Jonathan Lewis' WeblogResearch, teaching and personal stuff.Playing trains- (Found July 2, 2008 ) This might be interesting for Michael Fisch and others studying Japanese commuter culture: an advertisement in the Chuo Line trains for a computer game that lets you play the role of a Chuo Line train driver. The game is available for the Sony Playstation. Nothing unusual with that: computer shops have long offered a huge variety of train simulator games, each for a different line. The selling point of the new game is that you can also play it on your mobile phone, in other words while you..http://homepage.mac.com/jonathan_lewis/blog/2004/05/27#ChuoLine1 Free markets, nation states and sport- (Found July 2, 2008 ) This afternoon H.F. Moorhouse, Director of Glasgow University's Research Unit in Football Studies, gave a lecture at Hitotsubashi. He outlined the size and structure of the European soccer business and the problems it faces. A rather small number (18 or so) of European soccer clubs have transformed their economic base from an essentially local one based on spectators, sponsors and subsidies to a global one based on media, corporations, merchandising and markets. The problem is that they are.http://homepage.mac.com/jonathan_lewis/blog/2004/05/25#moorhouse1 The Downside of Bloodless Revolutions- (Found July 2, 2008 ) In "The Unmaking of Scotland," chapter six of After Britain, Tom Nairn calls for deep changes to be made in the renascent Scottish state. The problem with Devolution is that it leaves in place the same small elite in charge of most aspects of Scottish life. In many respects this is the same elite class that signed up to the Union nearly three hundred years ago. This elite dominates the new Scottish parliament, and is ensuring that efforts to make it distinctive from the one in Westminster...http://homepage.mac.com/jonathan_lewis/blog/2004/05/24#afterBritain6 Getting Hot in the Kitchen- (Found July 2, 2008 ) "It should feel set, but not rigidly so. You want to be able to detect, below the skin, the slightest, sexiest hint of quiver within." Nigella's chocolate-lime cheesecake has just come out of the oven and looks, well, tempting. Lawson, Nigella, 2001. Nigella Bites. Chatto & Windus. ISBN 0-7011-7287-8http://homepage.mac.com/jonathan_lewis/blog/2004/05/23#cheesecake1 Nationalism after September 11- (Found July 2, 2008 ) Chapter five of Tom Nairn's After Britain is entitled "On Not Hating England." It restates Nairn's view that Scottish nationalism is civic rather than ethnic in nature. The events of September 11th showed thisthe bloodless twin impact of the 1997 Yes-Yes vote rather than the destructive one four years later. Press reports of anti-English sentiment and even violence have been exaggerated and occasionally fabricated by Unionists in order to suggest that only by remaining part of the UK will...http://homepage.mac.com/jonathan_lewis/blog/2004/05/23#afterBritain5 Local government and the Scottish Parliament- (Found July 2, 2008 ) Chapter four of Tom Nairn's After Britain is entitled "Devolution or 'Virtual Liberation'" It lacks the clear focus of the preceding chapters, but by and large Nairn talks about devolution in the context of repeated shake-ups of local government in the UK since the 1960s. These shake-ups have tended to contradict each other, but their cumulative effect and unstated purpose have been to concentrate power in the centre and in a small local elite which manages to survive each change....http://homepage.mac.com/jonathan_lewis/blog/2004/05/22#afterBritain4 Dragon boat practice- (Found July 2, 2008 ) I can't take part in this year's Tokyo Dragon Boat regatta due to a twisted ankle. So instead I took lots of photos of my team, Aloha Odaiba. As usual I took most photos with the camera at low-level, but as so often I only remembered towards the end that my camera lets me hinge the viewfinder to see it at a convenient angle. The desire to show everyone the pictures also provided an opportunity to test Plone's ability to display photos. I created a photo album and uploaded 40 pictures....http://homepage.mac.com/jonathan_lewis/blog/2004/05/22#dragonBoat1 Backwards Britain- (Found July 2, 2008 ) In "The Last Days of Sovereignty," chapter three of After Britain , Tom Nairn explains the historical context of Scotland's strange constitutional circumstances. The Act of Union was drawn up in the early 18th century, when feudalism was in its death throes but representative democracy had not yet finally emerged. Thus the monarchy's role was still prominent but it was balanced by that of the parliaments. Those parliaments, however, were entirely made up of members of the socio-economic...http://homepage.mac.com/jonathan_lewis/blog/2004/05/22#afterBritain3 The civilised world- (Found July 2, 2008 ) UK Foreign Office ministers seem to make frequent reference to "the civilised world". For example, "The experience of terrorism, he said, was one that Britain, Spain and Israel all had in common, adding that such outrages were a shock to everyone in the civilised world." (Jack Straw, 11 March) "Before the Iraq war and before the Afghanistan conflict, we had 911, which was a huge attack on the civilised world." (Bill Rammell, 16 March.) Maybe this has always been a stock phrase in...http://homepage.mac.com/jonathan_lewis/blog/2004/02/07#civilised1 |