The STD numbers are rocketing we discovered yesterday. in 2022 there were 392,453 diagnoses of new STIs among England residents, an increase of 23.8% compared to 2021. Cue howls of anguish from all corners but – as Pride month kicks off there is one matter nobody in trhe media dared to mention.

I have read a couple of books about Harold Wilson and I remember my late Uncle Christopher Booker and my late father agreeing that there were some good reasons to regard the former Prime Minister dimly. The pound in your pocket is worth the same today as it was yesterday said Wilson having just devalued the pound so it was patently worth less. The White Heat of Technology was the sort of vapid nothingness that served as a blue print for Blair’s Cool Britannia.  But I was just two when Wilsonwas evicted from office the first time, by the even more useless Heath. The second time around I was eight. But i still have no real memories of what he did and I certainly never had cause to hate the man.

Yes, Schofield and the cover up at ITV is a real scandal and there is a double standard there in that had Schofield been shagging a 17 year old junior female employee he’d have been out three years ago. As he today takes to the airwaves to accuse his critics of being motivated by homophobia there is a humungous double standard. This is the Kevin Spacey defence “Look I am gay so ignore the huge power disparity between me and that teenage boy I shagged but if a male executive shags a female intern he is exploiting a power gap and must be crucified. I so support #Metoo.” I discussed the ITV cover-up of Phil and how everyone knew HERE. However…

An early childhood memory from Butterwell Farm ,was of hearing a series of loud explosions as one of the bottles of ginger beer my parents were making, exploding and setting off a chain reaction among the other bottles. In those days we only had glass bottles.  I have never tried my hand at this before but, with the elderflower champagne and cordial season and nettle beer season now almost upon me, I thought I’d also give it a go. I am now working on my ginger bug plant as you can see below.

Well i say lucky, I am pretty sure that i was wearing this shirt for the 2006 FA Cup Final in Cardiff, the less said about which the better. Anyhow, despite it being somewhat ragged it seems the Mrs has not thrown it out which would, I am sure you will agree, have been grounds for divorce. Thus, as you can see below, I can now wear it for tonight’s match where I shall be joined at the Raven in Farndon by another attendeed at the 2006 match, albeit a scouser. He promises not to mention events of 17 years ago and to become a Hammer for the evening.

You may remember that I brought five edible olive trees ( as opposed to olive oil, olive trees) back from Greece in my car last year. I planted them at the top of the top field which goes from the new orchard up to the graveyard. I had feared that a cold Welsh winter had killed them off. But….

The last time West Ham were in a cup final (2006), I was there. The less said about that match the better. The only bar we could find afterwards near the ground in Cardiff not packed with joyful Scousers, in which to drown our sorrows, was a gay bar. We had real sorrows to drown.

I made a stack of jams last year: strawberry, blackcurrant, gooseberry, damson and marrow & ginger. And now we are down to the last jar. The fruit trees and bushes are looking good for this year and the strawberry crop is going to be absolutely enormous. But we are now down to our last pot of jam, as you can see below.

I preface this by condemning the Russian invasion and President Putin. I am no apologist but I am a realist. I ask you to consider the real and proportionate scale of losses in this war, if you are happy being lied to by Ukraine as well as Russia and if you are happy to keep writing blank cheques. Finally I offer a scenario by when after a few more blank cheques and much more bloodshed, the West forces Ukraine to cave. Will you consider that money and blood well spent?

I have covered the career of left wing journalist Carole Cadwalladr on this website for many years, starting with her bogus claims of achieving success despite educational disadvantage, moving on through all the hoax stories which earned her an Orwell prize and then onto her libel case with Brexit bad boy, Arron Banks. Today Cadwalladr faces bankruptcy as she has been ordered to pay 60% of Bankski’s costs plus 100% of her own costs plus some damages as well. If she cannot find more than £2million she should be made bankrupt. Hooray. For Cadwalladr is a dangerous and unpleasant fantasist.

UK Government borrowings are now at almost 100% of GDP. That should be a sort of ceiling if we do not want to go down the Greek path to bankruptcy. So if the state wants to spend more it must raise taxes which are already at a 70 year high. One group of public sector workers who think they should earn more, paid for by folks who – on a mean average basis – earn far less than them paying more tax, are the junior Shipmans. Meet James who is 28 and explains his financial woes to this week’s Investor’s Chronicle as you can see below.

I noted the other day how those in the liberal political and media elites have, for years, sneared at anyone flying the  Union Flag. Indeed, I think, the term flag waver actually became a term of abuse at some point amomng those who tend to have #FBPE in their twitter handles. But at least the UK does not spaff taxpayers cash on a “Flags team.” Unlike …

The starting XI of the Lionesses which won the European Championships last year was all white. There were folks of mixed race or of colour in the Squad but not the starting line up. And this is just unacceptable say those in the liberal media establishment.

The Coronation weekend is over but as I drive around the villages around Wrexham and Chester I am struck by how much of the celebratory bunting and flags stay up. Even here on the Welsh side of the border, the red white and blue of the United Kingdom cannot be dodged. My Indian born parents-in-law, old enough to have been born under British Rule, still fly their Union Flags as do so many others.   But for years flying such flags was expressly frowned upon by the liberal establishment that runs the media, academia and most of the political class.

I am pretty sure that I will not be watching the coronation. That is partly because I am a lifelong Republican but largely because I am in charge of my two year old daughter Jaya this weekend and she would describe it as a “boring daddy programme” and demand loudly and repeatedly that we switch over to Peppa Pig. So as my neighbours are glued to the goggle box, Jaya and I shall be planting rhubarb, broad beans and carrots in the garden which she greatly enjoys.