Reading Roars!

You are browsing the archives of 2009 January.

The Tech Savvy/Luddite debate is hotting up.
The Evening Post published an article this morning on Richard Willis’ blog entry, Tech Savvy or Luddite?, featuring a comparison by the councillor of local parliamentary candidates and MPs’ online activities.  Martin Salter MP didn’t score very highly in this analysis and was labelled a “Luddite”.
In response, Martin suggested [...]

A promising new local blog has surfaced on my blog radar: Reading List.
The blog has a local politics theme.  Its Lib Dem author, “Oranjepan” , who I strongly suspect is also responsible for the political blog Not Yet Out Of The Woods, explained:
I’m immensely annoyed about the coverage of local politics in this bijou borough [...]

Looking for a Reading watering hole?  drinksinReading.com is a newly launched search engine allowing users to search for places offering food, drink, entertainment, Wi-Fi and more in the town.
The online guide will be maintained and updated by the bar owners themselves, and consumers may sign up to become friends with their chosen venues (so that [...]

For all those geekily inclined (and there’s a fair number of us), you may be interested to know that a Twestival (Twitter + festival) is planned for Reading on 12 February.
Reading will be joining some 100 cities worldwide in staging a Twestival on this day.  The purpose of the event is to raise money and [...]

You couldn’t make it up.
24 hours after publishing a post on a 3 month escalator project and the rise in train fares, I experienced a 2 hour train journey to Reading from Paddington.
My First Great Western journey took 2 hours because shortly after leaving Paddington, my train slowed to a halt as the train in [...]

The LV Lounge, based at The George Hotel in Reading town centre, has closed permanently.  LV will now be converted into a restaurant.
Like a phoenix from the flames, the Blagrave Arms pubs has reopened, this time under a new owner.  Its former owner had closed it down as it wasn’t making money (and has since [...]

Academics at the University of Reading’s ICMA Centre have identified “clear parallels” between an economic crisis during the time of King Edward I and today’s malaise.
Reading the uni’s press release Don’t panic!  Banks have always failed, I spotted two clear differences.  One of the academics, Dr Adrian R Bell, explained:
However, had Edward I faced today’s [...]

Warning: this is a celeb post.  
Ok, this is a celeb post with a difference as it concerns our very own star from Reading: Kate Winslet.
And what a star she has become.  Kate has won two Golden Globes, which I guess leaves her an Oscar frontrunner this year.
It would not surprise me at all if [...]

Has anyone tried The Oracle’s new Giraffe yet?
I went just before Christmas, perhaps even on its opening day (my festive memory is a bit hazy).  The restaurant, which has a global theme, showed promise, though there were clear customer service teething problems.  Prices were on the normal side for an Oracle restaurant.
What I liked best [...]

Reading Station escalators have been closed for 3 months (3 months!!) for an “essential” upgrade.  Funny - I remember one of the escalators closed for repair work fairly recently.
Furthermore, as many of us know already, First Great Western have put up theirs fares.  We shouldn’t be surprised.  The 2008 announcement was as predictable as the [...]