Maybe what grabs you are the windows either side of the tree. If you look closely you will see that the ones on the right are bricked up and painted. These are an unusual sort of “wndow tax window”. Because this part of the house was the side folks saw as they took their milk down to the river to be shipped to Chester, this was the part “dolled up.” I could not unbrick the windows if I wanted as they are one of the reasosn that the hovel is listed. But I rather like them. In between the windows is a Christmas treat I picked up today. It is the annual “victim.”
So an “Irishman”, apparently, one of those Paddy’s born in North Africa, pulls out a knife and stabs a woman and three kids in Dublin.
As a stalwart member of his chapel, my son Joshua is very much a traditionalist when it comes to Advent calendars. Last year there were howls of protest when the Mrs got one from the chapel which turned out to be loaded with chocolate. And thus I have returned to the company recommended by my old pal Malcolm Stacey, HERE
A couple of weeks ago we had that rare occurrence, the Mrs. joining me at the school gates to pick up Joshua and Jaya. Honestly, there are folks in this village who must think I am a single mum so rarely does the Mrs take part in the school run. But on this day, Joshua was clutching a red dragon and also had a Welsh flag badge pinned to his chest next to the School Council badge and an owl badge which is, I think, a club for clever cloggses. Joahua and his pal R are clever cloggses now doing reading lessons with kids 2 years older than they are.
This is laughable. The conclusion of a report out today on deaths during the great plague of 1348-50, aka the Black Death, in London is that “higher death rates amongst people of colour and those of black African descent was a result of the “devastating effects” of “premodern structural racism” in the medieval world. Natch the BBC is delighted by this study from the Museum of London. But does the data actually support such a claim? What do you think?
The portrait below was one my father owned. On his demise I picked it up as nobody else wanted it. The writing in the top left-hand corner says that it is James Bertie, the 1st Earl of Abingdon, a man who lived from 1653-99 and was a fairly important figure in 17th century politics. But was this a genuine portrait and how did it come into our possession?
We didn’t buy Big Bear, pictured below. He was given to us by someone looking after the hiuse one summer. We just came home to find him sitting at the kitchen table with some pots of porridge in front of him. These days he sleeps in the same room as Joshua and Jaya but the Mrs and myself have been quite keen to give him to a charity shop. But now he has been saved.
I did not used to be much of a baker but in the past couple of years I have got fairly good at making cakes. So I am kicking myself for slightly overdoing what is known as a Grandpa cake which you can see below. The top is a little well done but inside it is pretty moist as you’d expect of a fruitcake soaked in Guniness. that is not to say that my father was mad, just a bit eccentric, or soaked in Guinness, he preferred cider. It is just that the recipe is Irish and my father always referred to Ireland as the Old Country.
Right now there is building work underway at Woodlarks and that means that, for the first time I can remember, there will be no Christmas Grotto this year. However the Woodlarks Santa will be doing a mobile tour of schools with the sort of special needs Woodlarks is set up to deliver and to visit local hospices to see very ill children. “I want your money” as that poltroon Bob Geldof used to say.
I have to start with usual prefaces: I am no Putin apologist, he was wrong to invade Ukraine. But I hate all wars and also being lied to by a media and political class GroupThink and – as I have flagged up on this site numerous times – we were all lied to. I called out those lies. Many smeared me as a Putin apologist for doing so. I hope now they see the error of their ways. The harsh reality is that Ukraine is now losing ground and running out of men and women to fight for it. I explain various reasons why there has to be a peace and I curse folks like Boris Johnson who prolonged this war for two years so needlessly. They have blood on their hands.
Over the past few years this website has chronicled time and time again the manifest failings of the Police. Folks in this country who are law abiding, pay our taxes and do not hate where we live feel utter despair as the Fuzz let us down again and again and again. Using the metaphor of a lavatory leaking shit floating down the river by my fields, I explained my sense of despair a few weeks ago. That is heightened as I watch TV and see folks who break the laws, spew hate and unhappiness but support radical causes getting a free pass. The one politician who dared to speak up for folks like me and my wife, and – I sense and polls suggest – the vast majority of the population, was Suella Braverman and, for that, she has today been sacked as Home Secretary.
I am back with these bonus video shows, is this 31 or 32. What the heck: I reset the counter at 32. In this show I interview Kerim Sener of Ariana resources (AAU) and then give my analysis of why I am very happy to hold the shares. Then it is onto Chris Bailey on macroeconomics, the two financial bombshells facing the over 45s and blue chips to buy. I hope that you enjoy the show.
The BBC is creaming itself as the Metropolitan Police has arrested 90 far right thugs marching with the horrible hooligan Tommy Robinson and just 12 folks marching for Palestine. You can guess the narrative about today’s peaceful protest for “peace” and how the far right is the real threat to peace. Well up to a point. Robinson and his ilk are vile but what actually happened on the main march?
As you can see below there is a new book out by Tom Winnifrith. But before you rush to buy it there are a three caveats.
I have just dropped an email to James Fuller who runs the office of Professor Andy Schofield the Vice Chancellor of Lancaster University regarding the cover up for Professor Simon Mabon. Mabon is the man who praised Hamas on October 8, a day after it committed the worst mass slaughter of Jews since 1945. The Metropolitan Police has now stated that using the imagery endorsed by Mabon is something it considers to be a crime. And thus, cc’ing in hapless press officer Vicky Tyrell, I have asked the office of the Vice Chancellor, two critical questions. My email reads.
