vivweb01blog

Much water has flowed under the bridge since I first published this exposé of our relationship with domestic cats. As an honorary Civil Servant, the UK's high level Downing St. representative, Larry the Cat, has, as always, figured large in decision making behind the scenes, and has displayed some frustration recently at the way things seem to be going.  Keen-eyed observers of nightly BBCTV news may have noticed  Larry making a surprise entrance through the #10 front door  in Monday evening's broadcast. The door  opened as if by magic at his approach, suggesting he was expected for an important meeting of state. It is probably no coincidence that a major decision on the fate of HS2 is in the offing. Larry is normally reticent about things political, but went on the record recently in a press interview as voicing serious concerns about the project  – you can read a summary of his interview at the end of this expose.  The rumours circulating recently that Lar...

 Blog first published November 2022. Updated April 2023, January 2025. Editors note: After a long period when the 'authorities' seemed to be in abeyance on take-downs of our much loved and well-used shadow-libraries, they have started the New Year with a vengeance by taking down two of the most popular (Anna's Archive and LibGen), by forcing ISPs to introduce server blockages. I suspect the timing of this is no coincidence, given the imminence of a new US government regime likely to be less favourably inclined towards to this type of industrial censorship, and the frequent 'spats' between the UK Labour government and the new US regime.  This nonsense has gone on for long enough...high time for a look at reforming the publishing industry model, I think... Perhaps Elon could help us sort out the mess generated by the publishers'  aggressive use of outdated copyright laws ?  See update 11.1.25 below for more details. Introduction The high-handed (and possibly even ...