A Bullet in the Ghats – one of life's pleasures!
Motorcycle touring to me has always been a strange combination as a means to an end, and an end in itself. By that I mean that it is an unbeatable way to experience somewhere new, and it is the experience itself.
Touring India on an Enfield, to most people, is a double experience. The sights, sounds and smells of India are unlike anywhere else, and for most of us, it is a first time on one of motorcycling's great anachronisms, a 1950s designed motorcycle in the 21st century.
I am always saddened when potential customers talk to me and insist that the only way to see anywhere they have never been is on their favourite bike, be it a GSXR, a BMW K1200LT, or whatever. Remember, travel broadens the mind!
We are usually ready to accept that we should try and conform to local customs - whether it be removing shoes before entering, covering up bare shoulders or adopting local mannerisms and customs – and that should apply to the local means of transport.
Take it from me, your GSXR or BMW wouldn't last an hour in Kerala, they are about as appropriate as an SUV in central London.
The Royal Enfield in India has survived because it is well suited to its purpose in the road conditions that prevail, just like a Harley-Davidson is in America, or even a GSXR in England!
Our trip started in the chaos that is Heathrow Terminal 3 on a quiet day. After finally checking in we ran the gamut of jobsworths shouting that only 1 piece of hand luggage is allowed (plus the usual lack of liquids, face creams, etc.), we get our helmets through the hand luggage X-ray machine without even a murmur from the people actually manning the machines.
One change of plane later – and service on the domestic flight from Bombay to Cochin was every bit as good but without the entertainment – and we arrive rather tired but excited at Cochin Airport – small, friendly, efficient, and a pleasant 26 degrees in November.
I won't mention the weather again, it stays a uniform 26 ish on the coast, a bit cooler in the mountains, a reasonable amount of shade, and sunny most of the time. Daniel our guide and Niyaz, our driver, are there to meet us.
Daniel has one of life's great jobs and clearly relishes it. Niyaz is a marvel – we soon discover that not only can he get a jeep through a gap in the traffic that you have just squeezed through on an Enfield and thought yourself a brilliant rider in doing so, but that he has a black belt in Indian paperwork and official government permits.
We head into Cochin to our hotel, Brunton's Boatyard, a slice of cool, post-colonial luxury set in the old colonial part of Cochin. Just down the road is the oldest Christian church in Asia, built in 1503, and the famous Chinese fishing nets and fish market, the other way is Jewtown with its architectural salvage yards, serious tourist shops, rice and spice merchants and more people than you can imagine filling one space.
Our view is across the narrow harbour entrance, with its bustling ferries, fishermen's narrow boats, dredgers and the occasional container ship blocking out the view they pass so close.
So, after a bit of sightseeing and a relaxing beer by the pool, we take the complimentary harbour boat tour at sunset, don't forget your camera. Then a short walk brings us to our welcome dinner, al fresco on the water's edge. A few words of advice from Daniel on what to eat and what not to eat and we settle in for a relaxing evening.
After a very comfortable night, we awake ready for the adventures ahead. The jetlag and cultural adjustments still need to be worked through the system, so our first day's ride is really just an introduction to the adventures ahead.
Part of the joy of riding in Kerala is the ever changing scenery, helped by the famous backwaters – a huge low-lying tract of land and water about 15-20 miles wide and 100 miles long – and impressive Western Ghats, mountains rising to over 2000 m straight up from the backwaters and then dropping even more abruptly into the flatness of Tamil Nadu to the east.
We meet our bikes, and Ranesh, their proud mechanic, and a man who can fettle (great word) an Enfield like no-one else. Daniel looks like the aviator out of Mad Max 2 with his goggles and kidney belt and a big grin.
My trusty steed is a classic black with gold pinstriping and aftermarket rear gas shocks to make life a little more comfortable. The intricacies of the right-foot gear change and selector are explained as is the starting technique, and after a quick practice we are off.
We head south, out of the old town and immediately into an area of fish farms. This is the coast road (replaced by a 'highway' which we will tackle later in the tour) to Aleppey, a bit wider than single track, hopefully when needed with a sandy verge not a ditch on either side.
The road surface is mostly tarmac, but the adjective smooth really isn't appropriate, and the whole width of the road is teeming with mopeds, people, animals and the odd truck and car.
We learn to pick our way round the worst of the bumps and holes, we learn that the horn is more important than the brakes, we learn that there really are an awful lot of people living and working on the roadside, and we learn that 20-30 mph really is about as fast as you can go safely.
By the time you've followed Daniel's route through the bumps, avoided the mopeds pulling out, waved at the schoolchildren and tried to take in the unfamiliar sights and sounds your senses are loaded to the max.
We stop for our first drink, right by some Chinese fishing nets. The choice is chai – local sweet tea (more on this later) – or lime soda, which comes sweet or sour. Sweet is mixed with fizzy lemonade, sour is mixed with local seawater. It certainly tastes that way, but hey, you have to try these things.
Another hour's ride through a continuous trail of fishermen's villages and we reach our next hotel. This is a complete change from the almost cosmopolitan ambience of Cochin.
Each 'room' is a palm-thatched bungalow with a veranda, of course. The bags are in the room by the time we've completed the check in formalities and drunk our fresh 'welcome' coconut juice.
Daniel gives us a quick guided tour, including the ayurvedic centre, the pool, sundowner bar, and the completely empty wide sandy beach. And after a quick lunchtime snack we unwind.
The massages are a definite must, as is a swim in the warm waters of the Indian ocean, some time in one of the many hammocks near the beach, and sunset on the beach (when it suddenly gets busy).
The evening meal is a gourmet buffet of mainly Keralan dishes, none of which will have been available at your local Indian restaurant back home. Nothing too spicy, but lots of fresh local ingredients and very tasty. Then it's time for one last drink before heading back to the bungalow, perhaps a quick read (no TV!) and a good night's sleep. Total distance 50 km in 2 hrs.
Up bright and early this morning. After a great breakfast with a wide choice of Western and Keralan dishes (I loved the dhosas) we're really off. We load the jeep up with luggage and carry on down the coast road to Aleppey with its grid system and canals hidden amongst the throngs of people, mopeds and bicycles.
My first embarrassing moment happens as I get the right foot gear change completely wrong on a right turn up onto a bridge. Niyaz offers protection from behind with the jeep as I try and remember how to find neutral quickly and get myself sorted and rolling again.
Everything slows and waits and I suddenly actually feel safer than in an English city. Embarrassment over, and we are through Aleppey and out on the causeway over the Backwaters.
Local fishermen lay out this morning's catch by the roadside, which is presumably diesel or oil cured by teatime.
Once across the backwaters we start climbing very gently up into the hills. The scenery slowly changes as we rid through small towns and increasingly lush vegetation.
We make an impromptu chai stop in a small village. The tea is hot and sweet, and I was told the Indian meals were good.
We have timed today's ride to coincide with a pilgrimage, so the roads are packed with pilgrims from all over India, in a wide assortment and age range of cars, minibuses and trucks, clogging up the roads and slowing our progress even further.
We stop half-way up a mountain at the Kerala Hotel, which like all hotels in Kerala isn't a hotel but the Indian version of an American diner.
This one is nice and smoky, with a talking mynah bird, but very slow service as they struggle to cope with the influx of pilgrims. For the women, it's a first experience of the local 'facilities', and a warning to make full use of our overnight hotels and to always carry some loo paper with you. How women in saris cope is beyond me!
As we climb, we reach our first rubber plantation, which seems to be in the middle of converting to other crops – pineapples being obvious to us – and the views open up due to the cleared land. A well-disguised right turn – road signs are not high on the Ministry of Transport 'to do' list – and we are off the main road and the pilgrim traffic and into our first wildlife reserve. The glimpses of scenery through the trees reveal steep wooded valleys, there is almost no traffic whatsoever, and only a very few people - maintenance men clearing roadside trees and appointing the barriers. The quietness is striking after the manic bustle of the towns and roads, but we still need to watch the road surface.
For the next few hours we will be on effectively single track roads through the reserve. The road is seldom used and Daniel has exclusive permission to bring bike tours through here. Our paperwork is checked at the government checkpoint by an official with a serious moustache.
Daniel does his soft-soaping and Niyaz sorts the paperwork and we continue, past tumbling streams, brightly coloured butterflies, mountain streams and lots of trees. A lot of trees! We stop for lunch at the staff canteen in the main reserve village, with its buildings labelled for assistant engineer, chief assistant engineer, Chief Engineer etc.
The menu is fairly restricted, and we are served a local dish of curry with assorted side dishes. There is a distinct lack of cutlery, the room is quite dark, possibly even dingy, but nonetheless just fabulous. Ranesh has a quick fettle of Daniel's bike, and we're off again.
The reserve is a main source of water for the irrigation schemes of Tamil Nadu, and we ride around three reservoirs and cross the dams. The schemes were built by the British over 100 years ago and you have to be impressed given the locations – I suspect a lot of the tarmac is original as well! The reservoirs are breathtaking in their scenery and solitude. We cross the final dam, the Periyar dam, currently rather controversial and therefore with a little more attention paid to paperwork.
No photos allowed here, according to the rather aged yellow and black signs.
Up the hill, and smack into a work party clearing bamboos from the roadside and loading them onto a brightly painted truck.
The only problem is there is no room to the side and there's a drop off several hundred feet. The truck moves a bit, we squeeze the bikes through, and not for the first time Niyaz gets the jeep through a gap half the width of the jeep itself! Then we loop downhill, get our papers checked again and we are out of the reserve. That was about 50 miles with only 1 vehicle.
We pick up a main road again, and then just as we think the roads are getting busy, we're off again, this time into a tiger reserve (yes, really).
The roads are generally better and much to our elitist dismay, we see other western tourists on day trips in jeeps. There's a lovely section of sweeping bends rising and falling along the river bank.
Paying serious attention for jeeps flying round bends in the opposite direction we stop to watch some monkeys, and then reach the exit checkpoint. Much fumbling of paperwork, platitudes and being passed from one official to the next and we are 'free'.
That evening we discover that tigers have only been sighted twice in the last 6 months, so we were pretty safe. We are now on the main road, and for the first time we can swing the Enfield through sweeping bends on a proper road surface with few bumps and not to many stray bodies and bicycles in the way.
A great final stretch that brings us to another superb hotel in Kumily. This time we have a duplex bungalow, just as big as last night, again in acres of grounds. All of the trees planted are spice or fruit tress, all labelled. There is a wildlife room, a colonial style bar with lots of great old photos, a pool and again, no TV!
Dinner this evening is in a small 'hotel' just down the road. The only drawback is that they no longer have an alcohol license. Daniel explains these are very expensive to buy, and most places simply don't have a license and sell beer etc until they get caught. Total distance 207 km in 10 hours.
Having climbed up into the Western Ghats, today we get to see them from the other side.
After another good breakfast we check out to find the bikes ready and waiting and the jeep loaded. As soon as we leave Kumily, the road descends through the trees. We catch brief glimpses of a lot of space and then as we round a bend Tamil Nadu opens up in front of us, about 600 m down the world turns flat for as far as the eye can see.
We overtake a bullock and cart (our first) and stop to take a photo. The driver waves, and a monkey appears just to make sure he's not missing out on some food. The road then crosses the water pipes shooting straight down the mountainside, several times as we twist and turn to the bottom. The temperature rises and road goes arrow straight.
It is in reasonably good condition and we crack on at about 80 kph through the irrigated fields and palm groves. As we pass through villages there's a distinct change in the colourful saris, which are now light pastel shades, and the people are smaller and much darker skinned.
We weave our way through the traffic of Cumbum, the first major town, and find our side road without the help of signposts but from a few shouted requests from Daniel just to check we're on track.
Then we head back up into the hills, a seriously steep rise up a twisting mountain road, suitably narrow enough for a car and a half, with great views looking back. As we reach the top, the temperature cools right down, and it is time for a chai stop.
A pretty good road surface now, as we swoop up and down the hills, through villages (always watch out for roadworks in villages) and on to our lunch stop in a nice 'hotel'.
Biryanis are the house specialty, so everyone apart from Ranesh, who needs meals with extra rice to keep going, gets stuck into a beef or chicken biryani washed down with refreshing jeora tea. We're about to enter tea country, so Daniel gives us a quick explanation of the afternoon's ride and we're off again.
More perfect roads suddenly give way to serious road works and it is a couple of miles of pre gravel before we reach tarmac, and we realize from its condition why they are resurfacing. This is a main road to Munnar, tea capital of southern India, British Raj hill station and up and coming tourist stop.
We rest at a spectacular waterfall with great views across towards Munnar, and then head off. A quick climb through palm groves, cardamom and banana plantations and the scenery opens out – its tea time.
It looks just like on the adverts, but the scale is huge. Tea bushes and shade trees as far as the eye can see, with a narrow bumpy road with whitewashed edge markers. We see our first 'gang' of pickers – always women, with a male planter supervising.
The women are really small and just the perfect height to pick the leaves on the slopes. Men say that only women have nimble enough fingers to pick the tea, but as some of them now use a kind of shears I'm not sure the argument is quite as strong as is claimed.
I think it's just too much like hard tedious work. After a few miles we round a bend and the view opens up across a reservoir to tea covered hills in the distance.
After being chased by a plantation jeep down the road, we let it pass as we reach the main factory entrance and a tea stop.
If you haven't tried it, 10 people is the average number you can fit in a jeep without losing any out the back as you bounce around corners. We watch the freshly picked sacks being delivered into the factory for 'processing'. There are huge piles of logs for the burners, managers bungalows dotted around, and the schoolchildren just coming out of the plantation school. Bizarrely the tea you can buy here is only in granular form, all the leaves end up in Europe!
After our afternoon stop we climb a little higher. For the past couple of days we have seen signs for the mystical nilgiri flower, asking us to preserve and respect wildlife.
The nilgiri flowers only once every twelve years so it needs some protection from tourist and tea planters. Daniel has never seen it before, but because we're here, we see some – delicate pink flowers in a small dip near a huge towering waterfall.
It's a fabulous spot, with the clouds forming above the waterfall and the view across the valley.
The road over Lockhart's pass is a bit daunting, but once done, seems easy, and it is a gentle cruise down to Munnar, sweeping round the bends. Our luxury hotel overlooks the town, and our room, perched on a ride, has views from both front and back. We've been on the road 7 hours and covered all of 116 km up and down the hills. Just such fantastic changing scenery. Dinner tonight is in the hotel, again an excellent buffet of Indian dishes, with setting views over the town.
This afternoon and tomorrow are a bit of a cheat, as we're taking a short cut from the normal tour route to explore some new roads and check out a couple of places (to keep the taxman happy!). We leave Munnar and climb eastwards and upwards.
After an unusual alpine section with meadows, the first we've seen, cows, small villages and surprise surprise, more tea plantations. This time, it's just one plantation all the way up the valley, the largest in the world.
The twisting bumpy road, by now expected, continues until we are too high for the tea and we can look back down the valley and across and up to Ana Mudi, Elephant's Peak, the highest peak in the Western Ghats.
Ana Mudi does indeed look like the elephant it is named after, and will be a constant companion for the rest of the morning as we enjoy a gentle ride down through more tea plantations. The mountain views are great, the roads are lined with bright red flowering trees, there's no traffic and the sun is shining. Am I happy?
As we lose altitude the tea plantations give way to palm trees, bananas and spices. Our lunchtime stop in Marayoor is an early one, but as Daniel explained, there isn't much for the next few hours.
There's time to walk down the main street, stretching our legs and looking at the stalls and shops.
Back on the bikes we continue down until we reach the entrance to Chinnar/ Indira Ghandi wildlife reserve.
We are met at the entrance by a motley crew of monkeys on the bridge. This is also the 'checkpoint' to cross from Kerala into Tamil Nadu. The Keralan official says the road is rubbish, the Tamil Nadu official says it is very good. The road starts out really well as we enter the park, with its lowland streams and grassy vegetation, and then our Keralan official is proved right.
All of a sudden the tarmac stops and it's a grave road. After a few hundred yards there's a gang of workmen and women breaking boulders, and grading stones, and again a few hundred yards later.
Almost until the end of the park we bounce slowly over the stony road surface until the end is in sight, the checkpoint is crossed and we stop for a welcome drink, after the exercise we've just had.
As we recover under a shady tree, we realise that the tiny shack we are standing next to, little more than an AA box in size, is in fact the local barbershop, with barber and customer inside.
We all agree none of us needs a haircut, but it's good to know where the nearest barber works.
We are now riding on mainly straight and flat roads through small farming villages (unlike in Kerala) often with concrete houses (again unlike Kerala).
Apart from the intensive agriculture, there's much weaving of palm leaves, to remind us of our hotel roofs. We then reach a crossroads, and turn left straight towards the mountains again. The road surface is pretty good now. At the foot of the hills we go round another reservoir, but this one is almost in the plains, and much wider and 'flatter'. After another checkpoint we start climbing.
After about 10 minutes we get to a yellow and black sign fixed to the wall of a bend. It says 1 / 40. Daniel explains – the first of 40 hairpins. Who needs the Alps! And unlike European hairpins, Indian hairpins not only have numbers, but several other bends in between.
We 'race' up the bends, overtaking everything in sight – the Enfield really is King of the Road here! With several stops to take in the breathtaking view, and the colonial era pale blue painted walls of the road snaking down below us, we finally reach the top, and the hairpins continue as we drop down a bit.
Into tea plantation country again, we take a quick pause for a drink at the memorial to Carter Marsh from Essex set on a small promontory overlooking what was once his empire and on the Valparai, a tea town well off the beaten track. The road has gradually got worse as we come into town, past the bright red painted police station, huge pale yellow temple and into our hotel.
This is the only hotel for very many miles and it shows. It isn't one we have ever used on our tours, but it is a reminder to us of what you get if you travel India on a budget, or if you fall into the sales patter of someone offering cheap motorcycle tours. Yes it is only £6/night, but you'll still feel ripped off!
After a wander around town, with lots of giggling schoolgirls who clearly don't see many white tourists, we returned to freshen up for our evening meal. The menu looked impressive, and we were shown into the family room, with only slightly stained walls and ceilings.
When it came to ordering, we soon discovered that the menu selection was reduced to two dishes, beef or chicken curry. It tasted 'O.K' though so we made the most of it before retiring.
The rest of the hotel had been booked to a Tamil film company shooting a film. We had hoped to be among the stars, but ended up among the crew. That meant cooking in the corridor, a late night, and the director waking the whole hotel at 4 am for an early start. Just as we got back to sleep, the temple loudspeaker started up at 5 o'clock, and continued until 6.30. 6 hours, 154 km.
Breakfast was eaten as fast as we could – we had to wait while they went and bought the toast and jam - we grabbed a few succulent red bananas from a local stall and got out as fast as we could. Penny, my partner, made only one comment - this was the worst hotel she had ever stayed in. The road out of town was the worst yet, and continued most of the morning. The scenery more than made up for it as we rode through tea plantation after tea plantation.
After about 90 minutes we had covered about 25 km, and it was time for a chai stop.
We stopped at a plantation village and went into a smoky room with the Ashes test match on a TV in a corner (they are definitely fanatical about their cricket in India).
The dhosas were excellent, the chai hot and sweet, and surprise, the place was excellent and even had a great view out of the open window across the valley. If only they had rooms for the night!
The plantations finally ended as we started dropping down. We hadn't seen a car all morning and another ride alongside a reservoir in complete solitude just reminded us of why we were here. After a further slow ride we headed down another hairpin hill (only this time discovered some more white tourists in an aircon MPV) and came to the river crossing.
Definitely time for a pause and a refreshing cool drink, take in the river, the kingfishers and other birds.
The road improved as we approached the Richmond Falls, a popular destination for school outings. We were in time for a late lunch at the Hilton Hotel (no, not that one!), overhanging the river bank with a slight view of the falls – and they are impressive.
One quite hot but excellent biryani later and we're back on the road – excellent tarmac, two full width lanes sweeping bends and little traffic.
Sharp braking and a quick left turn got us down to the ferry – two fishing canoes tied together with planks of wood that could carry a couple of cars and a few bikes. The ferry took us into a very large rubber plantation, offering pleasant shade in the afternoon sun.
After the necessary paperwork we were back on the main road, before turning off into another reserve which we had gained exclusive access to. Again the quiet struck us, with no other traffic until we reached some canal construction.
Shortly after that we reached a large lake, and after riding through a rather enthusiastic stream up to our axles we stopped for a cool drink at a snack bar overlooking the lake and next to the entrance to a shrine to St Thomas, the disciple who went to the Malabar Coast in the first century AD.
Back on the Enfields, and another stretch of reasonable main road, which gave way to 4 miles of interminable bumps to our hotel. But it was worth it! Situated on one side of a lagoon crated by a nearby river dam, the Bird Lagoon was just fantastic.
Watching the village life on the opposite bank birds gathering at dusk while relaxing with a cold beer was just what we needed, followed by a quick shower and dinner al fresco. 9 hrs, 146 km.
An early start this morning – a breakfast boat cruise. We all meet up at 7 am, board the small boat and head off. Across the lagoon, under a bridge and we're in the main flow of the Periyar River. In the middle of the river local men are dredging (illegally) for sand, using long poles with soft 'buckets' attached.
Once the boat is full, ie with no more than 2" of boat above the water, they head back to unload the cargo, to be sold on for building. Quite an enterprise, and it's amazing just how much sand and how many people you can fit into a river fishing boat. We cross the river and head into a few tributaries.
We kill the engine and the only sound is birdsong, and we just sit in the early morning sun, with the shafts of light coming through the trees, taking in the beauty and peace. On our way back we watch a family of monkeys making their way through the treetops.
We can't stay long as we have to get back to Aleppey by lunchtime, and we are back in the densely populated area surrounding the backwaters. Progress through the towns and villages is slow, but our reward is a real working elephant coming towards us on the road, a load of banana plants in his trunk.
After crossing the backwaters we meet up with our backwaters guide in Aleppey and go to meet our houseboat crew. For the next 24 hours it's just the two of us cruising gently through the backwaters with our personal guide and crew.
After a welcome coconut drink we settle in for lunch and then head off. The sun is shining, the banks are full of people washing, fishing building and repairing boats and life really is quite pleasant. We learn about life on the backwaters and their history.
One of the crew is also a crew member of his village's snakeboat, which is raced at festival times against other villages on the backwaters, and he explains the racing and the festival as we pass one of the boats and the race finishing line.
Dusk sees us tying up for the night, dinner is served to the sounds of a local church choir practicing, and after lashing of mozzie repellent we just settle in for a relaxing evening. 4hrs, 105 km.
This morning after another excellent breakfast we make our way gently back to our harbour, and meet up with everyone. Then it is an easy 30 km ride back to our beach hotel. Our holiday is nearing its end so we jump in the hammocks again and take in one last tropical sunset.
Riding an Enfield Bullet !
Great tour organisation through H-C Travel, www.hctravel.com.


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text:
Will Libraries Help Publishers Prop Up the Value of the Big Deal?
By Roger C. Schonfeld
This is a disruptive moment for journal licensing. The value of the big deal has declined. When the value of a product declines, one expected outcome is for customers to drive down its price in the market. But something slightly different is instead taking place. Several major university negotiating groups, including those for Germany and the University of California, have cancelled deals with Elsevier, the result of failed negotiations. Some consortia have entered into "transformative" agreements with Wiley, Springer Nature, and others, including Elsevier. In this moment of disruption, I wish to focus on one growing if counterintuitive element of the library negotiating playbook: helping publishers prop up the value of their big deal bundles.
The ball is in libraries' court. An early form of tennis.
Assessing One's Interests
For many libraries and consortia, the dilemmas and opportunities today feel significant. Many libraries are scrutinizing the value of their license agreements with greater sophistication than they once did. In the United States, in the wake of the failed Elsevier negotiation with California earlier this year, statements of support have come from libraries, faculty senates, and university administrators, even if there have as yet been no major follow-on cancellations.
Rhetoric aside, most libraries looking to seize this moment to rethink their approach are seeking more value in their bundles rather than a lower price to reflect the declining value of the core product. In some cases, this reflects a commitment to accelerating the transition to open access. In other cases, this may be a sophisticated recognition of publisher interests, as discussed below. In still other cases, it may derive from concerns about losing budget. Whatever the cause, the decision to seek enhanced value is notable.
Of course not all libraries face identical interests. Indeed the director of one major research library expressed relief to me this summer that their licensing consortium recently reached an agreement with Elsevier, avoiding the distraction from higher strategic priorities that would have come from a protracted negotiation if starting today. And more broadly, the university groups with the highest research output — like California — clearly face different incentives than those that publish less. Most libraries and consortia will be trying to determine their best individual negotiating opportunities in this moment of disruption, rather than all working from an identical playbook.
Understanding One's Counterparty
As ever, the key to a successful negotiation is to understand the interests and limits of one's counterparty. In the case of the global commercial publishers, in the near term they are motivated to ensure that revenue continues to grow and therefore margin along with it. They also must develop the fundamentals for longer term growth on both these metrics. Understanding how revenue and margin is reported publicly is essential, and this varies to some degree by publisher.
RELX's annual financial statements and investor presentations are instructive, because Elsevier (in these materials sometimes called RELX's STM unit) receives a higher percentage of its business from workflow platforms and tools (in other words, outside primary publishing) of any publisher. From these public materials, we can see that Elsevier's results, for example operating costs, capital expenditures, and margin, are generally reported only in the aggregate. Revenue is detailed with somewhat greater granularity, through pie charts without accompanying percentage figures, covering world region, segment/format (i.e., print, electronic primary publishing, and databases and tools), and type (ie subscription vs. sale). Of course there are many subsidiary responsibilities for profits and losses in any large organization, but these can be adjusted internally. All this to say that while maintaining its overall revenue base is a vital priority, a publisher can have at least some room for flexibility in how that revenue is sourced — and therefore within a given publisher how products are bundled for a customer.
Libraries are coming to recognize that this can present an opportunity. Even though the economic value of the big deal has declined, publishers are trying to resist any form of outright price cut that will hit their revenues. Instead, they are looking to maintain or even grow their revenue by adding more value to license agreements as they are renewed. So libraries are asking publishers to look across the various assets in their portfolios, not only in platforms and analytics and tools but even in their primary publishing portfolios, and add them to the big deal bundle.
Flipping the Big Deal
There have been two fundamentally different approaches libraries have taken to increasing the value of the Big Deal. First is the most widely discussed form, the "transformative agreement," which bundles open access publishing for affiliated researchers with reading rights to publications that remain available via subscription. A number of these deals have been struck in recent years. Although transformative agreements may not actually be in the academy's best interests and raise troubling questions about how costs are allocated among member institutions, many publishing intensive consortia will continue to pursue these models.
Because of the long-term implications of a shift towards open access via transformative agreements, libraries have opportunities to play publishers against one another. In Germany, in Elsevier's absence, the other major houses have seen mouth-watering opportunities to take market share from Elsevier — especially on the supply side in terms of article flow. And as a result, Germany's Deal consortium has found opportunities to strike deals with first Wiley and then Springer Nature that might otherwise not have been possible. A consortium with the wherewithal to cancel one publisher may have greater opportunities to strike agreements on more favorable terms with its competitors. These dynamics not only raise questions about why Elsevier hasn't been able to strike a deal in Germany, but also whether and if so in what form California will play these dynamics to its own advantage.
Expanding the Big Deal
Other higher education institutions and their consortia are less focused on extracting value through open access publishing services and therefore in some cases less interested in pursuing these transformative agreement models. Instead, they are developing a second strategy, seeking additional value in the form of assets that the publishers hold.
One particular flavor of this strategy is to bundle platforms and analytics and other tools with content. In some ways, this is an obvious approach, one that has been developing for years as an array of publishers acquire and in some cases build portfolios of workflow and analytics platforms. In practice, we can see this model in a license agreement that Elsevier recently reached with Poland, bundling not only Scopus but also SciVal with access to subscription scholarly journals.
Even if they lack the scale of workflow and analytics platforms, many other houses are probably just as able as Elsevier to build bundles combining these newer business lines with their subscription publications. Wiley can do this with Atypon (including RedLink) and Evidence-Based Medicine Databases, Sage with Lean Library and its research tools, Springer Nature with its databases and research solutions, and Taylor & Francis with its colwiz. There is some redundancy across the workflow and analytics platforms provided by the publishers (even more so if Digital Science's portfolio were ever to be bundled with subscription content as part of the extended Springer Nature family), and redundant offerings should affect bundling models and negotiating strategy.
Of course libraries and their universities have every reason to be concerned over the long-term implications of ever larger bundles. There are real risks of lock-in from many of these workflow portfolios alone. And, in many cases the workflow and analytics tools are more typically licensed by another university office, such as the provost, chief research officer, or laboratory PI, rather than through the library, creating budgetary and decision-making complexity for a single bundle. As universities provide workflow tools to their researchers they should address these complexities and risks even if the vast majority have yet to do so sufficiently. Since combining subscriptions and workflow tools in a single bundle can only serve to increase the complexities and risks, libraries should seek to ensure the separability of the different components of any such bundle, along with other policy and licensing matters.
Some Publisher Considerations
Whether libraries propose to flip or expand the big deal, as was noted initially everything comes down to money. Publishers have long been willing to strike either kind of deal for the right amount of money. The real question at this disruptive moment is how much additional value they are willing to add into their bundles in order to maintain and if possible grow their current revenue base. Given that efforts to fight piracy and address leakage have been proceeding fitfully at best, publishers face a complicated calculus about whether and to what extent to spend down these other assets rather than seeing them as sources of growth. Publishers will take different approaches depending on their strategic positioning and assessment of the value tradeoff they will face.
To take one example, a publisher that has already gone to market with an integrated offering of workflow tools and platforms faces a different set of considerations for propping up its subscriptions than one that has more modest such investments or one completely left behind by these workflow businesses. And, even in the best case, is there enough value from these other assets to compensate for the declining value of the journal subscription?
Or, a publisher with a higher percentage of its revenue attributable to open access but a smaller overall market share may see more upside to flipping its big deals than might be the case for the market incumbent. Which houses see in open access an opportunity to develop a second long-term source of publishing revenue, and which instead see transformative agreements as an opportunity to increase their market share of article supply?
Both in flipping and in expanding the big deal, publishers generate value in cases where they may as a result forego future revenues. In some cases, they will be foregoing revenue for tools they have already brought to market — and in other cases where they have not productized an asset that has as yet been dormant. Against this backdrop, publishers may well be able to maintain their revenue bases and ensure a rosy near-term story for Wall Street. But, will they have obscured the decline in value of other parts of their product lines? And will it be clear that they have cannibalized what might otherwise have been seen as their strongest long-term growth opportunities?
Many libraries are using a negotiating playbook that would, if successful, prop up the big deal in this moment of disruption. Is this the best approach for the academy? It is not the only possibility. Are there opportunities to seek price cuts and not simply value enhancements? Where might it make sense for libraries to develop productive alliances with one another and perhaps in some cases with preferred suppliers? How should they best map out and sequence their efforts? Sophisticated libraries and consortia have tremendous opportunities as they write a new playbook. The ball is in their court.
Roger C. Schonfeld
@rschon
Roger C. Schonfeld is director of Libraries, Scholarly Communication, and Museums for Ithaka S+R. Roger leads a team of subject matter and methodological experts and analysts who conduct research and provide advisory services to drive evidence-based innovation and leadership among libraries, publishers, and museums to foster research, learning, and preservation. Previously, Roger was a research associate at The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
View All Posts by Roger C. Schonfeld
1 Thought on "Will Libraries Help Publishers Prop Up the Value of the Big Deal?"
Appreciate this nuanced posting. You wrote, "Of course not all libraries face identical interests," and that's a key point here. Today's headlines are naturally going to the groups that negotiate large transformative agreements, because these represent new and thoughtful, creative attempts to change the access and business underpinnings of certain (often the biggest and most costly) publisher contracts. Such experimentation is hugely important, and I daresay we will see many adjustments and re-thinking over the coming years; we're not at the end state by any means (read SK in 10-20 years). But, to restate the point: consortia and libraries that have other goals or even wish to maintain the current arrangements but with more cost containment, shouldn't be overlooked, marginalized, or criticized for lack of imagination. We're reaching a stage where the previously more identical type of "big deal" arrangements are becoming far more varied to meet different situations, and that's a Very Good Thing.
By Ann Okerson
This is enormously important. Admitting error is rare enough these days, but doing it quickly and with integrity even rarer still.
Grateful for @JoeHeim's story abt an altered image, glad for the response to the story from all quarters, and most of all for @USNatArchives. https://twitter.com/USNatArchives/status/1218613271927906305
US National Archives@USNatArchives
We made a mistake.
As the National Archives of the United States, we are and have always been completely committed to preserving our archival holdings, without alteration.
Terrific @The_OAH column abt what pieces get left out when scholars move fr research to publication. So compelling. @marthasjones_ & P. Deloria both struggled w incorporating meaningful visual material. Those x marks...
Link: https://www.oah.org/tah/issues/2019/history-and-the-movies/the-cutting-room-floor/ https://twitter.com/marthasjones_/status/1218566359153594373
Martha S. Jones, JD, PhD@marthasjones_
A reveal: What I left on the cutting room floor of Birthright Citizens. Thanks to the @The_OAH for a chance to put it out there. These still haunt me. https://www.oah.org/tah/issues/2019/history-and-the-movies/the-cutting-room-floor/
Steven Sinofsky@stevesi·
Letting slower passengers board airplane first really is faster, study finds https://arstechnica.com/?post_type=post&p=1642665 // #physics
Is the Value of the Big Deal in Decline?
Read and Publish: Is It Good for the Academy?
Guest Post: Evaluating Open Access in a Consortial Context
Summer Vacation -- On Hiatus

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BK Gangadhar to distribute Liger in Karnataka- Cinema express
BK Gangadhar to distribute Liger in Karnataka
The distributor plans to release the Puri Jagannadh directorial in all languages, across the state
CE Features
Published: 09th August 2022
Noted producer BK Gangadhar, who previously distributed Vijay Deverakonda's Geetha Govindam in Karnataka has bagged the distribution rights of the actor's much anticipated pan-Indian project Liger. The film directed by Puri Jagannadh is set to release on August 25, and the distributor plans to release the film in all languages, across the state.
The confirmation was made by Gangadhar himself. He also shared that Vijay along with the Liger team will be in Bengaluru for a grand pre-release event on August 18. Liger, which marks the first collaboration between Puri Jagannadh and Vijay Deverakonda, has the latter playing the role of a boxer in the film.
The film backed by Karan Johar's Dharma Productions stars Ananya Panday as the female lead and Ramya Krishnan in a pivotal role. The film also features boxer Mike Tyson in a cameo.


Restaurant Review: OYO Crayfish Special a special summer catch!
One of the specials on the Whale Cottage Spring/Summer specials list is OYO's Crayfish special. Yesterday a group of food and wine bloggers and journalists was invited by Manley Communications, on behalf of their client Newmark Hotels, to enjoy a taste of the Crayfish Special at OYO Restaurant and Cocktail Bar at the V&A Hotel, which costs R185 for 500 gram. The lunch was perfect for the lovely summer's day.
OYO means 'whoa' in Chinese, a reaction to the food and lovely view from the restaurant onto Table Mountain from the inside tables, and those outside along the quay. It is also a visual representation of two plates and a glass of wine. The chef at OYO is Sanel Esterhuizen, relatively unknown, but who has been with the hotel for almost 2 years, and has a wonderful way with the presentation of food.
Newmark Hotels was previously known as the Ambassador Group, and owns the V&A Hotel, the Ambassador Hotel, the Salt Restaurant, Salt Deli, Salt Vodka Bar, Dock House and the Villa Collection. The Group is on an expansion trail, having bought the old Splendida Hotel on Beach Road in Mouille Point, and is busy renovating the accommodation and restaurant. The restaurant will be run by Caveau. In addition, the Queen Victoria hotel, in a building which has housed the management of the V&A Waterfront, is being renovated and will open for business next year.
For the second year running OYO has obtained a "7 ton pre-allocation of crayfish", translating into 14 000 crayfish tails, which will be served throughout summer. It is unclear how the allocation works, and whether the crayfish served is fresh or has been frozen before preparation.
The wines for the lunch were sponsored by Hartenberg, a wine estate in Stellenbosch that is over 300 years old, and is a founder signatory of the South African Biodiversity in Wine Initiative, expressing its care for the environment. Its product portfolio includes The Gravel Hill, The MacKenzie Cabernet Sauvignon Merlot, The Stork Shiraz, Weisser Riesling, 'The Eleanor' Chardonnay, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Cabernet Sauvignon Shiraz, Pinotage, Shiraz and Merlot. The Shiraz has voted the third best in the world at Syrah du Monde, while its Merlot was judged the world's best in the International Wine & Spirit Competiton in London. Earlier this year the Shiraz was named the Best New World wine at the Zürich International Wine Competition.
The winelist on the website contains some typing errors, the only flaw about this good restaurant. What is most impressive is that almost each of the wines offered is available by the glass and by the bottle, 70 wines-by-the-glass in total, which is most commendable. More champagnes than local sparkling wines are available, the imported ones costing between R 425 for Moet et Chandon Brut to R 2595 for Dom Perignon. Local bubblies range from R37/R190 for Villiera to R 52/R275 for Pierre Jourdan Belle Rose. Four Shiraz wines are offered – De Meye costs R35/R125 – Bon Courage Inkara costs R79/R295.
The starter was the highlight for me, in its beautiful presentation, being a Shellfish Cocktail, consisting of langoustines, prawns, crab, shrimps, mussels and clams, with a brandy crème fraiche served on the side, an unexpected but interesting combination. It was served with "The Eleanor" Hartenberg Chardonnay 2007. Other starters range widely in price, from R40 for a vegetable soup to R175 for a delicious-sounding abalone risotto.
The OYO special allows one to order the West Coast crayfish in one of two ways. The grilled crayfish is served with Malay pilaf rice, roasted vine tomatoes and a selection of three sauces – lemon butter, garlic and peri-peri. The steamed and then cooled down crayfish is served with a summer melon and herb salad and avocado mayonnaise, which was the option I chose. The crayfish was perfect, and the avocado mayonnaise a most unusual but lovely combination. The salad was served in a glass, with tiny balls of orange and green melon, slivers of cucumber, radish slices and herbs, making a lovely accompaniment to the crayfish. It was served with Hartenberg Sauvignon Blanc 2009. The menu on the website lists the warm crayfish dish at the usual price of R 275, and a seafood platter for two costs R495. Other main courses are well-priced between R 100 – R120, for steak, duck, springbok, pork belly, lamb and kingklip.
I did not have the dessert, but it looked beautiful too, being a slice of chocolate tart with mulberry (what a unique ingredient!) sorbet and almond rocks, which was paired with the Hartenberg Merlot 2008. Desserts range from R45 for bread and butter pudding to R75 for Chocolate nemesis.
The service of the staff was attentive, efficient and professional, constantly topping up the water and the wines. I was impressed when I was greeted by name on arrival outside the hotel at the drop-off zone, by Manager Mark Gers, a most friendly welcome.
The Crayfish special is excellent value for money for crayfish lovers, and also for tourists who would like to try this South African delicacy.
Disclosure: Guests attending the lunch received a hamper of Hartenberg wines, as well as a voucher to stay in the new Queen Victoria Hotel, opening next year.
Affects credibility, a true food blogger shouldnt accept freebie invites and then write about it, one cannot be truely objective.
Next you will be reviewing funky kettles sent by yuppie chef like dax, taking hazy trendy photos like Jamie who or saying how lovely reuben is like clare mack.
You are a loyal reader and commenter, and I hope we do not lose you.
The American Food Bloggers' Code of Conduct does not disallow free meals and gifts, but demands diclosure. This is being legislated in the USA. We have always disclosed free meals and gifts on this blog. I would never compromise my objectivity on the basis of a freebie! Sadly many of my colleagues do.
Thank you for your loyal readership to date.
It is unfair to compare Chris to Clare Mack. Claire is not objective, she goes where she gets, with her husband hot on her heels. So, not a freebie for one, but usually for two. I don't believe everything she writes, even though she has a very entertaining writing style. By the way, what happened to her tax evasion charges in Ireland?


Catfish, the documentary film, explores the interesting and mysterious side of social networking. In the film we see Nev Schulman develop a relationship through Facebook and the events that run up to where they first meet.
The situation Nev finds himself in the end is bizarre, disturbing, and yet oddly sweet. Assuming you've seen the film I want to talk about the premise further. It was shown in the film how easy it was for Angela to create these characters. I refer to them as characters as the situation felt like Angela was playing a game, and the character creation menu was simply the wealth of pre-existing information on the internet. Like a DJ she was simply just remixing what was there already.
The profiles for the fictional people she created were so well connected that it tricks Nev but also the audience for a good portion of the film. While only photos are exchanged between them, the phone calls are unsettling when you think back on them.
There is also a TV series that continued on from this, with Nev and the filmmakers exposing truths and lies on social networks. It follows the same concept as the movie, with Nev interviewing a person who claims to have an online relationship. They then document the meeting which as you might have guessed is not always truthful.
But why do some people feel the need to bend the truth online? Is it perhaps it's unbelievably easy to do so? All it takes is you to say one lie for someone else to believe it on the other side of the world. Or perhaps it's that online socialising can only tell you so much about a person and the rest is left up to the other person to fill in the gaps? Catfish definitely highlights how social media can be manipulated and fabricated with ease.


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Астрономічні об'єкти, відкриті 1993
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Everything you need to know about Avis car rental United States.
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This unique Tibetan Healing Wand was one of the treasures I found in my recent travels through India. The wand has been hand-carved by Tibetan monks, using their knowledge of the healing power of crystals. The energy that this wand emits is exquisite.
This unique Tibetan Healing Wand was one of the treasures I found in my recent travels through India.
The wand has been hand-carved by Tibetan monks, using their knowledge of the healing power of crystals. The energy that this wand emits is exquisite.
Designed to work with the chakras and aura, the positive point (the carved clear quartz point) is used to energise, while the ball end, the negative point (an amethyst sphere), is used to extract and diffuse negative energy.
This wand comes with the photocopied binder of notes about Tibetan crystal healing techniques and how to use the wand, which I received when I sourced this piece.
This piece is 14" or 37cm long and weighs 747 grams.
The wand structure includes a large amethyst sphere, and faceted lapis lazuli staff, culminating in an elaborate carved clear quartz point.
There are also faceted gem quality stones including smoky quartz, garnet, ruby, amethyst, citrine, clear quartz, peridot, emerald, labradorite and carnelian, all of which align to the chakras and have powerful healing energies.
The white resin which holds the crystals together, is made from rice powder mixed with resin from trees.
The notes that will accompany this Tibetan healing wand will give you an idea of how to use it – or you can allow your intuition to guide you.
This is truly one of the most beautiful crystal pieces I've ever sourced, and I can't wait for her to find her new owner.
* Please note, this piece is not eligible for any other discounts or coupon codes.


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Home » Featured, Football, Headline
McFC – The gift that kept on giving…
Submitted by jstand on May 13, 2012 – 1:52 pmNo Comment
Division 2 is calling you....
The last time I can recall the final game of a season mattering so much to both Manchester teams was 1996, when United were Champions and city went down believing a draw with Liverpool kept them safe. The following is taken from 'A Fine Lung', which is occasionally sold in and around Manchester when the writers co-operative manage to scrape together an issue.
My dad was twice targeted during Thatcher's war on the working classes, when the factory he worked in down-sized and moved its tool-making work abroad and, more catastrophically to him and us, when the NHS made him redundant so the hospital's new private owners could offer him his job back at half his salary. He spent two years on the dole and we watched the pride drain out of this hard-working, loving man as he got knock-back after knock-back.
He eventually found a job working as a porter in a hotel, a mile up the road from where we lived. He wore a daft suit and a waistcoat with big brass buttons. He worked for landed, Mottram St Andrew snots, running errands, giving them lifts to the airport for weekend's away playing golf, where they'd probably spend more on brass than they were paying him in six months. But he was bringing home money and even though he must've felt ridiculed running around after those cunts he wasn't having to face that once-a-fortnight ridicule of signing on, so he got on with it.
I was at an age where I was going to the match on my own. I would clean cars, deliver papers and do what I could to watch United. Eventually he got me a job working in the kitchens there. I was under-age at 14 and I worked about 3 or 4 nights a week for £3.10 an hour. We had a clocking in machine in the staff cloakroom. I worked out that I could go in when I wasn't working, clock in and go back later to clock out. I'd also turn up a couple of hours earlier than I was meant to, clock in and then hang around looking busy. At nights we'd sit around for 2-3 hours after a shift, taking a wage from the bulbous, silver-spoon twat of an owner. I was able to pay my way at home and, importantly for me, go to more games, eventually getting a season ticket, paid for by my invisible act at the hotel.
After a couple of years there I was faced with a dilemma. In May 1996 I was asked to work on the final day of the season. United were away at Boro, needing to better Newcastle's result to win the league. A Cup Final versus Liverpool had been secured. Eric Cantona, coming back from suspension after Selhurst Park, had helped United get back within reach of Newcastle, who had led by 12 points at Christmas. But without a win a Boro the title was under threat.
The build up to the game was immense. Cantona had led United on a stunning run and Keegan, having dropped points at Elland Rd in midweek, putting United's fate in their own hands, lost it live on telly with his "love it" rant. With the exception of Tottenham in '99 I don't remember a final day that has come anywhere close in terms of tension. Obviously tickets were not easy to come by. This was United's first visit to the Riverside, which was not yet up to its capacity as the corners hadn't been filled in. Despite this, I had managed to get hold of one, but the small matter of work stood in my way.
I'd had a word with my boss – a Liverpool fan – but he'd told me it was up to the Head Chef, a lunatic alcoholic who didn't like football. He told me if I didn't turn up for work I was out of a job. My dad had been back in work and back on his feet for a while but there were still money problems and he was still working over-time to make sure that bills were paid. I was helping out at home and I was getting decent money for doing a job that I wasn't actually doing. It paid for my season ticket and more and more away games. Most lads my age were going to the odd game or not at all anymore, and were working full time for less money than I was earning for 3-4 nights a week. I knew I had to miss Boro and so at 7am on that glorious last day of the season I was on my way to work.
There's nothing out-of-the-ordinary about this lad-misses-game-for-work story, except for the fact that the hotel I worked for had an outside catering contract with Manchester City Football Club. So at 7am on that glorious last day of the season I was on my way to work at Maine Road, where in complete contrast to United, City were playing Liverpool and trying to keep their place in the league.
From what I remember, the new Kippax, which was thrown up in 1994, was funded by money from the Boardroom Suite, which was set up in the Main Stand as City's VIP area. A table of ten was yours for five years for a six figure sum. After 5 years you'd get your money back and in the meantime the table was yours for City's games and any other events that took place at Maine Road. An assortment of well-to-do, City sympathising business types took up the offer and we catered for about 150 of them. Ignoring the surroundings, it was a good number. You had to be there early on Saturdays and wouldn't get away until about half six at night, which amounted to clocking in a 6am on a Saturday and clocking out at some point on Sunday afternoon. Somewhere in between there was about four hours work, all indirectly paid for by MCFC.
If United's situation was tense, City's was no different. They looked doomed but had managed to win the last couple of games so it all went down to 90 minutes against Liverpool. Bolton and QPR had already gone. Coventry, Sheffield Wednesday, Southampton or Wimbledon could have joined them, depending on what happened in their games and at Maine Road. Not long after we got set up, people started to arrive and the expectation was that they'd go down. Typical city an' all that.
There were some horrible, bitter fuckers that worked there and I haven't seen hatred of United like I saw working at Maine Road. Granted, some of the people that worked there part time with us were ok. Most of them weren't really into football but had adopted City out of loyalty to their work. The old dears who waited-on got there about 12'ish and proceeded to tell us how terrible it would be if City went down. The catering manager, a slimy, Moroccan bloke (who had stopped calling me by my name in favour of "fuckingredmunichbastard" many months ago) caught me laughing, assumed I was laughing at City's situation and threatened to put a knife in me if they were relegated and I said anything to him.
After a busy couple of hours pre-match, I managed to get cleaned up quickly and was in a spare seat in the Main Stand a couple of minutes into the game. Obviously my main concern was how United were doing at Boro so I had a radio with me. As I took my seat the sound of the commentator was drowned out by a roar from the Liverpool fans in the North Stand as Steve Lomas put it into his own net. City looked finished before the game had really started. Ian Rush put the scousers two up a couple of minutes before half time, by which time David May had put United one nil up at the Riverside.
We had to go back into the kitchens whilst Franny's mates were served their half time tea. The old dears were still saying how terrible it was, whilst the United fans were trying to get a glimpse of the telly to see how we were getting on at Boro, trying to hide their delight. Nobody expected anything from the second half. Loads of seats were still empty about ten minutes in. By the time United were two up at the Riverside the unlikely happened and City got back in the game with goals from Uwe Rosler and Kit Symons.
Obviously the City fans were going mad but the atmosphere was odd because no one really knew what was going on elsewhere. This was before smart phones so the 31,000 inside Maine Road were reliant on people with radios. There seemed to be different messages coming through, some suggesting City would be safe with a point, others confirming the reality, that they needed a win. Alan Ball's message had got to the players that a point was ok. As the confused blues around me raised the volume, some shouting at the players, some shouting to each other and shrugging their shoulders, the commentator in my left ear confirmed that United were now three up and the title was won.
The footage of what followed has become United legend. The situation was now understood by all but about twelve people inside Maine Road – City needed to score. I'd been watching Alan Ball on the sidelines, gesturing to his players to slow things down and keep the ball. Steve Lomas and Uwe Rosler, directly below me in front of the Main Stand, relax to a walk and casually side footed the ball to each other. City players further back are looking at their Manager, then at Lomas and Rosler, then into the stands where everyone is on their feet waving their fists around. The noise has become deafening, a din of irate blues pleading with their team to push forward, complicated by the sound of my radio telling me that United too were at walking pace en route to the title. Suddenly Niall Quinn appeared from out of the Main Stand tunnel. He mouths something to City's management and then makes his way up the touchline towards the Platt Lane, imploring his team-mates to get on with it.
The noise goes up again and City try for a frantic couple of minutes to stay in the league. By now the realisation is starting to hit those around me. They've just seen an almighty fuck up and I can see the colour draining from faces. The referee blows his whistle and City are relegated. As the boos and whistles start I can here United fans singing "champions" through my radio. I must say, I've had worse days at work.
Frankie Boyle on the question of what's an appropriate response when Thatcher finally dies: "For the cost of a State funeral they could buy everyone in Scotland a shovel and they'll dig a hole so deep you can hand her over to the devil himself"


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FreakAtoms
Writings on gender, tech, and making
Home / CV
After graduating from the University of Sussex with a BA in Film Studies in 2010 I spent five years working in the digital media and IT industries, first as a freelance computer animator before moving on to production and administration roles at an award-winning digital media agency, Cogapp, and finally into a technical operations role at Semantico, a digital publishing partner. I joined my local makerspace, Build Brighton, in 2011 through an interest in programming and electronics, and became a trustee in 2012. Over the next three years I organised workshops and public engagement events for Build Brighton, worked as a producer on the annual Brighton Mini Maker Faire which promoted maker culture to over 2,000 visitors a year at the prestigious Brighton Corn Exchange, and visited other makerspaces and Maker Faires all over the UK. After noticing a lack of women in the technical industry I was working in, and seeing this reflected in the maker community I was a part of, I returned to academia in 2015 to investigate ways of improving women's relationships with technology via the maker movement. In 2016 I gained my MSc in Science, Technology and Society from University College London. I am currently conducting PhD research on gender, technology and makerspaces in the department of Science & Technology Studies at UCL.
O'Sullivan, E. (2018). Excellence in the maker movement. Journal of Peer Production, 12.
Building inclusive makerspaces. Electromagnetic Field, Eastnor, England, 31 August-2 September 2018.
What even is a "maker"?: How we see ourselves and how other people see us. Electromagnetic Field, Guildford, England, 5-7 August 2016.
Research Experience
Research Assistant, Institute of Education, University College London, May 2017 – September 2017.
Assisted with the development of a large multi-year funding application for a project to develop and research the educational and identity equity potential of makerspaces for young people from socially disadvantaged backgrounds. Project lead: Professor Louise Archer.
Postgraduate Teaching Assistant, Department of Science & Technology Studies, University College London, Autumn 2017.
1st year module – Science Communication & Engagement
2nd year module – Human Sciences in Society
PhD Science & Technology Studies, University College London, 2020 (predicted). Thesis title: Gender, Technology, and Makerspaces. Supervisors: Dr Emily Dawson & Dr Carina Fearnley.
MSc Science, Technology & Society (Distinction), University College London, 2016. Dissertation title: Who's in and who's out: the state of the field of the UK maker movement.
BA (Hons) Film Studies (First Class), University of Sussex, 2010.
MSc STS Dissertation Prize, University College London, 2016.
ESRC 1+3 Studentship, Economic and Social Research Council, 2015.
BA Film Studies Dissertation Prize, University of Sussex, 2010.
Workshop moderator, "Building Inclusive Makerspaces", Electromagnetic Field, 2018.
Exhibitor, Art:Work, Tate Exchange @ Tate Modern, 2017.
Organiser, Machine Ghosts (tech psychogeography tour), Haunted Random Forest Festival, 2017.
Producer, Brighton Mini Maker Faire, 2012-2015.
Organiser, Young Rewired State (coding summer school), 2012-2014.
Workshop facilitator, soldering and electronics workshop, Brighton Science Festival, 2013.
My name's Em O'Sullivan and I'm a PhD student researching gender, technology and makerspaces at University College London. I live in Brighton by the seaside.
View CV
Join the Gender, Tech & Making Google Group to discuss issues, events and publications at the intersection of gender, technology, and the Maker Movement
Meet the Makerspace
Andrew Sleigh
codekat (Kat Braybrooke)
Geek Feminism
Genderate (Alison Phipps)
jessica.tech (Jessica Rose)
katherine cecil
Maxigas
Metafoundry (Deb Chachra)
Running A Hackerspace Tumblr
Stefanie Wuschitz
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Redistricting among latest options to ease high school crowding
By Jess Nocera
Howard County Times |
Graduating members of the Howard High School sign language class sign the song "You Are the New Day" during the school's graduation ceremony at Merriweather Post Pavilion in May. (Steve Ruark/For BSMG)
The Howard County school board next week will have a public hearing on options to relieve crowding in five high schools, including busing students to other schools miles away.
"We are going from crisis to crisis to crisis," Christina Delmont-Small, a school board member, said. "I think we need to have a deeper conversation on what we want this [relieving overcrowding] to look like."
Eight options — from redrawing school attendance border lines to opening a separate academy for ninth-graders starting as soon as the fall of 2019 — are being considered by the school board and will be reviewed at a Sept. 11 public hearing.
Howard council studies ways to avert larger class sizes by bolstering school budget
The Howard County Council has the opportunity to not increase school class sizes by shifting around current funds budgets to give the education budget an additional $5.1 million.
The most crowded of Howard's 12 high schools are Centennial, Hammond, Howard, Long Reach and Mt. Hebron, said Jennifer Bubenko, planning specialist for the school system.
Each of the five high schools have portable, or temporary, classrooms on its campus. In the last school year, Centennial had five portable classrooms, Hammond had four, Howard had 15, Long Reach had four and Mt. Hebron had four, according to school data. For the 2018-19 school year, each of the five high schools is projected to have from 100 to 300 more students than they were designed to accommodate.
[More Maryland news] Carroll school board supports bonuses for all school system employees »
A so-called open enrollment option would allow students from Centennial, Howard, Long Reach or Mt. Hebron high schools to to be reassigned to an out-of-district school with adequate space, including Glenelg, Marriotts Ridge and Oakland Mills high schools.
Howard County Times: Top stories Newsletter
Daily highlights from Howard County's number one source for local news.
Another option would allow temporary reassignments of ninth graders at Howard or Centennial high school for the 2019-2020 academic year to attend Marriotts Ridge, Oakland Mills or Wilde Lake high school for their freshman year, before transferring back to their home school.
A permanent reassignment option would have the 2019-2020 academic year freshman classes at either Howard or Centennial high schools, spending their entire high school career at Marriotts Ridge, Oakland Mills or Wilde Lake high schools.
A ninth-grade academy option would place Howard High School freshman at Faulkner Ridge Center in Columbia for their first year, or expanded as a countywide program, said Dan Lubeley, manager of design and preconstruction services. This plan would take effect for the 2020-2021 school year while Faulkner Ridge is renovated.
The Parent Teacher Association Council of Howard County will review all of the options at its first general meeting between all PTA presidents and delegates, according to Brent Loveless, council president.
Class sizes have increased twice in the past five years. During the past budget cycle, the Howard County Council shifted $5.1 million to keep class sizes from increasing.
Latest Howard County
At Columbia's Robinson Nature Center, a class series with seniors in mind
Maryland environment secretary pledges to increase staffing amid legislators' concerns during Senate hearing


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Thanks to every one near and far who sent happy birthday wishes my way. Love and miss you guys so much.
We rented a car that morning and drove from Nadi to Suva that afternoon. We stopped at a few amazing resorts along the way and even a zip line and America Ninja Warrior obstacle along the side of the road.
Brian opted out and it was too low for me to waste money on, so we watched some kids and moms zip down. They loved it.
Enjoying a fresh coconut at one of the resorts. The guy gave it to me for free and he didn't even know it was my birthday. Great present. Thanks universe.
Brian splurged and we went to the Grand Pacific Hotel that night. He wrote a paper in the bar that night and I woke up to tea and this view the next morning.
Suva was a bit too rainy for us, so we headed back to Nadi and spent the last few days relaxing at this cute beachside place Brian found. There was even a small train that ran through a couple times a day. Watch out kids!!!
We also happened to stop by a Poi performance at one of the neighboring resorts. Beautiful and scary!
Now we're in Auckland CSing with a cool British lawyer who just discovered the joys of Couchsurfing. It's refreshing and fun to stay with him and remember what I felt like when I first started on the site. He's heading to Thailand for a month and is going to host there. If you'll be in the neighborhood, let me know and I'll link you up.
We had a conversation the first night about how men with brown eyes can't do blonde hair. I showed him Zac Morris (he had no idea who he was but recognized him from other more recent shows) and last night he came home with the Zac Morris hair – down to the exact part and everything. Best part? It looks amazing on him.
We also made a quick trip over to the Aquarium yesterday and Brian captured this photo of the skyline.
We spent part of yesterday trying to rent a van. Apparently this time of year is strangely all booked up. Brian finally found a place last night that let us book for tomorrow, so we're in Auckland an extra day.
With that extra day, we're going to head over to Giapo's Gelato who invited us to come hang with them and see what kind of gastronomic craziness they're whipping up. Luckily they're only about two blocks away from where we're staying. The view. We're staying in the middle of downtown on Queen and Victoria. Very central – this is just another reason why I love Couchsurfing!
Alright, time to hit the road now. Wish our tastebuds well!
← The world's most pressing question about FIJI!


text:
Q: spyne - Request lxml encoding error Problem
I'm testing a wsdl application with a remote server, so I can't have any influence on the requesting mechanism.
While testing with it, I get this log messages.
DEBUG:spyne.protocol.soap.soap11:ValueError: Deserializing from unicode strings
    with encoding declaration is not supported by lxml.
DEBUG:spyne.protocol.xml:Validated ? False
40.50.60.70 - - [14/Jul/2016 16:58:42] "POST /?WSDL HTTP/1.1" 500 480

So the problem seems to be, that my remote server doing it's requests in a utf-8 encoded string, but I'm not able to reproduce it on my local machine. There I'm doing this with curl, which has a charset=utf-8 encoding in it's header and a input xml, wich has encoding='UTF-8' in it's`-tag too.
$ curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: text/xml; charset=utf-8" -d @request.xml
    http://localhost:8000 > response.xml

Approaches
I tried to set an event_listener at the process which builds the wsdl, to maybe get a chance to manipulate the input string with ctx.in_string or something else.
MyService.event_manager.add_listener('wsdl_document_built', _on_wsdl_document_built)
MyService.event_manager.add_listener('document_built', _on_document_built)

application.event_manager.add_listener('wsdl_document_built', _on_wsdl_document_built)
application.event_manager.add_listener('document_built', _on_document_built)

But there was no execution of my added functions.
Also i searched unseccessful the docs for a type of configuration, to pre decode it.
So my question is how to force some kind of encoding of the incoming request xml?

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


Do you remember way back when, when people poked whole cloves in oranges for an amazing scented household decoration? Well, that is exactly what this soap smells like! It will bring you back to your childhood.
It is made with orange and clove essential oils and colored with natural botanicals so this is a 100% natural soap.
Contents: Olive Oil, Water, Palm Oil, Coconut Oil, Sodium Hydroxide, Cocoa Butter, Essential Oil, Annetto Seeds, Clove Powder.
This listing is for one 4.75 - 5.00 ounce (approximate) bar. Due to the handmade nature of this product, every bar is unique!


So I visit this website on my phone, but whenever I try to post something, the screen flashes on and off. It's only on this website, and only when I am typing. It has gotten really annoying lately.
Just say. Not sure I can do anything about it.
Just because you promise to be different in the future does not change what you've done in the past.
There is only one person in this entire world that understands you completely.
One person who knows exactly what you have gone through, and what it was like.
The pain, the joy, the excitement, the envy. All of it. Everything.
You can always depend on this person when there is no one else. When everyone seems to have left you, this person will still be there. Every step of the way.
Because this person is yourself.
That's weird about that website. I like what you wrote about the person who understands you is yourself!
I actually thought about that a few days ago.
I am just here to wish you a happy xay today, qnd tomorrow, and then next day!
I would also like to extend this wish to whoever sees this, mods, agents, authors, ect.
Hi Lynx! Thanks, you too! So what are you up too?
Not a lot actually. Planning to go on family vacation in 2 weeks. Extremely excited!!!!! Disneyworld here i come!!
What about you? Anything exciting happening?
Cool! Well, I'm helping out at a vacation bible school. Is this the first time your going to Disneyworld?
Nah, I went once before when I was like 7. But I don't remember much about it. Except for space mountain. I remember that ride. I think it was my favorite.
Vbs huh? Well I hope you have fun with that!!
Hey Monica! So i have been thinking, and i was wondering if you could please take control of [No Escape] For me? Please? I just don't have time to keep an eye on it, and my internet has been having a lot of problems. It would mean a lot if you would take the lead for me, considering you are always here! I trust you the most to take good care of the tread and keep it running (and if you must, i trust you to put it to rest if it doesn't survive) Please consider it.
When you are young(infant), death is an un-understandable thing.
When you grow older(teenager), Death is still far away, unless you bring it upon yourself.
When you become an adult, you try to make a living, death not on your mind.
When you become old, you fear, than embrace death.
When you are immortal, all of this doesnt apply.
By: Deadpool's white thought box.
Red team,your favorite comic characters have arrived.
[...] is white thought box. (...) is yellow thought box..Green is Bob, or my army of bobs. Blue is spiderman(Peter). Dark red is daredevil(Matt).Orange is the actual person named Andrew.
Sure Lynx! I'd be happy to take control!
Thank you so very much Monica!!
Hello Lokisoul~ I liked your post, feel free to post more if you want to.
Hold it tightly, don't let go.
Find someone you love, AND LET THEM KNOW.
There are those times, that I look up at the sky.
And see your face, shing brightly in my mind.
You were like snow, then you melted.
But you will never leave my mind, no matter how hard I try.
Just something that I made up a few minutes ago.
You made me endure it to " make me strong"
I push pain on others as you taught me to.
No matter where I try to hide.
When the sun and moon and stars aline.
Thank you! That was good!
I wish to speak but I have nothing to say.
Im at a loss for words since you went away.
All that I see is endless pain.
A future that is bleak.
Without your light the world is plain.
Everything is worthless and meek.
I found this quote on the internet.
But i am not seen around much any more.
Wow, this is hard. I'm not sure, but I'll think about it.
We, who read. Are the ones who are free.
Just a quote I made up.
The answer to the riddle was. LEECH.
Close your eyes to see the light inside of yourself.
Your back! So that was the answer. Good riddle!
There once was a girl who dreamed a dream, to touch the sky. But no one would let her be.
She wanted to see how the world was wide, and to see the the length of the sky. But no one would let her see.
She wanted to see the world and the planets galore. But they would laugh with glee and wouldn't let her leave.
She wanted to hear every sound and hear every voice. But no one would let her hear.
She wanted to explore. But they wouldn't agree.
Lynx? Where dids't thou go?


text:
#include "base/callback.hh"

CallbackQueue::~CallbackQueue()
{
    queue::iterator i = callbacks.begin();
    queue::iterator end = callbacks.end();
    for (; i != end; ++i)
        (*i)->autoDestruct();
}

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


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The Essex Health and Wellbeing Strategy is an important document that brings together many agencies across the county to agree a range of topics on which joint working is required - to improve health in the county. The strategy is on the Essex County Council website at this link.
There are supporting notes and action points from the 18 July meeting where it was adopted also on the ECC website.
Essex CC endorsed the strategy at its meeting on 9th October, but the Lib Dems spokesperson on Health, Cllr. Stephen Robinson, said that it is only warm words unless resources are attached. However, the Conservatives rejected a Lib Dem amendment that called on the council to lobby Government for the staff and and money that will be required to deliver it.
Said Cllr Robinson, "The cross-party Local Government Association says that Children and Adult social care budgets will be short by over £6 billion in seven years time. The Government needs to wake up to the crisis in care services.
The NHS needs to work with council care services to address the crisis. But it is not just about cash. Unless large numbers of new staff are trained up, it will be impossible to provide all the services we need, and that can only get worse if we leave the EU and fewer people come here to work."


Before we took the journey to Seoul, South Korea, we did some searching of what food to have there.
After some local food experiences in previous post, here are some international must try when in Seoul.
Located on Apgujeong-Ro which reminds me a lot of Rodeo Drive, this fabulous café is located on top of the House of Dior. So to get to the cafe, we have to stroll along the boutique which has extensive range of Lady Dior bags hanging around (a tough stroll for me, LOL). FYI, they have this sort of rule: each person must order at least one menu (either drink or dessert). I oredered BABA ISPAHAN (seen on the pic above) which costs 32.000 Won. Yes, they're not cheap. I also ordered Cafe Latte which costs 19.000 Won, certainly the most expensive coffee I've ever bought in my life. But it was a fabulous cafe, so take this chance to take some beautiful shots. I did on my instagram, @shintarosvita (so please do check them out). Taste wise, well….it was entertaining and the Latte was creamy.
It was quite an adventure to get to their Sinsa-dong location in Gangnam. We took the Metro and have to walk about 10 minutes to get there. But heck it was a worth it trip. The Original Pancake House is an American family chain that started out in Portland, Oregon, USA, known for their pancakes and other brunch-centric menus. Their pancakes are super soft, made with very tasty butter. Waffles were delicious. And we ordered their specialties, DUTCH BABY (above pic on the right). It's like a souffle pancake which takes up to an hour to make, very unique taste with melting butter, powdered sugar and lemon juice on top.
We went to their first Bills in Seoul which located on Jamsil's Lotte World Mall. Bills is known for its' best scrambled eggs and ricotta hotcakes, originally from Sydney, Australia. So of course, we ordered the Ricotta Hotcakes with banana and honeycomb butter, one of their classic menu. The best Hotcakes I've ever tried with delicious melted honeycomb butter and gigantic bananas. It was kind of huge, so sharing is recommended.
And yes, we ordered the most famous FULL AUSSIE, comprising Scrambled Organic Eggs which tastes heavenly, Sourdough Toast, Miso Mushrooms, Bacon, Cumin Roast Tomato, Pork & Fennel Sausage. It was kind of huge as well, so you can share this champion breakfast.
They also offered different kind of cakes, which unfortunately I didn't try.
We found this by accident, as we strolled along Gangnam-daero to find NIKE store. Just before Nike, we saw this huge queue and surprised surprised, it was SHAKE SHACK! This burger joint is already happening in New York, and I heard from my husband who tasted them before, that the queue in New York were longer than Seoul. We went in after about 20 minutes, and ordered Cheese Burger, Shack Burger, Chocolate Milkshake and their crinkled-cut fries plus Cheese Fries. The burgers were amazingly delicious, buns were soft, meat were well marinated. They made great burgers for sure. But can't say much about their cheese fries, though. That yellow sauce didn't taste like cheese at all. And their shakes were so-so, I've tasted better. So.. go here for their burgers only.
Another accidentally found when we strolled along Central City near Express Bus Terminal Station. This originally Australian chocolate bar is a must visit if you love chocolate. We ordered Banana Split Waffle and Salted Caramel Hot Chocolate. I enjoyed their desserts even though I am not a big fan of chocolate. (I know, I might be the only woman in this world who doesn't love chocolate that much). Their food presentations were nice, I love their cup and I wish I can take them home (unfortunately can't).
That was it, folks. Unfortunately, there were some misses due to timing and not to mention that I had flu when I was in Seoul. So yeah…I hope I might be able to try some more if I have the chance to go back to Seoul. Kamsahamnida.


Audiobook review of Chili Con Corpse | Books, Movies, Reviews. Oh my!
Things are chugging merrily along for librarian James Henry. He has a closet filled with new clothes, a trimmer waistline, and a closer bond with his father. His only real problem is that his girlfriend Lucy's interest in him seems to have inexplicably cooled. When schoolteacher Lindy suggests the club members join a Mexican cooking class, James jumps at the idea. Over cervezas and black bean dip, the supper club members warm to their new adventure. The class heats up even more when a reporter and her friends, twin sisters with supermodel physiques, enroll. But when people start turning up dead, and the evidence points toward Lindy, things become hotter than a jalapeno. James, who was looking to add a little more spice to his life, gets much more than he bargained for.
James and the Flab Five gang are back in another food filled mystery!
As with most diets the Flab Five are having some problems just eating the same boring things so Lindy proposes that they join a Mexican cooking class and that it be their cheat day. Things were fine until Murphy joins with her friends, who are very pretty twins. Lindy knows them and is hot under the collar as one is working at the school and she thinks she is after Lindy's dream man who is the principal of the school.
When Lindy needs help with a field trip she has for some of the Flab Five to help and a few volunteer. James starts to notice that it seems that Lucy is always to busy for everything. He thought maybe it was just him that she was backing off from but she is not showing up to help any of her friends either. Turns out that she is really concentrating on getting trim so she can be a cop, she is going to be taking the exam. Though that might not be the only thing going on.
While at the caves one of the twins ends up murdered and since Lindy had been pretty vocal about not liking the woman she is a suspect. So the Flab Five must figure out what happened and there seems to be a few suspects to weed out.
I am still enjoying this series and all though there were some things that James did in this one that made me kind of mad I still like him. I am excited for how things are going for Lucy in regards to her trying to get on the force. The others in the gang are just as enjoyable. I think this one really made me want to eat Mexican as it mentions lots of recipes throughout it and they sounded really good.
It has a really great mystery and though I had some ideas I wasn't sure how it was going to all go down and what the author had planned so it was done really well.
I've read another book of hers and this sounds fun too. And I love Mexican food!


Wiradjuri junior Elder, Leonie McIntosh, was in the final throes of her PhD thesis when diagnosed with brain cancer after having difficulties navigating her computer while at work in regional New South Wales in 2015.
Leonie, aged 41, has two children, a 16-year-old daughter and a four-year-old son. The diagnosis has up-ended her work, study, family life and her community role. She can no longer drive or help others as much.
"I guess life isn't as fun as it used to be," says Leonie.
Access to local palliative care and the Aboriginal Health Service has brought about some welcome changes to Leonie's daily life giving her the opportunity to reengage in cultural activities and take time to connect to her world, especially her son.
"My prognosis is long term but at any time I could have a seizure or something could go wrong, so we always hope that we're going to beat this thing," says Leonie.
Leonie has tapped into a health diary service offered to Aboriginal patients to help alleviate some of the stress involved in managing multiple medical and allied health appointments.
"Without that, I really wouldn't have coped with the first six months of getting back from hospital and all of that stuff," Leonie says.
Access to emotional support has been reassuring for Leonie: "Not only are they good for those practical things, they are also really emotionally supportive and so it's good to just have a normal yarn with someone".
"If (the nurse or volunteers) recognise any changes in my voice, they come and meet me," Leonie says.
Leonie says the team also helped her plan ahead in a practical way.
"I don't have a formal will … I didn't know about the ambulance care plan … when you get cancer you don't know about any of that kind of stuff and if you've got a really good palliative care team they can make it less confronting and less scary," Leonie says.
Palliative care has enabled Leonie to find life's sweet spots.


156 episodes available. A new episode about every 7 days averaging 15 mins duration .
"We relive some of our favourite moments from 'Sessions at Midori House' this year, from the likes of Portugal The Man, Hippocampus, Saint Motel and Tennis."
British singer-songwriter Bruno Major has just released an album called 'A Song For Every Moon' – a collection of songs that he put out month by month over a year. He plays us a few tracks from it and talks about the restrictions of having a monthly deadline.
Japanese singer and artist Rié tells us about straddling a pop career between Japan and the UK and sings tracks from her new EP 'Levels'.
Mississippi blues musician R L Boyce has been on the scene for decades and, now aged 62, has just released his second album. We meet the man to find out what took him so long and he also plays a few tracks from his LP 'Roll and Tumble'.
British pop singer Rae Morris tells us about her upcoming second album and plays some new tracks for us.
The US psych-pop group talk to Holly Fisher about their new album 'Woodstock' and what it's like to work with a Beastie Boy. They also perform three tracks from their LP.
Brisbane's neo-soul singer Jordan Rakei returns to Midori House this week as he releases his second album 'Wallflower'. He tells us how moving to London changed his songwriting process.
German-Korean musician Josin tells us how she switched a life in medicine for a life in music and plays from her EP 'Epilogue'.
British musician Nick Mulvey joins us in the studio to play from his new album 'Wake Up Now' and to talk about the subjects that influenced it.
American musician Courtney Marie Andrews is a self-confessed workaholic. The 26-year-old has already written and recorded six albums and isn't set to slow down anytime soon. She plays live for us in the Midori House studios and chats to Andrew Mueller.
Ahead of the release of her upcoming album, 'Stay Lucky', British singer Nerina Pallot plays tracks new and old and tells us the highlights of her colourful career to date.
We revisit some of our favourite live performances from this year so far. Featuring tracks by indie-pop quartet Saint Motel, Israeli singer-producer Noga Erez, former Smoke City frontwoman Nina Miranda and husband-and-wife duo Tennis.
British band My Sad Captains play from their upcoming album 'Sun Bridge' and discuss how a new line-up has influenced their sound.
New UK group Girl Ray discuss writing songs about teenagehood as they release their debut album, 'Earl Grey'.
US indie quartet Saint Motel hit the studio to play some tunes from their latest audio-visual album 'Saintmotelevision'.
Seoul-based electro-pop duo Love X Stereo join Bill Leuty in the studio to play live tracks and discuss their new album, 37A.
Israeli producer and musician Noga Erez takes centre stage this week as she performs from her debut album 'Off The Radar'.
British-Brazilian singer and former frontwoman of Smoke City Nina Miranda tells us about her new album 'Freedom of Movement' and performs a few new tracks alongside her 1990s hit 'Underwater Love'.
Live music from husband-and-wife duo Tennis, who play from their new album 'Yours Conditionally'.
Aarhus-based noise-pop group Lowly come to Midori House to play from their debut album 'Heba'.
UK R&B singer Purple Ferdinand plays from her new EP 'Rain or Shine' and talks about making the leap from a big record label to an independent one.
We give our 2015 session with French-Israeli singer Yael Naïm another spin.
We revisit some of our favourite live performances from the year so far, including tracks by Martha Wainwright, Hippo Campus, Novella and Michael Nau.
Start listening to Monocle 24: The Sessions at Midori House on your phone right now with Player FM's free mobile app, the best podcasting experience on both iPhone and Android. Your subcriptions will sync with your account on this website too. Podcast smart and easy with the app that refuses to compromise.