Back in 1956 I remember sitting in an old hangar for our Saturday morning lecture.  It was about current affairs, and we were enjoined to read one or more "quality newspapers" on a regular basis in order to keep ourselves informed.

Well, I did, and I can't say it did me much good.

A couple of years ago our local newsagent closed (and took with it the local Post Office).  Their newspaper round ceased, was taken up by another newsagent a mile or so away, and then ceased again when the new people found they could not get boys or girls to operate it.

Since then we only buy a national paper infrequently at the local supermarket.  We had withdrawal symptoms for a short while but those have passed, and I now see the national papers as full of trivia.

The local daily "The Northern Echo" published in Darlington has some good (local) stuff in it, and we always buy the "Darlington & Stockton Times" - a weekly - for the local area's news, and the abstruse farming information which we do not understand but enjoy reading.  Each week they do a review of a local pub or restaurant which we can criticise if we know the place - or add to our list if we don't.

I think the idea expressed in our long ago lecture may have been good for a few more years after it was delivered, but became less and less in touch with reality as newspapers themselves switched to publishing opinion writers, and edged into the territory of what once would have been the preserve of womens' weekly magazines.

This is kind of off topic - but on it if you see what I mean ?

You don't ?

Oh.   :(

I have tried running two Family History programmes on Ubuntu 8.04 under Wine.  One would not work at all. The other sort of worked, but with all sorts of oddities.  So, I remain one of those who thinks that Linux is a Good Thing, but is of no use to me at the moment.  I certainly would not commit something important to such a system at the moment.

(PS. Yes, I know about Gramps, but that would need to be a separate thread.)