Dr Laura James's writings

Last weekend Michael and I were up in Disley for another NESTA Crucible workshop. The best bit was jamming on the Saturday night; first time I've played maracas in ages. Duncan Lockerby - our star fluid mechanics expert - entertained us with one of his own compositions, a delightful Newtonian song . Worth a listen, because there aren't anywhere near enough physics-themed songs in the world. Tom Webb also demonstrated extensive musical talent, but I don't have any mp3s of him to hand...

For a few days more, see the Royal Academy of Engineering on University Challenge, via iPlayer.

Little blogging of late - more of a story is told by my facebook status feed, or perhaps now twitter ... The undercover economist is a good speaker, with excellent pacing and tone; but his appearance at the Cambridge WordFest suffered a little from the classic problem of book talks, in that he didn't really have a point to get across, just a series of anecdotes. And why was he wearing a jumper with sleeves far too short for him? Birmingham Rep's "She stoops to conquer" was splendid at the Arts Theatre last week. Goldsmith's poetical intro and epilogue were revived, with his original tirade against sentimental comedy replaced with a plea for more live theatre attendance. A modern spin at the outset saw the fourth wall broken down, with a pair of ushers having a shouting match before the curtain went up, then leaping onto stage, slipping into rhyming couplets, and blending into the cast. At the end, the ushers returned, with the tongue-tied male making a Dylanesqu