a million into medical bankruptcy every year. And not only is the ACA looking oversold in terms of outcomes, it looks also to be oversold in terms of when it will be operational, at least in any reliable manner, if you happen to be living in a state where the Federal government is responsible for the exchanges. While some of the states are making good progress in building their infrastructure (see Maryland as an example), the Wall Street Journal tells us tonight that the Obama administration is insisting that all systems will be go, a GAO report casts doubts. Remember that there are two key deadlines: October 1, for the websites (the famed exchanges) for insurance shopping and enrollment and January 1, when hospitals and doctors need to be able to exchange billing and eligibility information with the insurers. To make matters more complicated, there are actually two types of exchanges, one for individuals (expected to serve seven million people) and another for small businesses (which will provide insurance for two million individuals). The small business exchanges are in the most trouble. From the Journal: Government officials have missed several deadlines i

RT @BBCSport: Top transfer gossip - #MUFC are favourites to sign #FCB's Spanish midfielder Thiago Alacantara for £15m

If you’ve not already done so, you can subscribe to these daily listings and have them delivered to your inbox at 7am every morning. Alternatively, subscribe to Londonist Daily to hear about events further in the future. And help spread the word to your friends, who haven’t discovered us yet!  London Bridge, in Arizona. Image by Travis Elborough, details of his talk on the subject below. BLOOD: Today’s opportunity to donate blood is at Islington Town Hall. Free, see site for terms and conditions SUMMER GARDEN: Making sure that Pimm’s O’Clock keeps ticking over, the indoor Pimm’s Summer Garden opens its doors today. Reserve a blanket, try your hand at cucumber whittling or challenge your friends to a round of Pimmbledon. Entrance is free but blanket reservations cost £20 (including a can of Pimm’s, a picnic hamper and a takeaway blanket), reserve a blanket via pimmsblanket@grayling.com, until 29 June TIMEWAVE: Fusing technology with theatre, Timewave Festival puts on various plays that push the boundaries of storytelling. Festival pass £35, single tickets £10, concessions £8 (all +bkg fee), prebook, until 23 June LONDON WELLBEING: It is London Creativity and Wellbeing Week and a range of events are happening for anyone with an interest in the arts, health and wellbeing. Today there is a lunchtime concert, art exhibitions and meditation, yoga and portrait photography workshops. See website for full listings, until 22 June LONDON BRIDGE IN AMERICA: The story of London Bridge being uprooted and moved to Arizona is a bizarre one. Tonight at the British Library author Travis Elborough speaks about his book on the subject and tells the tale of this extraordinary event. Free, prebook, 12.30pm ASYLUM: The Space Between, a week long photographic exhibition to mark Refugee Week, is accompanied by a series of lunch-time talks by different female refugees detailing their particular experiences as refugees in the UK. Today, Prossy Kakooza, a Ugandan activist and LGBT campaigner, talks about her work to educate people on the plight of LGBT refugees. Free, RSVP to info.cara@isbu.ac.uk, 1pm RACE RELATIONS: In the 20th anniversary year of the murder of Stephen Lawrence, the Royal Society of Medicine hosts an evening’s discussion on race relations in the UK. Speakers include Doreen Lawrence and the BBC’s Razia Iqbal. Free, prebook, 6pm FOLK TALES: Discover utopian visions found in folk tales down the ages, at Housmans. £3, just turn up, 7pm CRIMINAL LONDON: Kris Hollington and Nina Hollington take you on a tour of criminal London from the safety of Woolfson & Tay. We raved about their recent book, and can highly recommend popping along to this. Free, prebook, 7pm COMEDY: Our Joel nearly had an aneurysm after seeing Max and Ivan last year, they were that good. Find out what’s in store this year at the Pleasance. £5, prebook, 8pm GIG: The Gloaming are a group of musicians who joined together to blend the rich Irish folk tradition with the New York contemporary art scene. The result is a unique live music experience that is at once innovative and traditional, and tonight they perform at the Barbican Centre. £20, prebook, 8pm NATURAL BORN STORYTELLERS: Raw, real-life tales, told on stage. Join Natural Born Storytellers at The Camden Head tonight for stories of what clothes define us and why, favourite items of clothing and their sentimental/comical/outrageous backstories. If you have a story you can join in, or just turn up and listen. Free, just turn up, 8.15pm INSPIRING DOC: Dochouse screens the incredible documentary Beatrice Mtetwa and the Rule of Law at The Lexi Cinema tonight. The documentary tells the story of Zimbabwean human rights lawyer, Beatrice Mtetwa, who for decades has defended the ordinary citizens jailed by the Mugabe government. A Q&A session with the director and Beatrice Mtetwa herself will take place afterwards. £7/£5, prebook, 8.30pm Please contact matt@londonist.com with any suggestions, s

The Luis Suarez drama has to end at some point. The way things are going, it looks like it may very well end with Suarez leaving Anfield and Liverpool coming away with a massive payday. According to Phil Thomas of The Sun, Liverpool want Suarez to put in a transfer request if he hopes to leave Anfield in favor of Real Madrid, as The Sun also noted on Twitter:Suarez’s discontent in England has been well-documented, and it comes as no surprise Liverpool are tired of hearing about it. As quoted in a report from The Sun, the striker doesn’t feel at home in England: My main reason is my family and my image — that is my priority now. It is a difficult moment for me. My coach and my colleagues know that they didn’t treat me well here. I don’t feel comfortable here anymore — they know it, so I think it is understandable that I leave. Firstly being persecuted by the paparazzi all the time. I couldn’t go to my garden or the supermarket, I couldn’t do anything. I know it’s normal being followed by the press but it was too much.At this point, it seems highly unlikely Suarez will settle back in with Liverpool as all the drama dissipates. The longer the situation plays out; the worse it’s going to get.And therein lies the problem for Liverpool. If the club waits to make a move and Suarez continues voicing his desire to leave, clubs like Real Madrid and Barcelona are going to be less inclined to pay Liverpool’s asking price, reportedly as much as £50 million, according to The Guardian.Obviously the Anfield giants don’t have a lot of leverage in the situation—and demanding an official transfer request was the right decision—but Liverpool can’t afford to let the situation drag on. Now is the time to strike a deal and move on. £50 million is a reasonable asking price for the star striker, and that kind of money would certainly go a long way toward the club’s efforts to infuse more young talent via the transfer market. But if letting Suarez go for slightly less now (as opposed to losing out on more later) is an option, Liverpool have to pull the trigger. If the situation drags on, Liverpool are going to reach the point of just wanting Suarez out the door and may be forced to accept far less than their original asking price. As is often the case in these situations, the seller typically comes away with far less than anticipated the longer they wait. Some may hope Suarez has a change of heart and chooses to remain at Anfield, but those days are in the past. Now is the time for Liverpool to cut ties and walk away with a handsome payday while they still have time to put it to good use.

As part of the Switch Fringe festival in Ipswich, England, artist The Decibel Kid drew this map of the city to help attendees find their way around and track down shows and events. While most aspects are actual parts of Ipswich rendered in 16-bit style, keep your eyes out for the odd Nintendo cameo, like the King of Red Lions. Map [Switch Fringe, via Slashdot]

Tight end Rob Gronkowski underwent yet another surgery Tuesday as part of an offseason filled with procedures aimed at patching the New England Patriots star back together. This surgery was to address a problematic back. The surgery was said to have gone well and now the surgeon who performed the procedure, Dr. Robert Watkins, has…