I’m running the London Marathon on Sunday. I was so kindly given a place but have decided to raise funds for the British Heart Foundation in memory of my dear cousin Anne who has just very sadly died. www.justgiving.com/page/helen-a...

Nation state that didn't exist before 18th century wants to find out what they missed out on. #blackdeath #plague

ALL HAIL THE QUEEN OF BOSTON 👸 Sharon Lokedi DOMINATES the final 5K of the 2026 Boston Marathon, locking up her second-straight title in 2:18:51. From Mile 23 to the finish, Lokedi split a mind-blowing 15:36, including a 4:36 split in Mile 24. The next finisher was 44 seconds behind.😱

THAT’S HOW YOU RUN BOSTON🏆🏆 John Korir collects his second consecutive Boston Marathon title, running a mind-boggling time of 2:01:52 to take over a minute off of Geoffrey Mutai’s 15-year-old course record. Korir dropped the hammer from Mile 20 onwards, winning by 55 seconds 🤯

In no world would a PM with such a majority and no obvious challenger resign over an issue like this. It's obscure, nuanced and all tied up in the mists of procedure and precedent. The waste of words and indignation on it, the navel gazing: that is the real issue.

My Sunday afternoon walk perfectly described 😄

Do bears .... Or even bulls for that matter. Always follow the money

As foretold in the footballing runes it’s all going pear-shaped for N London. Other half, an Arsenal fan, like, forever, is now lying sobbing face down on the kitchen floor. Meanwhile I’ve just stepped over him to get more wine from the fridge.

Barnsdale woods this afternoon. 9 different songbirds, a bluebell extravaganza and a dopey spaniel. And of course "the Rutland puddle".

Leicester City are going to have to win their last 3 games to have even a glimmer of hope of avoiding back to back relegations. Who saw that coming at the start of the season? They were promotion favourites. The championship showing it's brutal side yet again.

Giving the "Lisa's Marathon support crew" Charity T shirt a dress rehearsal at Rutland Water parkrun this morning. Glorious conditions too.

By this I mean that the Iranians have realized that if Trump can make outlandish market-moving claims with no evidence, they can too. And given how savvy they are about evading sanctions, it would not surprise me if some regime insiders aren't getting in on the insider trading action.

Behind unhinged cases like this: the law of trespass. A legal fiction which invents an antagonism. It need not exist. We need to move away from a system which encourages landowners to fantasise they're under attack simply because of the presence of another human. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

I cannot imagine a reason why going to this world cup would make sense for any foreign national. Immigration issues, cost, and overbearing law enforcement. Land of the free, my arse.

Why has it taken this long for me to find the best content on Blue sky? Nothing else comes close.

This series is my "dog walk audio" at the moment and feels like it will be an excellent way to fill the gigantic gaps in my knowledge of music history. Also: picking up 💩 to Gregorian chant. 😆

The price gouging at this World Cup in the USA is beyond belief.

But meanwhile Ukraine captures Russian positions and soldiers just using unmanned assault vehicles and drones.

Thank you to the pollinators 🪰🪰for attending to our pear trees again. 🙏

In case you're wondering why every fossil fuel funded populist is banging on about the need to 'drill baby drill' and to kill Net Zero.

In the 1930s, Oswald Mosley claimed to be a patriot, while his British Union of Fascists was secretly funded by the Italian government. We are just beginning to grasp how much of the far right in the UK today has been funded by Viktor Orbán and Russian oil money. Their "patriotism" is always a con.

Just a regular day for an over the hill fast bowler www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cricke...

A sign in Tel Aviv. All eyes on Hungary tonight.

Huge joy to call my Hungarian father, who just turned on his phone after a flight, and tell him the news

Dedicating my first allotment fruit baby to Hungary's youth who queued for hours to bring their country back into the light. 😁

BREAKING: Viktor Orbán concedes defeat in Hungarian elections after 16 years in power - with opposition Tisza party on course for landslide victory.

Please, please let Orban be just the first domino. Get these wannabe fascists f***ing gone from our world. And especially our country.

So we may well have pears again. 😆

47/60 of my French beans have now germinated. We are going to succession sow this year on the allotment. I'm trying 4 varieties: Carminat and Beurre Minidor "smuggled" from France; Hunter and Lazy Housewife from Kings Seeds, UK.

Panic Attack, Iroko, Haiti Couleur. #grandnational fancies. So best avoided 😆

Totally and utterly wrong, indeed the literal 180-degree opposite of the truth. Just pumping excrement into the public realm.

I now have about 500g of "English" pesto - 2 parts wild garlic, 1 part toasted walnuts, 1 part mature cheddar, 1 part olive oil. Lemon juice + salt for balance. And that is just half the harvest. Plenty left at "secret location" SK 806043 😄

One thing that struck me about the FLOTUS statement: she read from a text, not autocue. That suggests a hasty set up. 🤔

Two observations on the statement by Melania Trump, which are in tension with each other. 1. It is hard to see what professional advice led to her making it. 2. The statement was well drafted but she seemed unfamiliar with it, which indicates it was drafted at least in part by someone else. Odd.

Meanwhile in France, Rémi le chat is furieux after being fined €100 for trespassing in his neighbour’s house. Ecoutez et repetez: « Le chat de mon voisin est encore dans ma cuisine. » france3-regions.franceinfo.fr/occitanie/he...

www.maptap.gg April 10 95🏅 100🎯 98🎯 93🏆 99🎯 Final score: 967 Best yet this morning. 😄

TV ratings are what matters. All this other stuff I have to do is just so much noise.

Wait, it's now back to Epstein to distract from the war?! I can't keep up.

One of the spring events for me in Rutland happened today. My annual harvesting of wild garlic from it's - ahem - secret location (actually in Leicestershire, just). Different helper today. Cocoa is no longer up to the run in to the location.

The loud aggressive litigant pulls the case and pays indemnity costs to the other party, and enters into a compromise which leaves the other party far better off than before the case was brought. Bullying and boasting, but based on blundering and bombast.

Trump's professed problem with the Obama/Iran deal was the $1.8 billion one-off payment Iran received, and its peaceful nuclear enrichment. So he started a war to prove he could do better. And as a result, Iran still does enrichment, but will get $49 billion every single year.

Impossible to disagree with a single word that Ben Rhodes (Obama era NSC official) is saying here:

And financially. cUS 30 billion costs & losses militarily. If Iranian infrastructure is rebuilt using the toll in the Straits, whatever that cost is, it will be paid by increased prices to consumers of goods that pass through the Straits. So we all lose, but the US loses the most. Seems legit. 😬

The fact that this man is still US President means that we are watching the US Constitution collapse in real time. They have no process to control him in what he says, or control his unjustified use of vast lethal resources. Listening to long term allies went weeks ago, now democracy follows.