A north east town

+At last something sensible from the Lib Dems - a policy proposal to fine people up to £1000 for using mobile devices without headphones on public transport. This obnoxious practice seems to be another one of those irresistible social evils engendered by mobile phones and social media. On a train a few weeks ago I had to ask a middle-aged woman if she would like to borrow my headphones whilst she was playing her fave pop songs. Rather taken aback she said no but promptly turned the tinny racket off. I can't make my mind up whether phone conversations are better or worse for only being able to hear one half of them (generally speaking). I did once hear a long conversation on a train of a Leeds lawyer regarding a case he was working on. Good job I wasn’t employed on the other side of the case. 
+Down in Hull visiting and I pick up a free sheet called 'Curiosity' which I think is produced by the library service. An article 'What's been the city's most unusual export?' catches my eye. This is about the export of Hull's urine to the alum works further up the North Yorkshire coast in the 18th and 19th centuries. This was used in making dyes, before new technology came along, and is often said to be the origin of the phrase 'taking the piss.' It's an interesting story. It seems the main person behind the development of the alum works was a local landowner called Sir Thomas Chaloner, who had practically stolen the process from the Vatican, where it had been kept a secret since the days of Henry VIII. What would we use urine for now? I think it was also used in the tanning process. It's the ammonia that makes it useful. 
+My admiration for the Lib Dems doesn’t extend very far, in fact I’ve exhausted it. Their candidate in the East Yorkshire and Hull mayoral election claims that ‘The key question in May’s local election  . . . Which party is best placed to STOP Reform UK.’ It prominently features a picture of Nigel Fartage which at first glance might leave you thinking it’s actually a Reform leaflet. This sort of attention is just what Fartage wants – it makes Reform sound like an unstoppable force. Unsurprisingly, inside the leaflet even one of the Lib Dems notoriously misleading bar charts does little to illuminate reality. 
+In Hull's William Wilberforce museum two statistics grab my attention. The first is that in today's money Britain benefitted by around two and a half trillion pounds from slavery. The other is that estimated deaths in the trade were around 12 million – and likely more. Some of the exhibits in the museum are utterly gruesome. This was a Holocaust for which Britain was directly responsible. Will it get as much attention (if not more) in the planned Holocaust museum outside parliament as any other?