Tuesday music spot: Henry Purcell. Sonata for Trumpet & Strings in D major
Unlike yesterday's music spot this one really is by Purcell ...
Nick Herbert on his visit to flood hit areas of Cumbria
Please note that the post below was published more than ten year ago on 21st November 2009 Nick Herbert MP, shadow cabinet member for the Environment, Food, and Rural Affairs, was in Cumbria this morning to see the areas affected by the flooding. He writes on Conservative Home about his visit. Here is an extract. I’ve been in Cumbria today to see the areas affected by the floods. I arrived early in Keswick where I met officials from the Environment Agency. Although the river levels had fallen considerably and homes were no longer flooded, the damage to homes had been done. And the water which had got into houses wasn’t just from the river – it was foul water which had risen from the drains. I talked to fire crews who were pumping flood water back into the river, and discovered that they were from Tyne & Wear and Lancashire. They had been called in at an hours’ notice and had been working on the scene ever since, staying at a local hotel. You cannot fail to be impressed by the
Comments
It was to limit the scope of exactly that kind of point scoring that instead of my usual policy of allowing comments on all posts I disabled it on the three posts following this music spot but then posted an "opportunity for comment" post immediately afterwards instead.
FWIW I often book the music slots in advance and did not know at the time I planned this music spot that we would pass the tragic milestone on the day it appeared.
However, I don't think there is anything particularly triumphalist about this particular piece of music - if I thought there was I would take it down.
I did consider the possibility, as an expression of condolences for those who have lost their lives, of replacing it wit the March from the music for the funeral of Queen Mary by the same composer, but came to the conclusion that doing something like that would be more likely to come over as morbid rather than as the mark of respect which would have been intended.