iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

An idea: it would be better if the title of the speech conveyed a message which the everyday reader can relate to. I can't believe that anyone other than a Party member would click on this link.

001

I haven't got the time to report all my ignorance but I also didn't realise that it was only in the 1950s that every pit had its own baths. And it wasn't until the 1970s that the National Coal Board provided every miner with clothing to work in.

000

But I hadn't thought of all the health issues. For example, a local coroner was once quoted as saying he saw more deaths of children from scalding water than he saw of miners from incidents underground.

100

Again, I knew the story of men returning home to wash in a tin bath. And I knew of the social impact this had on women and their subsequent role campaigning for mine owners to provide baths.

100

I learned this in another outstanding talk to a full Borough Theatre. The speaker was Ben Price, his subject was pit head baths and the organiser was the Abergavenny Local History Society.

100

In 1913, nearly one-in-ten people in Wales worked in its mines. That's not including all those in its supply chains and dependent businesses. The total is twice as many as the actual number working in the Welsh NHS in a much bigger population today.

100

Chris Lines @chrislines.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

In the same way that you can sometimes see something new in a familiar view, so my eyes have been opened again to the history of coal in south Wales. The history is such a constant and so visible that you need the occasional jolt to remember its enormity and cruelty.

100

He came across as very likeable, speaking with authority, tact, humour and humility. He is thinking about writing next about the Suez Crisis which is a gripping thought in itself.

000

Chris Lines @chrislines.bsky.social · 05/09/2026

The author Robert Harris described himself as a "social hermit" when speaking about his new book, Agrippa, in Penarth tonight. The former Observer political editor left a highly social career to become the "hermit-like" writer of 16, soon-to-be 17, best-selling books!

100

Chris Lines @chrislines.bsky.social · 02/09/2026

A rare good story to come out of #Lebanon. Its parliament has voted for it to become the 114th country in the world to abolish the death penalty for all crimes. In 1977 that number was just 16. Keep up the good work @amnestyuk.bsky.social

000

All that and stats galore. Glorious.

000

But what I enjoy most are the different perspectives the book provides on the world's most literary sport. This year, there are very good articles on Indo-Pakistani relations, cricket and drama, Afghanistan's women-in-exile, the incarceration of Imran Khan (topical this week) and cricket and mining.

100

The Editor's Notes are as powerful, and well reasoned, as ever. The obituaries are closer to my recollections with every year. The reports of the previous year's cricket are as concise and evocative as I've come to expect. And the photos are as eye-catching.

100

Chris Lines @chrislines.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

The latest in this year's summer's reading - as with every year - is Wisden, Cricketers' Almanack. Not that I read every one of the 1,522 pages in this, the 163rd edition.

100

Wales has got to be worth it!

000

Chris Lines @chrislines.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

I loved the way that, as the reader, I didn't know who was who. Who was the fundamentalist? Who was reluctant? Who was after who, if either was? Well-written, gripping and challenging, what more can you want from a book.

000

Chris Lines @chrislines.bsky.social · 30/08/2026

A Pakistani man's monologue, The Reluctant Fundamentalist, gives his account of a conversation he's having with an unnamed American in a Pakistani city. The story covers the period before and after 9/11.

100

Chris Lines @chrislines.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

It's clever, well-written and rightly challenging but I felt it ran out of steam towards the end. Recommended all the same.

000

Chris Lines @chrislines.bsky.social · 29/08/2026

James tells the story an enslaved man on the run with the young Huck Finn. They travel down the Mississippi, meeting challenges at every turn in a fast-moving story which made me both laugh and wince.

100

Chris Lines @chrislines.bsky.social · 26/08/2026

I'm not capable of running 200km through the Dolomites - I can barely understand what that means - so this is my small contribution in support for Sanj, who is. If you can, please give your support to him too. www.justgiving.com/page/s-kaush...

justgiving.com

Sanj's 200km Dolomites Challenge for TRIBE Freedom Foundation

Help Sanj Kaushal raise money to support TRIBE Freedom Foundation

000

Reposted by Chris Lines

Mark Pack @markpackuk.bsky.social · 14/08/2026

Over 200 editions in, The Week in Polls is still doing one thing: telling you what the polling numbers really mean, not just what the headlines claim. Start this Sunday by signing up here: buff.ly/5lTfRF5

031

Chris Lines @chrislines.bsky.social · 12/08/2026

We missed out on the glasses so Clare held up a giant colander so we could view the eclipse on the back of our house.

000

To Kill a Mockingbird was enjoyable with the fast-paced dialogue you'd expect of Sorkin but I was unconvinced by the children being played by adult actors; irritated by the trundling of constant scene changes; and both confused and disappointed by the ending's lack of depth and clarity.

000

After a walk through the magnificent but scorched Kensington Gardens and Hyde Park, and an excellent Sri Lankan meal at Hoppers Soho, we watched Aaron Sorkin's To Kill a Mockingbird.

110

Then on to the challenging and beautiful Kyotographie photography exhibition at The Japan Centre. It featured work on the atomic bomb at Hiroshoma by Kawadi Kikuji and Iawne Ai on cherry trees.

100

Chris Lines @chrislines.bsky.social · 07/08/2026

A tourist's day in London exploring Japanese, Sri Lankan and US culture. Starting with a mooch along Portobello Road, we walked to see the Fukishima and Kyoto Gardens in Holland Park - both donated by Japanese cities with considerable corporate donations.

110

A joyful and highly emotional day! Justin has married Ayesha at Chelsea Old Town Hall.

000

Chris Lines @chrislines.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

You can hear her voice with her talent for description throughout though she rarely features and then only in the third person. The Finest Hotel on Kabul is an award-winning book and highly recommended. As for the people of Afghanistan, it's a desperate history.

000

Chris Lines @chrislines.bsky.social · 04/08/2026

Viewing the violent and turbulant history of a country through the lives of people working and staying in a hotel is an original idea. And Lyse Doucet, or LyseDoucet as she is known by many in Afghanistan, makes it work.

100

Chris Lines @chrislines.bsky.social · 01/08/2026

A train ride to #ChurchStretton with a day's walking in perfect conditions on #LongMynd before a train home. A pretty good way to spend a day.

030

Chris Lines @chrislines.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

It's unlikely that, 3,000 years ago, Homer imagined a story made for cinema. It's also unlikely that Christopher Nolan imagined a film made for the Baker Street cinema in Abergavenny.

000

Chris Lines @chrislines.bsky.social · 29/07/2026

The Odyssey is pure Holywood. Brilliant screenplay and cinematography but with actors who couldn't get beyond their own star status. They whispered a lot in dark places and shouted loudly in big battles.

100

Chris Lines @chrislines.bsky.social · 20/07/2026

We only met two other walkers on the Offa's Dyke Path despite great sign-posting, perfect weather and the start of the school holiday. It's farming country and, apart from a couple of combine harvesters, we didn't really see any human life. Even Presteigne afterwards was open but without people.

000

Chris Lines @chrislines.bsky.social · 09/07/2026

The biggest disappointment of devolution has been the Welsh Government's running down of the arts. So said Andrew Green, the author and former head of the National Library of Wales, in tonight's Conversation at the Chapel with Peter Wakelin.

000

Chris Lines @chrislines.bsky.social · 11/06/2026

An interview about interviews with one talking too much and the other too little - a Conversation in the Chapel with Peter Wakelin interviewing Francine Stock. Questions from the audience weren't too good either, including mine.

000

Chris Lines @chrislines.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

The answer? Glasses straps! Do you think they make me look learned?

000

Chris Lines @chrislines.bsky.social · 07/06/2026

Even with bifocals I can't read close-up with my glasses on. So, I've rested them on my head until I stand up, forgetting about them. They then fall off. Or, I walk around sensing them on my head when in fact I've forgotten that I've already put them back on.

100

Said to have inspired Orwell's 1984, We is nowhere near as good. But Zamyatin must have been a powerful thinker and activist. I need to read more.

000

The premise sounds promising but, despite its crisp writing, I found it difficult to follow the plot or feel engaged by any of the characters. The Book Club agreed.

100

We is a story about just such an authoritarian regime. Its characters have numbers not names and are programmed to 'worship' the Benefactor. They are spied upon constantly and must leave their appartment curtains open unless they have booked a time for sex.

100