19th Century Prints

There was a vogue towards the end of the last century for nicely framed 19th century prints. You can tell there was a vogue and that it's over now because the junk shops and charity shops are full of them. Nobody seems to want them- except for me and Ailz- and we snap them up whenever we see them. Yesterday we bought three that had been reduced to £1.49 each- and one of them was by Clarkson Stanfield- a "name" artist. One of these days they'll come back into fashion and then everybody who got rid of them will be sorry.

When I say it's by Clarkson Stanfield I mean he did the original artwork. It was rare for these chaps to do their own engraving. I haven't looked into the market- and I don't know whether the artist's name raises the value- but we have in our collection two Stansfields, a Wilkie, a Landseer and - tarantara- a Turner.

White Elephant

Jet liners are a 20th century technology and long overdue to be replaced by something more efficient and less polluting- like airships, anti-gravity machines (flying saucers) or transporters (as in Star Trek) 

The need we have to whizz all over the place to talk to one another has been obviated by video conferencing et al. Business and government haven't woken up to this yet- but they will.

Air travel is so unpleasant these days- for all sorts of reasons- it's a wonder people still put themselves through it. The next generation- never having acquired the habit-  will have better sense.

Brexit is already causing people to take their holidays at home instead of Magaluf or Phuket. As we get poorer- as we almost certainly will as an unsustainable global economy goes pear-shaped- we'll be globetrotting less and less.

Opposition to the expansion at Heathrow is powerful- and has champions in high places. Already the decision (still warm from the oven) has triggered a by-election. It's an issue that could wreck this divided government with its very small majority.

There you are: Five excellent reasons why the third runway at Heathrow will almost certainly never be built.