I'm looking forward to the day when Swaziland (whoops, I mean Eswatini) joins.

Although there was a war on, this day June 24th (1941) William Gardiner, aged 35, was sentenced at the Old Bailey to eight months imprisonment for bigamy. (Grays & Tilbury Gazette)

A description from The Royal Archaeology Institute meeting.

A sticker (now detached) showing the object was formerly in 'The Museum of Practical Geology'.

A perforated pebble - found in the Mardyke, but might have been washed down from further upstream. Might be neolithic; might be iron age. Might have been used as a loom weight. So now you know.

Yesterday I visited the British Museum Archaeology Research Unit to see an artifact found in Stifford and donated by Richard Meeson.

"When you win the toss, you think about putting the opposition in, then you bat." (Ian Chappell)

From Population Matters web site.

Graphic from Population matters web site.

I know that very few people will agree with me, but in my opinion, all Western European teams (including England and Scotland) should withdraw from the World Cup and request that the event be rescheduled in a country willing to host it without restrictions on the participating teams and fans.

An excellent video showing how to vibe code. The particular application is making a Civ vii mod, but a great deal applies to any application.

I have a great deal of sympathy for this woman who can no longer enjoy the natural landscape to the extent she would like to. I have no sympathy for the BBC reporter who included the same quote three times in the article in addition to it being part of the headline.

A YouTube content creator just vibe coded a series of Civ vii mods. The results look very impressive. www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BQS...

Makerfield prediction from Electoral Calculus based on their 28th May update.

"Cumbria Police reminded visitors to park considerably when out in the Lakes." O tempora, o mores!

... and finally to Coalhouse Fort.

... and then on to East Tilbury church ...

Will and I enjoyed our local history field trip along the Mardyke ...

I don't believe this. Smoking increases the chance of lung cancer and some other harmful conditions. These can kill. As far as I'm aware, whatever impacts social media may have, there is no evidence that it leads to conditions that can cause death.

I follow political affairs reasonably closely, but this headline from the BBC took me by surprise, I didn't recognise any of the names. Was it to do with a new chief of staff for Sir Kier Starmer I wondered. Turned out to be two footballers who weren't selected to play for England.

My local newspaper asked me to pay 'to support trusted journalism'. Somewhat ironic since I was looking for a story apologising for announcing the death of the King,

The difference between 4.9% and 5.0% is unlikely to be statistically significant. It is therefore impossible to say with confidence that unemployment has risen, stayed the same or fallen. Attributing causality is unjustified and misleading.

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When Villa had fur games to play, I did not expect that we would get 3 points from a game against a side in the top 4 and only 1 point from 2 games against teams in the bottom 3. It's a mad world my masters.

Current Electoral Calculus prediction for Makerfield.

I'm glad that has been cleared up.

A statement on the Labour leadership.

Is it déjà vu all over again?

Apparently early reports of higher turnout were completely justified.

Usual stories of high turnout - I'll believe it when the real votes are counted.

Nice to know, but I'm not sure my friends, family and former work colleagues would agree.

The real face of Anne Boleyn or a load of old phooey?

I believe there is a technical term for a political system in which you don't change the head of government - Dictatorship.

My friends and family will know that I'm a dedicated follower of fashion.

"The sea is the sea. The old man is an old man. The boy is a boy and the fish is a fish. The shark are all sharks no better and no worse." Ernest Hemmingway. (Selected Letters, ed. by Carlos Baker, 1981)

For our occasional #TelephoneboxTuesday 📞 Caged in Stratford. (LB Newham) By the Old Town Hall and not far the magistrates court. Just rounded up. No trial. No (known) appeal. Support the Telephone box three today.

This April 19th (1919), HMS Tilbury visited her adopted home town, Tilbury. The ‘S-Class Destroyer’ was open to visitors between 2.30 and 4.00pm. Hundreds came to visit. HMS Tilbury was described as super destroyer with many ‘cruiser’ like features. It was scrapped in 1931.

Creggan, where my ancestors came from.

ChatGPT doesn't do maps very well and doesn't know what the Dutch House looked like, but apart from that, quite a good graphic.

Apparently Sir Keir Starmer has decided to alienate even more voters by allowing Brussels to decide what we can and can't call the food we eat.

The Carnegie library in Grays was knocked down to make way for the Thameside complex.

Some great stuff - most parts of the country seem to have some coverage.