 Whatever I Fancy Blog |
incorporating |
 Climate Blog UK |
and 'living with' |
 Coronavirus Blog UK |
| Comment | Opinion | Questions |
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[Entries are in reverse date order, latest at the top. Comments and contributions are welcome to the email address at the bottom.] |
| 2023202220212020 |
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Friday 24th March |
As we endured - I've heard from many that they couldn't muster the strength - Johnson's twists and turns, or were still in shock from Baroness Casey's report, the vote took place:
One of the qualifications for voting against the deal was being ex-something. Two ex-PMs, ex-leader of the Conservative Party, ex-Home Secretary, ex-Business and Brexit Opportunities Minister. Why won't they go away? Haven't they got the message? These discredited oafs hang like a malevolent cloud over the nation's public life. 
Six DUP MPs voted against. The Guardian chart above shows eight, but two were tellers for the division and therefore not counted in the totals. The seven Sinn Féin MPs did not vote. One SDLP member voted for, one didn't vote. The Alliance Party member supported the motion. 
The official parliamentary "Division List" varies slightly from the headline numbers. According to the parliament website, this discrepancy happens quite frequently for reasons that are not entirely clear. The list for this vote, the "Draft Windsor Framework (Democratic Scrutiny) Regulations 2023 Division 197", has a top-level result that matches the Guardian graphic, namely the "Ayes" at 515, the "Noes" at 29. However, the detail at the bottom of "members recorded" shows 512 for the motion, 3 less than the published outcome. Oh well. The total still adds up to 650. We aren't going to worry too much, are we? Here's the list for your perusal, how everybody voted or didn't vote, in alphabetical order by surname: 
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Thursday 23rd March |
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A bad few days for probity in public service. If there are key aspects of our society that you'd want to be squeaky-clean and fully functional, two at or near the top of the list would surely be the integrity of our elected representatives and the even-handed maintenance of law and order. The people entrusted with the government of the country and those employed to protect us.
I grew up with this image of the police: 
At your service, that's what the salute says, doesn't it? The face is approachable, kind, trustworthy. The uniform and helmet - complete with the badge and crown of the monarch - imply structure and stability. The Met has fallen a very, very long way. 
OK, Dixon is seen through a rose-tinted rear-view mirror - no bad apples, no Masonic handshakes, no prejudice in the good ol' days, right? - but Baroness Casey's report is as damning as any review I've ever seen. If you can face 363 pages, here is the official version:
Fortunately, most of the 10 "Chapters" of the document have a synopsis. Up front, on pages 9-18, there are the overall "Summary and Conclusions". The eight headings give a flavour:
And back to that elected representative: 
Will he really? 
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Wednesday 22nd March |
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A rather inward-looking day, but I'd like to celebrate it. The third anniversary of this blog, started on 22nd March 2020.
Some stats:
Five videos (out of 269 I've posted). There's quite a lot to watch. Pick and choose. Dip in, come back later.
Johnson interviewed by AC-12
Comedian Sarah Cooper tackles Trump and disinfectant
Honest Government advert explains net zero by 2050 (comes with bad language warning)
Sorrowful Moscow 'Queen of the Kiosk' Valentina
Patrick Stewart finds out about the ECHR
Ten cartoons (out of 363 - cripes!). 
One song. When it's not always raining, there'll be days like this When there's no one complaining, there'll be days like this When everything falls into place like the flick of a switch Well my mama told me there'll be days like this When no one's in a hurry, there'll be days like this When all the parts of the puzzle start to look like they fit Then I must remember there'll be days like this Thanks to all those who have contributed and commented. You know who you are. |
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Tuesday 21st March |
The IPCC yesterday announced the final part of its Sixth Assessment Report, the "Synthesis Report", at the conclusion of the Panel's 58th Session held in Interlaken, Switzerland. Possibly the last such document before it's all too late, as there won't be another until 2030. The IPCC website says the full version is still unavailable, "coming soon", but I was able to download the press release (4 pages: ) and the "Summary for Policymakers" (36 pages: ).
At 36 pages of dense technical detail the Summary itself is a challenging read, so I've extracted a selection of diagrams to provide an overview. Even they require an effort of close scrutiny. You'll have to click/tap/zoom/rotate to inspect each chart, as the detail is difficult to see at the top-level display resolution I've had to use below. Sometimes the shape of the graph shading helps, and there's a useful rule-of-thumb colour gradation: blue is good, red is bad. In struggling to digest (I tremble at the thought of the full report), I've realised that it all boils down to three points: 1) the situation has got pretty bad; 2) what we have to do to fix it; and 3) we'd better be quick. Please feel free to skip the rest of today's blog. Let's start with where-are-we-now and where-are-we-heading: 
This is the one that really gets to me. My 70-year-old lifetime - and with it the blame for where we are - is shown in the group of people at the bottom. My children broadly fit into the next line up. And my grandchildren into the third. 
That's the doom-and-gloom. Then mercifully there's the what-we-can-do. 
These legends apply to all the subsequent charts: 
Energy supply: 
Land, water and food: 
Settlements, infrastructure and health: 
Society, livelihood and economy: 
After I'd done this exercise, I asked myself: "What have I learnt?" My first response was "not much". Useful to be dealt a sharp smack of a reminder, but after that? We know all this stuff, have done for years. Then I looked at the charts again, particularly the last four, and was struck by the significance of the bars on the right. They remind us emphatically where to direct the bulk of our energy. Yes, the first priority is ... energy and its associated emissions. Hence the longest bars are next to solar and wind. They have a high proportion of blue, which means they are cheaper to implement, echoing Dale Vince's oft-repeated mantra that renewables are the way out of the financial madness of the gas markets and cost a fraction of nuclear, irrespective of their environmental benefit. So, not George Monbiot's "microconsumerist bollocks", organic drinking straws and their ilk, although we may as well adopt those while we're getting on with the important stuff. I have sympathy with the change-100-things-by-one-percent approach, but there are bigger levers to pull which demand the focus of our attention. The growth of world population over my lifetime (trebled, 2.6bn to 8bn) and our acquisitive consumer lifestyles, ever greedier, have caused the mess. We have an individual duty to change. But it's government - so woefully feeble at COP27 - that has the critical role: to direct, enable and support a shift in action and attitude, above all to control powerful vested interests. That's why the UK leadership is so short-sighted and negligent in its continued investment in fossil fuels. It's a monetary sticking-plaster knee-jerk to Putin and energy insecurity rather than a sustainable long-term plan for humanity. And I won't even start on the Tories' refusal to address the energy company profits with windfall taxes. Rubbing each others' backs, noses in the trough. UN secretary general António Guterres: "This report is a clarion call to massively fast-track climate efforts by every country and every sector and on every timeframe. Our world needs climate action on all fronts: everything, everywhere, all at once." Extinction Rebellion Global on Mastodon: "The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report insists there are multiple, feasible, and effective options currently available to slow the pace of climate change. Focusing on climate resilient development, with an emphasis on renewable energy and low-carbon electrification. But we need to do that NOW." Kaisa Kosonen, Greenpeace International: "This report is definitely a final warning on 1.5C. If governments just stay on their current policies, the remaining carbon budget will be used up before the next IPCC report [due in 2030]." 
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Monday 20th March |
You're accused of war crimes against children on Friday.
On Saturday night you visit a regenerated kids playground in the city you destroyed. Gleaming new apartments, a shiny SUV, pristine climbing frames. 
This is proper Orwellian dystopia. A message to your own people that the "special military operation" has triumphed, an act of salvation, of renewal. In the land of Doublethink and Newspeak. 
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Sunday 19th March |
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Saturday 18th March |
Stroudies, please join us this morning!
All you people in London, Glasgow and Cardiff ... 
It's no wonder we all want to move to Ireland. Listen to president Michael D. Higgins talking on St. Patrick's Day about the link between the patron saint and migration (courtesy of national broadcaster Raidió Teilifís Éireann): A compassionate statement from the head of state in support of migrants, delivered in the gentle language of empathy. Ireland teaches us how to take a different direction to the approach of the Illegal Migration Bill. Going back as far as the ancient Brehon Laws, there is a spirit of kindness built into the culture. Having suffered oppression, displacement and discrimination themselves - "No Irish, no blacks" - the Irish can readily extend welcome to the stranger, the desperate and dispossessed. In practical terms, witness the country's rapid - in contrast to Westminster's laboured, delayed efforts - response to the Ukrainian refugee crisis, enabled by its much-valued membership of the EU and the built-in provision of the 2001 Temporary Protection Directive (see my 2022 report here: 👉). The Irish diaspora was subjected to abuse and denigration in its adopted homelands. Now the country sets an example in human rights. And its rugby team, number 1 in the world, is poised to win the 6 Nations Grand Slam - as it beats England in Dublin this afternoon. |
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Friday 17th March |
An epilogue? Gary Lineker has changed his Twitter profile photo to one of him standing by the George Orwell statue and quotation at BBC Broadcasting House:
 
Orwell's words come from the proposed but never used preface to Animal Farm. British librarian and Orwellian scholar Ian Angus - he helped set up the Orwell Archive at UCL - found the original manuscript in 1972; it was eventually published in the Times Literary Supplement on 15 September that year with an introduction by political theorist and democratic socialist Sir Bernard Crick, with a title of "The Freedom of the Press". The abandonment of the preface was all part of the struggle to get Animal Farm published. Orwell wrote the book between November 1943 and February 1944. The manuscript was initially rejected by several British and American publishers, including one of Orwell's own, Victor Gollancz, which delayed its publication until August 1945. Too hot to handle. Orwell, a democratic socialist himself, was a critic of Joseph Stalin - parodied in Napoleon the pig - and Stalinism, which he saw as a corruption of the original socialist ideals. Curiously, given the current conflict, in the preface of a 1947 Ukrainian edition he explained how escaping the communist purges in Spain taught him "how easily totalitarian propaganda can control the opinion of enlightened people in democratic countries". The novella was politically uncomfortable for the powers-that-be at a time when WWII Britain and USA were allied to the Soviet Union. Now, we don't want to get into trouble by replicating Lineker's 1930s Germany theme with comments on Stalin's atrocities, do we? Nor risk an "unpatriotic" reproof should we suggest that the Illegal Migration Bill smacks of totalitarianism. But, as Alastair Campbell said amidst the throes of #Garygate, there's more than a whiff of "creeping authoritarianism" in the air. A cheeky snipe, Gary. I like it. Meanwhile, Happy St. Patrick's Day! Joe Biden, of Mayo roots, gets this crystal bowl - made by master craftsman Seán Daly of Dingle Crystal - from Taoiseach Leo Varadkar. 
All eyes on the 15:30 at Cheltenham 🏇🏇🏇 |
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Thursday 16th March |
"Schrödinger's Rabbit" is a bit of a challenge, isn't it? I didn't watch the televised budget proceedings, but caught up with the Hansard transcripts. The Chancellor delivered the bulk of his address without interruption except for two brief jabs from Labour. On the importance of getting over-50s back to work: Jeremy Hunt: For too many, turning 50 is a moment of anxiety about the cliff edge of retirement rather than a moment of anticipation about another two decades of fulfilment. I know this myself. After I turned 50, I was relegated to the Back Benches and planned for a quiet life, but instead I decided to set an example by embarking on a new career in finance. How's it going? It's going well, thank you. On the extension of childcare provision: Jeremy Hunt: From September 2025, every single working parent of under-fives will have access to 30 hours of free childcare per week. You'll be gone by then. Order. Mr Perkins, stop it. Here's the Hansard transcript of the Chancellor's "Financial Statement and Budget Report" (20 pages):
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Wednesday 15th March |
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At last some respite from #Garygate. Just before the story broke I was about to elaborate on my love of cartoons, their place and importance in British satirical history, when a complete coincidence materialised in my Mastodon account. I'll explain.
While ruminating on the topic pre-#Garygate, I was of course led back to James Gillray. A caricaturist and printmaker born in Chelsea in 1756, he was a pioneer. Often called the "father of the political cartoon", he was noted for works satirising George III, Napoleon, prime ministers and generals. Here, in what Martin Rowson - whose 'toons I have posted frequently here - speaking in the 2005 TV series "The Secret of Drawing" called "probably the most famous political cartoon of all time", is Gillray's 1805 "The Plumb-pudding in danger; or State Epicures taking un Petit Souper", subtitled "'the Great globe itself and all which it inherit' is too small to satisfy such insatiable appetites". 
The compelling quality of cartoons for me is how they capture the essence of a situation, political or social, in visual form. OK, yes, they would, wouldn't they? They're pictures. Doh! Seriously 'though, when you're struggling for words to make sense of world events, cartoons can cut straight through the fog. "Aha, that's spot on!" At the same time, a grim or angering piece of news is alleviated by humour. Gallows perhaps, but it helps navigate the day. Gillray's print is a satire on the overtures made by Napoleon in January 1805 for a reconciliation with Britain, which came to nothing; indeed, the Battle of Trafalgar took place later that year in October. Much of the fun is in the detail. British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger, wielding a three-pronged-trident-like fork to symbolise maritime superiority, is carving a chunk of sea to the west of the British Isles marked "Ocean". Napoleon, the "little corporal", is slicing off the land mass of Europe with his military sword. Martin Rowson went on to say that the piece "has been stolen over and over again by cartoonists ever since." Which is where we come to the theft that dropped in my inbox. As #Garygate took hold, Sunak was cosying up to Macron in a "moment of reunion". Sculptor, political cartoonist and drummer Dave Brown produced this, "Le Danger des Petits Bateaux or Where's the Beef?": 
The debt is acknowledged at the top left beneath Dave Brown's signature: "after Gillray". I don't need to go on, do I? Petits bateaux and all that. |
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Tuesday 14th March |
"Oh no, not another day of #Garygate?", I hear you say. You'd be right. But I'm bound to close it off with one more piece now that a deal, however interim, has been struck. I will, natch, illustrate with cartoons, of which there has been a huge number. To think that I ever said I'd give them up.
Yes, different perspectives. It started here, although the card should be yellow: 
I've posted material from the furore in the last three days. First thing yesterday morning Lineker published this quartet of tweets: 
I'm disappointed. "Fight the good fight, together". Really? Thanks to Tim Davie? OK, Gary doesn't apologise, recognises the solidarity of his colleagues, repeats his concern for refugees. However, I'll admit to the hope that the BBC hierarchy and Tory influencers would get a right drubbing. Is there a chance that will come? I'm dubious. In the interview I posted yesterday, Lineker's mate John Barnes said: "Well, of course a compromise will be had. They'll come back together. The profile of lots of people will be raised, the profile of the BBC will be raised, they'll do the right thing and the status quo will be resumed very shortly with everybody happy." It's true that the BBC has had a shock. No broadcaster likes to see holes in the schedule: 
Plenty of commentators have declared Lineker vindicated, to Gary the spoils. I suspect he's embarrassed by the episode; never intended to attract all this attention with his original offending - to the BBC - comment. And also broke one of his own three rules on tweeting, as he revealed in the 2021 interview I posted on Saturday 👉: "I don't tweet when I'm angry". There was at least serious emotion behind "immeasurably cruel policy". His 8.8 million followers, including the on-high-alert BBC thought police, will be watching closely to see how he abides by the guideline agreements, the degree to which he is muzzled. 
On balance you'd probably say the BBC has come off worse. More criticised by the left, under greater threat from the right. Systemic and philosophical issues to resolve. Maybe an existential battle on its hands. If you suspend a favourite son for expressing his private opinions on a platform that has nothing to do with your organisation - he never implicated Auntie - you're gonna run into trouble. Dumb move. The BBC could have done without the last four days. 
Storm in a teacup? Sound and fury about the utterances of an ex-footballer? The issues behind it all are much bigger that that and they may have come into sharper focus for many people through this face-off, although sadly not all. Refugees are dealing with lives that have been torn asunder and deserve the most humane consideration. They are demonised, and that is encouraged - even initiated - by inappropriate language. A point expressed by John Barnes in yesterday's interview, and what Lineker was actually saying in his reference to 1930s Germany. 
Divided opinion: 
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Monday 13th March |
I do hope he doesn't climb down too far. Yesterday's Observer headline held such promise: 
Still, quite an impact for a lad who helped run his dad Barry's fruit and veg stall in Leicester Market and was told by a teacher that he would never make a living at football. I can think of few, if any, other people who have given such prominence to the refugee question in 47 words. As my last lengthy related item, if you've got the time (5 minutes) and haven't already tired of the matter, listen to the astute observations by another ex-footballer, the wonderful John Barnes. Remember his heady days at Liverpool, the 1984 Maracana goal, the Anfield Rap? Hmmm ... probably not. As Barnes says, "This should not be about Gary Lineker and the BBC pundits supporting him, this should be about the refugees." |
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Sunday 12th March |
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Saturday 11th March |
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Friday 10th March |
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Just a bit more on this.
Look at the first page of the Illegal Migration Bill 262 2022-23, "[AS INTRODUCED]" ... on Tuesday last. (If you can't see the detail at normal resolution, click/swipe/zoom/whatever to do so.) Here's the full text of the Bill (66 pages):
She knew she was on dodgy ground, didn't she? The Bill's preamble starts: 
Here's a flavour of the section headings:
In contrast (I posted the relevant documents yesterday) ... Article 14.1 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states: Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution. Article 32.1 of the UNHCR Convention says: Contracting States shall not expel a refugee lawfully in their territory save on grounds of national security or public order. These are about rights, protection and welcome. There is no substantive emphasis in the Bill - it's no surprise, I know, arguably not even the right place for it - on the urgent support required by desperate people in small boats. It's mostly about the perceived threat they pose. The government strategy is based on eliminating the people smugglers by dissuading their customers from the purchase of the cross-Channel service, because the help sought will not be available on arrival. But who suffers? It's so back-to-front, inside-out, missing the point. I've been wrestling with a suitable analogy. My best stab is a trifle sinuous, but I'll give it a go. Imagine a good old-fashioned milk round on a residential town street. A milk-snatcher has been at large, stealing bottles from the doorsteps. To combat the thief, the local bobby recommends that the dairy suspend delivery - there'll be nothing to take, no point in the snatcher trying any more. Who is worst affected by this action? Mostly the local townspeople; they now don't have any milk. Will the suspension inconvenience the baddie? Unlikely. He'll find something else to do, somewhere else to go, change his target to bread or children's sweets; the wrong 'uns will always find a way. What's needed is concerted focus on this offender, root him out and bring him to justice without further troubling the innocent. Meanwhile help the residents with their milk shortage. I can't let this next pass without a mention. What have we come to when it takes an ex-England-footballer to make the front pages with his disapproval of government policy? Material courtesy of Lineker himself, cartoonist Peter Brookes and artist Cold War Steve. 
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Thursday 9th March |
I'm not qualified to comment on the legality of the Migration Bill. Others are. Like Chris Daw, King's Counsel at Lincoln House Chambers. Listen to his take on Sky News yesterday (1 minute 37 seconds): Everything he mentions came into being in the aftermath of WWII, at a time when nations were determined to provide for a safer and more just future. As I've frequently mentioned in these pages, Britain's Conservative war hero Winston Churchill was a leading participant in such initiatives, among them what later became the European Union. I'm going to post some of the relevant documents. Not because you're going to read them all - although that would be a salutory experience - but because they exist. They emerged in black-and-white from that post-war era in which governments were driven to build a better world. Hard-won gains for humanity.
The UNHCR asked her to re-think immediately after Tuesday's parliamentary session: "We urge the Government, and all MPs and Peers, to reconsider the Bill and instead pursue more humane and practical policy solutions." See the full text of the UNHCR statement (2 pages):
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Wednesday 8th March |
There's a lot to digest from Braverman's House of Commons presentation of the Illegal Migration Bill yesterday. I built a PDF transcript from the Hansard website last night. Here it is, 42 pages covering the one-hour-50-minutes session of statement and questions: . If you have time, it's worth a browse. Braverman's bit occupies the first 3 pages, Yvette Cooper's response the subsequent two.
There were some very interesting contributions. I'm tempted to quote them, but I wouldn't know where to stop; you'd be better off reading the transcript yourself. So, just a few impressions. It was a very polarised debate. I guess that's the nature of adversarial politics, but this had extra bite and acrimony. An issue that divides the House and the country, fuelled by both ideology and emotion. Braverman did not hold back from pouring acid scorn on opposition naysayers. It's clear that the Tories are determined to "Stop The Boats" (a three-word slogan again) by whatever means fair or foul. Yes, it's one of their top five priorities. Put crudely, it reflects the Brexit split between keeping the outsider at bay and embracing the wider world of humanity. As ever, the cartoonists capture some of the flavour that I haven't time to explore here: 
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Tuesday 7th March |
Home Office statement on 31st January: 
From Care4Calais yesterday: 
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Monday 6th March |
I was pleased to see that I'm not alone in my dismay - and, I admit, amusement - at the deposed and disgraced refusing to go away.
I stumbled across some surprising back-story to Sue Gray. She's married to Northern Irish country-and-western singer Bill Conlon. In the 1980s they ran a pub called the Cove Bar outside Newry. There you are, a seamless link to the Windsor Framework. Here's a January 2022 piece written by David O'Dornan in the Belfast Telegraph: "Friends of Ms Gray say she is unlikely to hold any fears about taking on the Prime Minister and other senior figures, given that she stood up to armed republican terrorists in the past. You're never going to watch it all but I have to post this anyway. Bill Conlon sings "Irish Rambling Man". He has a good voice. Their son Liam is the current national chair of the Labour Party Irish Society. He is also an active member and vice chair of Lewisham West and Penge Labour Party. Aha, a link to Sue's new job if it runs in the family. A left-wing stitch-up indeed 😉 |
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Sunday 5th March |
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Serious and silly today.
First, some further thoughts on the Windsor Framework. I posed the question of benefits for the EU to my Irish correspondent, who kindly wrote: "I have no real idea what the EU is expecting to gain from the Windsor Framework. Perhaps the steadying of the Good Friday Agreement? Particularly since all Western European countries and the US need to be as stable and united as possible vis-à-vis the war in Ukraine. Could Biden and the US government have given Ursula von der Leyen and her team a gentle nudge in this direction? And the EU will have wanted to give its full support to the Republic of Ireland, now a much-valued member of the bloc. Or maybe it could be a first step in coaxing the UK to return to the EU fold? Especially given the disastrous free fall that the country appears to be in, what with 3 prime ministers, 4 chancellors, endless cabinet changes and an economy going down the tubes as a result of Brexit. Maybe it is more desirable for the European bloc to have a stable neighbour across the Channel. And later ... "It has just occurred to me too that given the strong historic links between Ireland and the US, especially with the current President having deep Irish roots, Ursula and the EU team may see Ireland as the ideal go-between EU country for bolstering the European bloc's relationship with the US. Defence commitments apart, the Brexit mess has left the UK an untrustworthy, burnt-out shell of what it once was on the world stage. Perhaps a new special relationship could be emerging: US - Ireland - EU. With Ireland as the transatlantic stepping stone." Very interesting. See my brief November 2020 coverage of Joe Biden's County Mayo connection here: 👉 Back to the trivia. Hancock keeps on coming: 
Not quite so comical once you consider his position and the pain through which Jane and Joe Public were going. Quarantine? For the Health Secretary and the Cabinet Secretary/Head of the Civil Service ... it was a laugh-a-minute: 
Social distancing with Gina. For Hancock and his media adviser ... it was all about being caught: 
It gets worse when you see the longer exchange: 
The benefit of these revelations is that we are reminded - like we needed our memories jogging, right? - of the true nature of Johnson and his mob: arrogant, contemptuous, self-serving, above-the-law, venal, incompetent ... a criminal waste of space. Lest we forget. |
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Saturday 4th March |
All-of-a-sudden it's Silly Season again. What's triggered the recent refusal of deposed leaders and their disgraced cronies to go away? A kind of Trump-follow-my-lead trend.
After Boris, none more so than the snogger. 
No hint of apology. Such wounded umbrage. Betrayed by Isabel. Oh how they deserve each other. 
Then the once irreproachably independent Sue Gray gets a new job. 
And the royals are at it too. 
For Stroudies ... on a completely different note ... Stroud Valleys Artspace (4 John Street) is holding a party from 3pm this afternoon, a fundraiser in aid of victims of the earthquake in Turkey and Syria: 
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Friday 3rd March |
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I said I'd finish off yesterday's ruminations on the Windsor Framework. It feels like other news has already pushed it down the agenda - MI5 and Manchester, Hancock and WhatsApp, racism and Yorkshire cricket - but for the sake of completeness ...
I left it with Sunak's feverish sales pitch in Lisburn: "Northern Ireland is in the unbelievably special position, a unique position in the entire world, European continent ... privileged access, not just to the UK home market, which is enormous, but also the EU single market ... nobody else has that. No one. Only you guys - only here, and that is the prize." Greeted by mockery in some quarters ... Labour MP Chris Bryant: "Sunak says how wonderful it is that Northern Ireland gets privileged access to the single market. I'd like that for the rest of the UK." Anti-Brexit campaigner Femi Oluwole: "Rishi Sunak just spent 2 minutes boasting about how Northern Ireland is the 'most exciting investment zone on the planet' because it has full access to the UK and EU market. You know ... like we did before Brexit!" Oxford foreign policy expert Dr. Jennifer Cassidy: "You mean the 'extraordinary opportunity' that was available to the ENTIRE UK before Brexit. That opportunity?" 
My final thought on this - for now - may well show ignorance. Why did Ursula von der Leyen shake hands on the deal? What's in it for the EU? Northern Ireland, Stormont Brake and all, gets to block EU laws it doesn't like. Does any signed-up member state of the European Union have that privilege? Is it just an act of generosity, to assist with peace in Ireland, to tolerate the absence of a "hard border"? In the interests of the Republic? I still have to find an answer. Help me if you can. We wait to see how much objection the DUP can raise, the "odious flat-earthers" in the words of my Irish correspondent. |
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Thursday 2nd March |
So, will they? I took a look at their April 2022 document "Our 5 Point Plan for Northern Ireland: Remove the NI Protocol". Here it is for reference (8 pages, three of significant text):
Its primary stated ambition was: "See the Protocol replaced by arrangements that restore our place within the United Kingdom." These must meet their 7 tests:
The DUP now scrutinise, taking their time I'm sure. 
There's complexity, as ever with Northern Ireland, still to grasp - particularly for me. To my shame, I've realised that my understanding of the situation since Brexit has been thin. It probably shows. I've not been watching closely, my attention taken by all those other issues that have dominated these pages - Covid, climate, Trump, #Partygate and more. I have some catching up to do. And it's not just NI-centric matters, but also implications for the rest of the Union. Let's start with Sunak's excited post-Windsor proclamations at the Lisburn Coca-Cola factory (27 seconds): As my Irish correspondent has commented, "Scotland, and maybe Wales too, will be fuming at their own exclusion from the EU." [Work in progress ... more to come, probably tomorrow] |
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Wednesday 1st March |
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Tuesday 28th February |
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They've been digging up the bottom of our street for over a year. Currently it's major sewage works. I've successfully negotiated my way past them on my bike all that time. Yesterday they finally got me. Came a purler on loose gravel. Some operator error involved, braking hard downhill as I hit the loose stuff. Nothing broken thankfully, bruises and grazing.
Sunak and von der Leyen shook hands on a Northern Ireland deal. There's still a twixt-cup-and-lip way to go. Convince the DUP. 
We have to be pleased that the promise of the Windsor Framework (here you are - 29 pages: ) will make life better for Northern Ireland and hopeful that it will protect the Good Friday Agreement (another original document for your reference - 36 pages: ). To its credit Labour has said there'll be no playing politics with approval of the deal.
However, fanatically unrepentant "Remoaner" that I am, as far as I'm concerned it misses the point. None of this negotiation, none of the six years of disagreement would have been necessary had we stayed in the EU. Even with the trumpeted resolution THERE'S STILL A BLOODY RED CHANNEL. Ireland to the south has already taken advantage of the UK's EU departure, responded to the unworkable shortcomings of the "land bridge". Just over two years ago (on 3rd January 2021: 👉) I wrote about the launch of a new Rosslare-Dunkirk ferry service providing a direct freight route between Ireland and France. Since then the ferries have multiplied. Journalists Jon Henley and Rory Carroll picked up the theme in last Sunday's Observer in a piece titled "'Brits are suffering but for us it's boom time': how Brexit boosted French and Irish ports". The article states: "Rosslare Europort was an underused facility with just six sailings a week to the continent, all into Cherbourg. Now it has 30-plus, to Cherbourg, Le Havre, Bilbao, Dunkirk and Zeebrugge - a fivefold increase that has led to record overall freight traffic. Weekly sailings from Cherbourg to Irish ports, meanwhile, will by this summer have more than doubled to a round dozen, with Irish Ferries sailing four times a week to Dublin, Stena Line six times a week to Rosslare, and Brittany Ferries also returning to the Rosslare route after a long absence. Retired Irish customs officer Colm Lambert said from his bench overlooking Rosslare port: "They're coming in from France, Spain, Belgium, Holland - it's great to see. Brexit has made an awful difference to here. Boris Johnson did Rosslare a favour." 
That's right. England bypassed, grayed-out. The Brexit opportunity was meant to be the UK's. It turned out to belong to Ireland ... and good luck to her. This may be over the top, but I feel it strongly. Brexit didn't come with the warning that it was bad for your mental health. The last six years have filled me with a background sense of loss, of waste, of being ripped from the rest of Europe. My hope is that such gloom will lift as more and more people recognise the folly of wishing to be separate. One odd plus from the Windsor glad-handing was the apparent warmth between Sunak and von der Leyen. "Dear Rishi", she gushed. If it brings us all closer, I won't diss the sentiment. |
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Monday 27th February |
Bated breath:
I like the new Banksy Ukraine stamp. Except that it has only appeared because of a war and hardly cools the conflict. According to the Huffington Post, the exclamation at the bottom left is a contracted expletive which translates into English as "FCK PTN!" Hmmm ... has a postage stamp ever been issued before with such a message? 
(I need help to validate this. The initial letter of each three-letter word is the same in Ukrainian, but not in translation. "PTN" is right according to Google Translate.) Here are some other Banksy works around Ukraine. Each has a detail photo and an accompanying one of its setting. Click to enlarge any:  
 
 
 
 
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Sunday 26th February |
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Rest day.
Visit of Vienna-based son Nikko to see brother Ben in Bilbao going well: 
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Saturday 25th February |
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Friday 24th February |
Went to this event yesterday evening:
A heart-warming experience. A great turn-out, the Boston Tea Party café taken over completely for the quiz, maybe 70 people, all ages. There was bound to be a positive atmosphere, wasn't there? You wouldn't get naysayers turning up. No fans of Suella Braverman. It was my first ever quiz. Not the point, but our team - I'd never met the others before - did OK. 70% right, a B+. The winners managed 80%. We had a clean sweep of British Prime Ministers 1945-1999. Couldn't name any popular music after 1980. The biggest frustration is half-knowing an answer. The winning jockey of the 2022 Cheltenham Gold Cup was Rachel ... yes ... Blackmore ... no. And I'd even won a few quid on her victory. I must get out more. Cheltenham is only 40 minutes away, yet it felt - at least the grand Regency bits - like a different world. |
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Thursday 23rd February |
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I taught IT to young adults at Stroud College some years ago. By mistake. When the new build was proposed I contacted the college to enquire whether I could offer consultancy help with the design and implementation of the computer network. As the IT director was extremely competent - I found this out later - he didn't need my assistance. However, the next week I got a call from an academic member of staff asking if I wanted to teach. It wasn't what I really wanted to do, but I still went to see the head of department and ended up teaching a bunch of young adults the next Monday - for three years. Just one morning a week. It turned out to be a privilege, to find out what was happening in the heads of an age group I wouldn't otherwise meet. They were also very kind to me, the old git, which took me by surprise.
We used to start the class with what I called "Small Triumphs". These kids were in a kind of last chance saloon after the school system had failed them - the old further education rescue mission - and didn't have a great sense of achievement, at least not in their studies. So, the idea was to drag something positive out of them, however small, of whatever description, from their experiences of the preceding week. What stories they had to tell. In the midst of the UK's political madness and the woes of the wider world, I reckon we need to acknowledge these mini-wins more than ever. I had one yesterday. Do you ever fall foul of auto-renewals? You know, like when your car insurance company automatically takes the next year's premium (increased of course) before you've made the effort to review - good old comparethemarket.com - whether you should stay with them. My electronic diary is densely and obsessively populated with reminders not to let renewal and contract dates sail by. Well, I allowed one past me two days ago. My website hosting provider took next year's domain name fee for coronavirusblog.uk, which I don't use any more. Dammit. I emailed them to ask if I might revoke the renewal immediately and claim a refund. They'd obliged once before. This time I got a flat refusal, precisely because they'd already done it on that other occasion - as a courtesy, they said. I wasn't pleased, given the amount of business I have put their way. Time to get on my high horse, assume my most aggrieved and pompous tone. I wrote: "I am seriously disappointed. I have used your domain and hosting services for my personal websites for around 15 years. Not only that, I have fulfilled all my customer website needs through you - which will not show on my account. This must amount to thousands of pounds/dollars. I have recommended your company to many other people and organisations. I think your refusal to accede to my £14.39 request is petty in the extreme, poor reward for my loyalty." I expected another brush-off. But no. Result! 
A minor victory ... so, OK, a minor celebration is in order. Sadly, I'm not convinced. I know I'm going against the point of our classroom strategy, but I really need to concentrate on bigger fish. Trivial fixes, no problem. The larger stuff ... why can I put those off? Beats me. |
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Wednesday 22nd February |
Perhaps I ought to concentrate on the sabre-rattling and truth-spin ...
... but not today; it's all too mad and I'm sure you've seen enough. So instead I give you four minutes of laughter and joyful brilliance. [Best to watch full-screen by clicking on the  button (bottom right within the video player) once you've started. Or any other way you normally do this on a device with other than a desktop-sized display.]
He's Polish mime artist Ireneusz Krosny: 
 
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Tuesday 21st February |
Two weeks ago I posted publicity 👉 about the Stroud festival showing of the remarkable film about a remarkable woman, "The Seeds of Vandana Shiva". We went on Saturday. Everybody seated at the pre-screening meal was given this flyer (click to enlarge):
 
All about "The Big One", a change of direction for Extinction Rebellion, as explained on the XRUK website: "XRUK has changed its approach to meet this moment. The Big One - in April in Westminster - is different from anything XRUK has ever done before; this time it's about attendance, not arrests. 
Visit the XR Big One website here:
While we're talking about a change of approach - in this instance it's more a shift in sentiment - did you read the sentencing remarks of District Judge Wilkinson to Just Stop Oil Birmingham Esso Fuel Terminal protestors at Wolverhampton Magistrates Court last week? 
The defendants were convicted of trespass, given a 12-month conditional discharge and ordered to pay costs of between £250 and £500. |
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Monday 20th February |
The NI Protocol idiocy rumbles on. Years of self-inflicted impasse, needless economic damage, discomfort and chaos for the northern Irish. Listen to Michael Heseltine on the bigger picture in a Channel 4 interview from some years back (2 minutes): From the mouth of a Tory grandee. Following in the tradition of Winston Churchill, co-architect of a united Europe. The generational point makes my blood boil. You will know from these pages that I consider Brexit a personal affront. My family is European. Fortunately, our sons live that experience. This week Nikko from Vienna is visiting Ben in Bilbao. You can't stop them, Little Englander. Heseltine's view is statesmanlike, isn't it? A sense of history, standing above petty insular concerns. I dream that one day Brexit will be seen for what it is, a mindless aberration. I certainly intend to behave as if it never happened. |
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Sunday 19th February |
I've written before how I semi-abandoned Twitter in favour of Mastodon. No regrets, particularly as I retained my Twitter account so that I could still hear from the bad guys. The best thing is the quality of "toots" that reach me from previously unknown sources. I don't yet know how the algorithms work, but they reliably pick up on my interests, say, in social justice and climate. Intelligent stuff, often well-written, a far cry from the plague of Twitter dross I used to endure. The content moderation is strong - I get nothing grossly offensive, no hate rants. Here's an example that dropped on my e-mat yesterday from Canadian teacher Sylvia Duckworth, her take on a have-versus-have-not world: 
It's not a perfect summary. You might disagree with some of the categories and examples. But it reminds me of how we need always to pay attention to the imbalances and inequities of our world, how they have an impact across all aspects of life. Marginalisation. That's where the help is needed. OK, here's a leap that may be a bit of a stretch, also perhaps a little trivial. On Saturday morning at 10am we had a litter-pick to clean up the street - and a chance to rub shoulders with neighbours. I've never understood litter. Why would you go to an attractive place and then drop rubbish so that it was no longer pretty? If I watch what happens in Middle Street, the litter comes from those who don't have a connection, in most cases ... the marginalised. Buy a cheap portion of chips in the Big Fish in Nelson Street, eat them walking up the road towards the top of town, chuck away the styrofoam box as you pass our door. No connection to the comfortable residential area through which you're passing. Why should you care when you have little stake in society? Back to the little pleasures of Mastodon. The daily poems of Brian Bilston. Light, quirky. They raise a quiet smile. 
7am. An England victory early in the fourth day: 
An extraordinary transformation under positive leadership. Not since 2010 have England won six Tests in a row. For Ben Stokes, this was his 10th victory in 12 Tests as captain. Only Lindsay Hassett, who succeeded Don Bradman as Australia captain in 1949, can match Stokes's speed to 10 Test wins. |
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Saturday 18th February |
08:00am. Cheerful news for this cricket lover from the other side of the world:
My only disappointment is that I'd hoped to ease into the day with Test Match Special and an early cup of tea. Instead ... 
What can they be thinking? |
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Friday 17th February |
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I've missed a few blog days through weariness of news. National leaders are cracking under the strain too, it would appear: first Ardern, then Sturgeon. If politicians - they chose to make it their business - find the profession unpalatable, what chance have we got?
Reporting of world events reaches even the very young. Grandson Marlie drew this diagram of the Ukraine-Russia war yesterday, off his own bat (click to enlarge). A conflict blend of flags in the middle, Ukrainian features on the left, Russian on the right, result at the bottom. 
Congratulations to Christian Adams on managing to get two departures into one cartoon: 
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Sunday 12th February |
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Still no time for proper blogging, so I'll have to borrow again from the estimable Peter Brookes.
World Leaders: 
Zelensky visit: 
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Saturday 11th February |
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Bit of a blog hiatus. First, I've found it difficult to comment on anything as we witness the tragedy in Turkey and Syria. Second, we're in the middle of a visit from brother-in-law Kevin, which demands maximum commitment to meal production. One seafood risotto successfully delivered, on with the next creation.
So much excellent material in the Zelensky visit. Time for just one cartoon: 
One tiny detail in the above. Sunak's shoelaces are tied in neat little bows. Johnson's are undone. |
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Thursday 9th February |
I was ready with jokey topics today. Not after watching the news:
 
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Wednesday 8th February |
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Tuesday 7th February |
Time for some forward-planning. Stroudies, have you booked your tickets?
The official dates are March 3rd-19th, with some early "preview" events starting on 17th February (I know, why not make that the opening day?). The programme is spread around venues: Lansdown Hall, Long Table, Wotton-under-Edge Electric Picture House, Trinity Rooms, Hawkwood, Stroud Brewery, Subscription Rooms, Goods Shed, Museum in the Park, Stroud Valley Arts. To give a flavour, here are three of my choices. I already mentioned the first a week ago, but it's worth repeating. Woman faces up to might of food corporations. No-brainer: "The Seeds of Vandana Shiva" Saturday 18 February 5:00pm to 9:30pm The Long Table Brimscombe Mill GL5 2QN 
Anything with Mark Rylance: "Inland" Friday 24 February 7:30pm to 9:30pm Electric Picture House Cinema Market Street Wotton-under-Edge GL12 7AE 
Because it was made by my neighbour Holly Antrum: "Yes to the work!" - Women's Art Library documentary Saturday 11 March 3:00pm to 5:00pm Museum in the Park Stratford Park GL5 4AF 
For the full programme and tickets visit the festival website:
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Monday 6th February |
Mostly random-ish follow-up today to bits I've posted recently.
The bid by John Lydon - aka Johnny Rotten - to represent Ireland at the Eurovision song contest has come to an end. He announced last month the hope to perform with his band Public Image Ltd a new song, "Hawaii", which is dedicated to Lydon's wife Nora who is living with Alzheimer's disease. Dublin's four-piece band Wild Youth won the vote on Friday night. I never thought 45 years ago that I would one day be writing this word sequence: Johnny Rotten ... carer ... wife Nora ... Alzheimer's. Sad. None of it part of the punk story. The Shell profit scandal inevitably featured in Dale Vince's latest Zerocarbonista. It's always worth a listen. I've posted the full audio here (27 minutes) ... for when you're doing the washing up ... taking a break for a cup of tea ... 
Although Forest Green Rovers have yet to win under their new manager, he can be pleased that the liberal chattering classes are now taking him to their hearts. If you read The Guardian you will have seen the Journal interview on Friday ( - 5 pages). The article reveals that we can reasonably expect a visit here in Gloucestershire from Real Madrid and their manager Carlo Ancelotti, 4-times winner of the Champions League:
So, no vegan burger yet. He needs to concentrate on that before working on a Real Madrid game. Truss has started the process of justifying the actions that brought the country to its knees. This weekend saw her first major outing as self-apologist: 
Blames everybody else. Claims she had the right idea. Fortunately, the rest of us know that she is a dim, incompetent, self-seeking and arrogant twerp. One last thing today. On Saturday, I pondered if the Green New Deal and Labour's Great British Energy were "pie in the sky" ideas. Now, we know what the expression means - but where does it come from? The most common explanation I've heard is that it appeared in a 1911 song by Joe Hill, Swedish-American labour activist, songwriter and member of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW, familiarly named the "Wobblies"). Called "The Preacher and the Slave", the song was written as a parody of the hymn "In the Sweet By-and-By", a dig at the Salvation Army's promise of reward in heaven rather than on earth. The "pie" reference is in the chorus: Long-haired preachers come out every night
You will eat, bye and bye
If you fancy listening to the song, here's a live 2005 version by Utah Phillips. He introduces it with charming and informative bits of background - and rehearsal for the audience: 
Holding a message for Sunak, right? Plus ça change. |
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Sunday 5th February |
Poor sporting outcomes for this household yesterday:
Except that I did my usual trick of placing a small wager on the opposition to ease the pain of an unwelcome result: 
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Saturday 4th February |
Campaigners Green New Deal (GND) must have known that I was raging against Shell yesterday because they sent me an email: Labour MP and GND Champion Clive Lewis explains why we should bring energy into public hands (1 minute 15 seconds): Pie in the sky? Yet Labour has moulded its hopes around Great British Energy. "Nationalisation" is a difficult word in a Britain still shaped by Thatcher, a nation derailed by Brexit. |
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Friday 3rd February |
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Apologies for gloom today, folks, but I'm oppressed by the overwhelming evidence that the wrong people are in charge. Fat cats, warmongers, xenophobes. Why do we let them? There are billions more of us.
Does it have to be this way? As Elvis Costello sang (and Nick Lowe wrote), "What's so funny 'bout peace, love and understanding?" Alternatively - and with belligerence - I'll borrow from the words of Glen Matlock's new song that I posted on Wednesday 👉: "Ain't gonna let this go until there's someone's head on a stick." Maybe both. 
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Thursday 2nd February |
Third birthday:
It's the conversation at the bottom-right that gets me: It's one of the uncomfortable background effects of Brexit that I'm obliged to believe that more than 50% of my compatriots (maybe less now) are ... stupid. Everywhere I go in England I run the risk of half the people I meet not sharing a view of Britain that would make me proud. Not a good foundation for daily life. I am however pleased that cartoonist David Squires of The Guardian finally caught up with us local folk (see the news here:👉) as he considered Everton's new choice of manager: 
And this is a great drone (I presume) shot of the New Lawn in Forest Green with Amberley on the right hillside beyond and Stroud in the distance: 
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Wednesday 1st February |
There's no easy way to spin a positive escape from this. Unless you're Jacob Rees-Mogg: "When was the IMF forecast last right?"
Here's the published document, "World Economic Outlook Update January 2023", (11 pages):
Brexit is not mentioned. But this contrast is made: "Growth in the euro area is projected to bottom out at 0.7 percent in 2023 before rising to 1.6 percent in 2024." Is that October comment an acknowledgement of the Truss meltdown and subsequent Hunt measures/U-turns, what the IMF calls "tighter fiscal and monetary policies"? More entertaining and certainly more outspoken was Glen Matlock, original bass player with the Sex Pistols, interviewed early yesterday on BBC Breakfast. He has a new album coming out, "Consequences Coming", which carries the comments below: 
He was on the programme to talk about the new single, "Head On A Stick". The BBC red sofa presenters desperately wanted to get him off politics, but he wasn't playing. Here's the official video, with some further words from Glen: He also reminded us during the interview that Johnny Rotten was/is a Brexiteer ... and, having become a U.S. citizen in 2013, voted for Trump. 
Punk largely passed me by, as its heyday coincided with my residence in Italy. The Italians weren't a natural fit with the music and movement. What, dress badly, hold no views on food and pay little attention to good wine? It wasn't going to happen. I did however once cause a minor stir by going to an elegant and delicious Veneto fancy dress dinner as Sid Vicious. Who replaced Matlock as bass player when Glen and Johnny fell out. Stop Press: My Irish correspondent has reminded me that it is St. Brigid's Day. Celebrate. From GOV.IE ... "In Ireland, the first of February marks the beginning of Spring and the celebration of Lá Fhéile Bríde, St Brigid's Day. Like many of other feast days of the Irish calendar, Brigid predates Christianity - her roots lie in the Celtic festival of Imbolc, the feast of the goddess Brigid, celebrated at least five millennia ago. In old Irish, Imbolc means 'in the belly', a reference to lambing and the renewal Spring promises." 
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Tuesday 31st January |
This is uplifting, a beacon of light amidst the challenging gloom of climate threat and food poverty, a welcome counterpoint to the rotten antics of the government. We've just been invited by friends to an evening at The Long Table, as worthy a Stroud institution as you can get. 
Stroud Film Festival The Seeds of Vandana Shiva Saturday, 18 February 2023 5:00pm-9:00pm Here's some more blurb from the Long Table website: 
"The Long Table was founded by Tom Herbert and Will Mansell in an old Brimscombe warehouse in 2018. This happened after Tom met with Will Mansell of The Grace Network, of which The Long Table is now a key part. They shared a mutual dismay of how society is doing food badly, leaving people unwell and lonely. Shamefully, one third of all food grown and produced is never eaten. And so a new kind of Community Interest Company was born, with a team from a variety of social roots that shared one vision. Our aim is to make locally sourced and lovingly prepared food available to everyone, regardless of their social or financial background. Something we now call Food Equality." Visit the website here:
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Monday 30th January |
How telling that the number one story yesterday should have been about the sacking of the chairman of the Conservative Party. Not news of economic progress, a break-through scientific development nor justice achieved for a deserving ordinary person. Nope. Just self-seeking Tory sleaze and dishonesty. What a shame that I should have been scouring the GOV.UK website not for useful guidance or explanation but for the official #taxgate letters sent by Sir Laurie Magnus, Rishi Sunak and Nadhim Zahawi. Yes, they are there ... but what a waste of time and money, documenting the transgressions of our leadership rather than their achievements. I'm sure you've seen them but for the record here they are: Magnus to Sunak , Sunak to Zahawi and Zahawi to Sunak .
Sunak said: "It is also with pride that I, and previous Prime Ministers, have been able to draw upon the services of a Kurdish-born Iraqi refugee at the highest levels of the UK Government." Zahawi commented in reply: "I arrived in this country fleeing persecution and speaking no English. Here, I built a successful business and served in some of the highest offices in government." Which privilege he then abused. This is the government hell-bent on making more difficult the lives of the desperate seeking sanctuary. |
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Sunday 29th January |
The joke's (almost) over now. No first match fairy tale victory, cruelly denied in extra time:
I reckon Big Dunc told the lads to get stuck in: 
Meanwhile, I have the answer to my vegan question of two days ago: "The earth is warming up, isn't it?" No shit, Dunc. Would this have helped tired FGR legs in the dying moments of the game? Son Ben sent a photo of Thursday's birthday lunch in Bilbao: 
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Saturday 28th January |
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Friday 27th January |
Football and Forest Green Rovers again today. Apologies to those not interested - but it's quite a story.
A bit of background for the uninitiated. "Big Dunc" - 6' 4" - was in his playing days a robust No. 9 for Scotland and most prominently for Everton. Good with his head, both on the pitch and ... ... off. Here's a chunk of his Wikipedia entry: "Ferguson has had four convictions for assault - two arising from taxi rank scuffles, one an altercation with a fisherman in an Anstruther pub, and one for his on-field headbutt on Raith Rovers defender John McStay in 1994 while playing for Rangers, which resulted in a rare conviction for an on-the-field incident. The first incident led to a £100 fine for headbutting a policeman and a £25 fine for a Breach of the Peace, while the second resulted in a £200 fine for punching and kicking a supporter on crutches. He was sentenced to a year's probation for the third offence. For the 1994 on-the-field headbutting, he received and served a three-month jail term for assault." Ferguson was burgled in 2001 and 2003. On both occasions the robbers were hospitalised. They clearly hadn't done their homework. Sounds ideal. It's going to be a scrap to avoid relegation from League One, so we need a bit of a brawler. I like his second nickname even more: "Duncan Disorderly". It gets better. According to ClassicFM and other sources, little-known Finnish composer Osmo Tapio Räihälä dedicated one of his works to the centre-forward. It's called "Barlinnie Nine", presumably a reference to HM Prison Barlinnie where Ferguson served time and his Everton shirt number. The orchestral piece was premiered on the same day in 2005 that Ferguson scored the only goal in a game against Manchester United, Everton's first win over ManU in 10 years. It's true. Räihälä said: "I got the idea for it when he was facing jail and had just become something of a cult figure for Everton. It takes into account the contradictions in him: he has an aggressive side but there is a lyrical undertone, as the fact that he keeps pigeons shows." I don't expect you to listen to all 12 minutes of the premiere performance, but for the record here it is, on 20th April 2005 at the Finlandia Hall, Helsinki, played by the Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Sakari Oramo: The appointment has gone down well with the FGR faithful on the Twittersphere. Announced the day after Burchnall departed, Dale Vince must have had this in the pipeline. A canny move? I'm off to the bookies to find out what odds I can get on FGR escaping the drop. I should have gone two days ago. 
Has anyone told him he's a vegan from now on? |
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Thursday 26th January |
Oh dear. Forest Green Rovers hit the buffers.
Manager pays customary price. 
Too much red: 
It didn't stop Dale making a trip to Vienna last week (OK, he went by train) to give Arnie some diamonds. 
Maybe that's why FGR are bottom of the league. Distracted by bling. Chris Taylor writes from Udine: "Meanwhile Udinese have refound their winning ways (Sampdoria 0 Udinese 1) and are respectably well above halfway in the Serie A table. I and my son-in-law will be at the Stadio Friuli on Monday night to see what they can do against Verona. Watch this space." Alè Udin!
Happy Birthday to son Ben in Bilbao!
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Wednesday 25th January |
This poster went up in a Middle Street window two days ago:
As you can see at the bottom right, the Stroud Red Band will be playing. Their website explains: "We are an extension of the London Big Red Band, which has been in existence since the 1980s. Like them we play music from the heritage of the labour, socialist and international solidarity movements. We play at demonstrations, marches and benefits when we can." 
Here we come, sadly, to some evidence of conflict in Stroud. I wrote in December last year about opposition to the peddling of The Light newspaper in the High Street 👉. You will have noticed in the poster at the top that certain groups are not invited to the memorial event on Sunday: "Everyone is welcome - except for Holocaust deniers, antisemites and their apologists". I saw on YouTube these placards displayed by supporters of the Stroud Red Band as they busked in town: 
It will be deeply regrettable if the Stroud (Mis)InfoHub go large on this over the weekend (the official memorial day is 27th January, this Friday). They wouldn't show up on Sunday, would they? Please no. To read more about this weekend's events you can visit the website of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust (HMDT), a charity established and funded by the UK Government, by clicking below:  .
The HMDT has a theme for 2023 of "ordinary people". It's a provocative thought: "Genocide is facilitated by ordinary people. Ordinary people turn a blind eye, believe propaganda, join murderous regimes. And those who are persecuted, oppressed and murdered in genocide aren't persecuted because of crimes they've committed - they are persecuted simply because they are ordinary people who belong to a particular group (eg, Roma, Jewish community, Tutsi). Ordinary people were involved in all aspects of the Holocaust, Nazi persecution of other groups, and in the genocides that took place in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia and Darfur. Ordinary people were perpetrators, bystanders, rescuers, witnesses - and ordinary people were victims." Here is the full text of the theme document (6 pages):
It contains a beautiful comic-strip image from the graphic novel "Irmina" by Munich-based Barbara Yelin, which I highlight here (click to enlarge): 
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Tuesday 24th January |
I've been trawling the international output of the political cartoonists on the topic of Jacinda Ardern's resignation. There has been plenty of criticism directed at her in words - jump-before-push, economic crisis, rising violence - but I can't find any from the cartoonists, apart from the two below (the first repeated from Friday), both of which are comments on other world leaders rather than an attack on her. The sketches of her are not very flattering, but the joke and disdain are firmly aimed at the rest. Very unusual. Normally - look at the stuff above targetting Sunak and cronies - any weakness, any whiff of hypocrisy, any incompetence is exposed with merciless glee. The absence of such scrutiny speaks positive volumes about her. 
Sadly, we are left with the sleazeballs. |
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Sunday 22nd January |
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My dreams get odder every night.
This time I was an airline pilot. On my first flight from somewhere in the Middle East I was forced to crash land. Also on the second. Before the third - there seemed to be no move to ground me pending investigation, I was straight back into the pilot's seat - I felt obliged to give the passengers a choice. "This is your captain speaking. I cannot reliably assure you that you will arrive at your destination in the normal fashion. All of you who would prefer to take another flight, please feel free to leave the aircraft now." On this occasion I landed in a New York suburb, the nose of the 'plane nestling in an apartment belonging to a large Italian family tucking into pasta and meatballs. They welcomed me with a generous portion. "Vieni, mangia!" No casualties at any stage, no drama. I can't begin to find an explanation. |
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Saturday 21st January |
They don't get any better, do they? New crap every day.
The seatbelt error is just dim, isn't it? Broadcast a jolly levelling-up video that shows my mistake, why ever not? Zahawi and tax - we expect this kind of Tory slime. The car battery fiasco is, however, the long-term outcome of wilful, systemic and idealogical incompetence. Thatcherite destruction of our motor-manufacturing capability had already left Britishvolt with no national customers. Given the barriers to trade and logistics raised by Brexit, which European car maker would choose to buy from go-it-alone Blighty? 
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Friday 20th January |
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Tuesday 17th January |
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Absence from the blogosphere for a few days. I've had a lurgy. Not Covid, nor 'flu, just the common cold. Still reasonably debilitating. Unhelpfully, I've not been able to keep awake in the day, nor manage to sleep at night - connected, of course. Friends and neighbours have said that their dose went on for weeks. Mine's still here, but I hope it's fading now.
Grandson Marlie put up with me for the weekend. I barely went out. Fortunately his current passion is suitable for indoor activity: 
He came up with all kinds of "extension" activities: guess-the-flag, draw-the-flag, how-many-flags-do-you-know-with-stripes. There's a whole lot of story and detail behind each flag, like date adopted or who invented it. What's behind the selection of colours and shapes? Half of Marlie's ancestry is Jamaican: 
The flag was adopted on 6 August 1962, Jamaican Independence Day. 60 years to celebrate this summer. There'll be a party, won't there? The 1962 interpretation of the colours - "hardships there are but the land is green and the sun shineth" - was updated in 1996 after a review initiated by then prime minister P. J. Patterson to (courtesy of Wikipedia): "Black representing the strength and creativity of the people which has allowed them to overcome difficulties, gold for the wealth of the country and the golden sunshine, and green for the lush vegetation of the island, as well as hope." I thought I'd got Marlie with one question, but he knew the answer! It is currently the only national flag that does not contain a shade of the colours red, white, or blue. Hmmm, shade of white? Here's a quiz question for you, the answer to which is contained in previous pages of this blog. What are the only two national flags that display the country's map? |
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Friday 13th January |
At the Goodwill evening before Christmas Stroud District Together with Refugees (SDTwR) ran a stall in Lansdown Hall. Visitors were invited to write a message of support to refugees and hang it on a tree. Ninety-one people did so. Here are two pictures, the first in the hall, the second after the tree was moved to the Christmas tree festival in the parish church of St. Lawrence (click to enlarge):
 
Jude Emmet of SDTwR has recently drawn this to the attention of Stroud Conservative MP Siobhan Baillie: Dear Siobhan, (Stroud District Together with Refugees)
1. Welcome to England. 2. Welcome to Stroud. Hope you feel safe and happy xx. 3. You are so welcome here; I hope you settle in well x. 4. Welcome to everyone who needs a home! 5. Assume good will / Judge others by the content of their character. 6. You are so welcome here in Stroud. 7. Dear refugees, wherever you come from you are welcome here. 8. I hope you find warmth and kindness. 9. You are welcome here. 10. Refugees always welcome here! 11. Welcome to Stroud💖. 12. Welcome to everyone seeking sanctuary in Glos! 13. Wishing you love and peace. 14. My heart goes out to you all, much love xxx 15. Warm welcome, may you always feel at home. We need you xx. 16. Welcome all. The people of this country are not the government. 17. You have been through so much - we are here to welcome you and support you. 18. We are all migrants💖! 19. We welcome refugees. 20. Welcome! Wishing you a warm and welcoming time💖. 21. We'll enjoy a colourful Stroud with contributions from lots of different backgrounds. 22. Hope you feel happy soon. 23. Rest in peace in Stroud. 24. Thinking of you all💖. 25. You are all WELCOME here x. 26. I love and I will look after you. 27. You are so loved x. 28. Thinking of you all with love and welcome arms. 29. Welcome and good luck! 30. Welcome in Gloucestershire! 31. Refugees, we don't care where you're from everyone is welcome here! 32. Love💖. 33. The warmest of welcomes to you xxx. 34. Make yourselves a home here! 35. A warm Stroud welcome to you all x. 36. Welcome home💖love💖. 37. Hello, you are safe here. 38. Welcome! We hope you enjoy your Christmas in Stroud. 39. You are welcome everywhere, be brave. 40. Thinking of you for a better 2023, welcome. 41. We welcome you with love and warmth xxx. 42. Love knows no borders / everyone always welcome x. 43. Our very best wishes to all refugees. 44. You're welcome to stay. 45. Welcome to Stroud x. 46. Welcome. 47. Hope Hope Hope and Love. 48. Warm wishes and welcome. 49. Good you are here. Welcome. May the new year bring better times. 50. Come on in💖! 51. We welcome you all into our hearts xx. 52. The warmest of warm welcomes to one and all with love x. 53. Refugees one and all we welcome you! We welcome your experience, skills, culture, language. You enrich us all! 54. Welcome to Stroud xx. 55. Love and peace this Christmas in Stroud🌠. 56. May Stroud be a place of safety, welcome and support. 57. Wishing all new lives filled with peace and happiness! 58. You are very welcome here - as a child of refugees I hope you feel safe and at home. 59. Welcome. 60. Welcome to this part of the world. 61. Welcome/Hello! A warm welcome to you. I truly wish you a bright day and joyous future. You are always welcome. 62. Welcome to the UK! Hope you find all the things you need here! Welcome. 63. Welcome to the UK, hope you like it. 64. Welcome and safe haven here. 65. We are all migrants. We welcome you with love x💖. 66. May all the luck and kindness come to you. 67. Hope you find safety and peace here. 68. Wishing you good luck and success. 69. Welcome to Gloucestershire. I hope you're made to feel welcome. 70. We love you xxx/💖💖💖. 71. Hope you find peace here. Lots of love xx. 72. We welcome refugees here! 73. May the rainbow appear for your thoughts x. 74. We wish you well you are welcome here! 75. Welcome to Stroud!💖Hope you will find peace and happiness xx. 76. All are welcome because we are all one - karibuni! 77. My arms are open to welcome you xx. 78. You are safe, you are welcome, you are loved. 79. Welcome to Stroud. 80. Goodwill to all refugees. 81. So many people welcome you here💖. 82. You are welcome to Stroud. I hope you stay safe and happy this Christmas. 83. Merry Christmas! Sending lots of love and care xxx. 84. Welcome to UK - may you find a good life here! 85. Season's greetings and welcome to all. 86. You enrich our country / peace and love x. 87.🌞There is always beauty around us🌱. 88. Welcome refugees, we love you all. 89. Refugees, good luck. I hope you find peace and happiness. 90. Selamat Datang [Malay/Indonesian: "Welcome"]. 91. You are so loved.
Stroudies, be proud. Refugees, welcome. |
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Thursday 12th January |
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RIP Jeff Beck (24 June 1944 - 10 January 2023, aged 78). Remember the Yardbirds? Guitarist's guitarist: made an art of distortion, picked with his thumb, master of the whammy bar (aka grooving stick), tone to die for (and now he has). Here he is with another old diva performing one of my favourite songs, Curtis Mayfield's 1965 "People Get Ready":
People get ready, there's a train a-coming You don't need no baggage, you just get on board All you need is faith to hear the diesels humming You don't need no ticket, you just thank the Lord People get ready for the train to Jordan Picking up passengers from coast to coast Faith is the key, open the doors and board them There's room for all among those loved the most Now there ain't no room for the hopeless sinner Who would hurt all mankind just to save his own Have pity on those whose chances are thinner 'Cause there's no hiding place from the Kingdom's throne So people get ready for the train a-coming You don't need no baggage, you just get on board All you need is faith to hear the diesels humming You don't need no ticket, you just thank the Lord It's always the "diesels" that get me. |
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Wednesday 11th January |
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Eleven days into the New Year and I'm going to abandon my self-imposed moratorium on cartoons. I admit defeat. A few have leaked into the blog in the last days, but here's a whole lot more. The cartoonists say it for me, save me wrestling with prose - and most of all make me laugh. That's a gift I can't spurn, a smile rather than despair or anger.
I wonder at how the English press busies itself with the really important issues. Harry, do we need to know? (With apologies to my Irish correspondent, who commented: "Good to see that the blog is a Harry-free zone.") 
Then this charade bled across into ... the Virgin Orbit fiasco ... and threats to Sunak's authority: 
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the world the usual nutters are at large: 
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Tuesday 10th January |
I haven't written about Covid for a long time, except in a historical sense. But it's still around. We're "living with" the virus at a different level. Anecdotal Middle Street intelligence tells me that it's rife in Gloucester Royal and even in Stroud Hospital round the corner. After a lunch with 20-odd people from our walking group last Saturday, a friend tested positive, so others have done a lateral flow. I've got a mild cough and cold, but have had a negative result two mornings in a row. It's a while since I reported one of these:
Looking back through this blog, I counted occurrences of the words "coronavirus" and "Covid". In reverse order: 2022 - 80; 2021 - 380; 2020 - 315 (I began the blog on 22nd March). Consider this ONS report of causes of death in England published at the end of November last year: 
Covid is in eighth place. Other conditions demand greater concern. Contrast the above with three charts - not a like-for-like comparison, but indicative of the change - I posted two years ago in the first two weeks of January 2021: 
At the time we were in deep shock. Very frightened. I didn't know how we'd get out of it all. Except the vaccines were just about to roll out. NHS staff were working round the clock at considerable personal risk. Baroness Mone had made £millions out of PPE contracts. Check out the red numbers below: 
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Monday 9th January |
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Some minor reflections on social media, specifically related to the debate about the Twitter-monolith-owned-by-evil-Musk versus Mastodon-or-any-other-egalitarian-decentralised-uncorporate-platform.
I'm enjoying Mastodon. I like being part of the right-on sandal-wearing free-open-source-software community. However, as I've explained before, I've kept my Twitter account open for one passive reason alone - so that I can hear from or about people I don't like, horse's-mouth from the other side. I only actively "toot" on Mastodon. For example, I learnt yesterday that you can buy this calendar, for £13.95 via Amazon. Don't worry, I definitely won't be making a purchase. Far too much for a relatively small joke, and Amazon? ... no thanks. 
It was JR-M himself who alerted me to its publication through his Twitter account: 
Beyond this, I benefit from direct unfiltered access to his views. Here's a selection tweeted in the last two months:
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Sunday 8th January |
I'm allowing myself one cartoon today:
There's a reason for this choice which you can't possibly guess. Before going to university in 1970 I spent six months at a "prep" Ivy-League-feeder school - Phillips Exeter Academy, Exeter, New Hampshire, USA - as an exchange student. Not an altogether comfortable experience, as I bridled at its smug sense of privilege, and shouldn't really have still been at school (you can read my account here: 👉). However, I made some great friends. One was a lovely young man, kind, caring, laughing, easy to be with. He had a dramatic mane of thick long black hair, a heavy black stubble on his chin. His name was Harry Cocaine. Why "Cocaine"? His antecedents had migrated from Greece in the early 20th century. The story goes that the immigration official on Ellis Island looked at the family name Kokkinis, thought it wouldn't do and renamed them Cocaine. He must have had a good laugh with his wife when he went home. Harry has since reclaimed the original name. In 2003 he - I don't know where he was in the intervening years, apart from studying at Amherst - joined the family firm founded in 1924, Table Talk Pies ("America's Favourite Pie"), in Worcester, Massachusetts. Yes, we shared the same home town name. He became chief executive in 2015 when his father Christo died. The company website suggests that he is still in charge. 
Here's a Boston TV station report on a new factory they opened up: I envy him - or I would have done in the 1970s when I was lorry-mad - the fleet of semi-trucks: 
So here's the plan. Harry and I said an emotional farewell 52 years ago and haven't been in touch since. I have no idea why I failed to maintain such a friendship. Tomorrow I'm going to send him an email at Table Talk and follow that up with a 'phone call a couple of days later. There's a risk. If I manage to connect, will he still remember me? What the hell, I'm going to try anyway. Nothing ventured ... |
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Saturday 7th January |
No great desire to comment on anything today. Harry? Oh, pur-lease. Nope, it's time for the first Mapfest of 2023. In descending order, from serious to silly, informative to downright foolish. Click/tap to enlarge any.
Alasdair Rae - Map of global population density
Strategic Forecasting Inc - Population density map of China and Asia
Amazing Maps - Countries surrounding Poland pre-1990 and post-1993 - all change!
Amazing Maps - Parts of the Republic of Ireland are further north than Northern Ireland
Amazing Maps - Map of the Internet in 1969
Amazing Maps - Map Kiwi - Nobody lives here
Amazing Maps - Straight 13,500km line from Liberia to China without crossing an ocean
Terrible Maps - What pedestrians look like across Europe
Terrible Maps - Iceland to Ireland
Terrible Maps - Railway map of Antarctica
Terrible Maps - Roman air bases in 2nd Century AD
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Friday 6th January |
Whoopee! The Iron Maiden postage stamps have been announced, available from 12th January. You can pre-order now - hurry! rush! - at the Royal Mail shop: . Click/tap to enlarge all images below.
Hmmm ... still with the head of Queen Liz II. Planned for some time, then? A whiff of hoax? Apparently not. Iron Maiden manager Rod Smallwood said: "It's incredible to think that Her Majesty, may she rest in peace, saw these and lent her iconic silhouette to them." This is my kind of news, perfect for a lighter 2023. Not only snaps of band gigs over the years, but also a selection honouring "mascot" Eddie: 
The Maiden website explains the four above:
I have never wittingly heard an Iron Maiden song, nor watched a video, let alone been to a gig. BUT ... I have been flown to Corsica by lead singer Bruce Dickinson, who used to moonlight as a pilot for charter airline Astraeus in his music downtime. I discovered yesterday that we attended the same school; he was six years my junior ... and sensibly got expelled.  
Maiden commissioned an Astraeus 757 as transport for their "Somewhere Back in Time" tour in 2008 and nicknamed it Ed Force One ... driven of course by Captain Dickinson: 
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Thursday 5th January |
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Some days you need a little something to get going. Oliver Reed called his first drink a "heart-starter". I've listened to this the last two mornings:
"Don't ask me what I think of you, I might not give the answer that you want me to" RIP (25th July 2020) Peter Allen Greenbaum. Off his head, bless 'im. Danny Kirwan - typical of Green, the greatest English blues guitarist, that he let other people play the lead solos on songs that he had written - is also sadly no more. But I still have a copy of the "dustbin" album: 
Jeremy Cedric Spencer - maracas in the video above - is still playing:  
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Wednesday 4th January |
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Please indulge me today as I go personal and reflect on the family visit at Christmas ... and beyond ...
What pleases me as much as anything is how the children thoroughly reject in thought and action the mean-spirited concept of Brexit ... and embrace Europe, indeed the world. The boys also seem to have adopted my liking for offal (warning for those who are not fans of seriously anatomical food, see below). Nikko was back from Vienna with his daughter, who is half Serbian Viennese. He returned to Austria in time to celebrate New Year in the wilds of Slovakia with his girlfriend, who is Iranian. The food included meze and Basque haggis, a present from Ben. 
Ben and partner Soph are heading back to Bilbao today. They managed a trip while over here to remote Powys, staying near Machynlleth in the house belonging to our friends Liz and Martin Whiteside. To date there is no "hard border" at Chepstow. 
Meanwhile, I'm still here in Stroud. But about to put my Christmas gift from Ben in the slow cooker ... morcilla and alubias de Tolosa: 
To hell with the 2016 referendum 🖕 |
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Tuesday 3rd January |
Just one map today. In 2022 the planet's (human) population passed 8 billion. Where are we all? Click/tap to enlarge this chart (courtesy of Visual Capitalist) - then zoom-and-scroll or whatever you usually do:
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Monday 2nd January |
This new year I've decided not to do a summary of the previous twelve months. We all know too much about it already. Instead - the only looking back I'll do - I'm posting a charming and ingenious Sgt. Pepper "in memoriam" tribute by graphic artist Chris Barker to many (187) of those we lost in 2022. A picture, numbered key and list of names. You will have to "click to enlarge" to see the detail, preferably on the largest screen you own.
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Sunday 1st January |
I hope you all had a good Twixmas. Resolutions, eh? I've decided that I have only one, which I will apply to all of those others I have carried forward from previous years with consummate procrastination. "Do it differently". This means that when I falter, for example when tempted to break the promise I've made to go to the gym, I'll seek a way to get round my objections or substitute an equally beneficial alternative. The Christmas break has been marked in this house by a notable absence of news consumption, with consequent lifting of the spirits. Kids, cooking, eating, visits to the local, breezy outings on the common. Precious little "doomscrolling". Although I've spoken in these pages about the effect of digesting grim media output in recent years, I'm late in coming to this term, which Mark Barabak of The Times defined as "an excessive amount of screen time devoted to the absorption of dystopian news." Odd, because it grew out of lockdown-induced Covid pandemic distress, which is where this blog started. It was one of the "words of the year" chosen by the Oxford Dictionary in 2020. Merriam-Webster had this at the time: "Doomscrolling and doomsurfing are new terms referring to the tendency to continue to surf or scroll through bad news, even though that news is saddening, disheartening, or depressing. During times of crisis and uncertainty, some of us pay more attention to the news, looking for answers. And this might not surprise you, but we have to say it: a lot of the news is bad. And yet we keep scrolling, keep reading article after article, unable to turn away from information that depresses us." Guilty as charged. So ... do it differently. I can't ignore world events, nor should I. That would be "news avoidance", another phenomenon I've missed that has grown in the nearly three years of this blog. It's a natural reaction for many - I've been tempted - but not necessarily a good thing, as evidenced in the title of a September 2022 paper I spotted - "How News Feels: Anticipated Anxiety as a Factor in News Avoidance and a Barrier to Political Engagement", by Benjamin Toffa, University of Minnesota, and Rasmus Kleis Nielsen, University of Oxford (19 pages): . No need to read this rather turgid bit of research, I've only posted it for completeness - it was the idea and title that caught my attention.
I don't want to be politically disengaged but I need balance this year. Concentrate on useful action rather than moodily over-observing, like giving support to Stroud's refugee campaign group, anything that will remove the Tories from office, mitigation of Brexit damage. I may throttle back my love affair with political cartoons. Here's just one for the New Year, courtesy of Kevin "Kal" Kallaugher, cartoonist for The Economist and the Baltimore Sun. I intend to give less mental house room to these people (click to enlarge): 
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