For anyone interested in linguistics/the development of the English language, this is a fascinating piece (& the examples helped me test my Middle English, which was fun). Despite being from southern England, I was actually taught at school to pronounce w and wh differently: a quirk, it would seem!

Wait, they voted to end the shutdown because of the *promise* of a *vote*? How fucking stupid do you have to be?!

A little timeline cleanse

One of the best parts of my job is that I often get to travel to obscure places in the country I wouldn’t normally see. Today took me to Ravenstein, a bustling “city” of just over 3,000 people.

“Live, Laugh, Oval Office”

Happy Guy Fawkes Day! May we continue to celebrate and honour the justice, law and order upheld by our strong democracy and protected by our constitutional monarchy. God save The King!

It’s so important not to fall into a false sense of security as we’ve seen in so many places in the West (think the US when Biden won). The seats that the PVV lost have just shifted to other Far Right parties (namely JA21 and FvD): they remain a real threat to justice, freedom and democracy.

I’ve not even had dinner yet, and it’s been pitch black for well over an hour. Petition to bring Summer Time back for good?

Happy Hallowe’en, everyone!

Not all the votes are in yet (one municipality’s town hall caught on fire, & we’re still waiting for overseas votes), but at 99.7% of votes being counted, this seems to be the make up of the new Dutch parliament. With only 1984 votes currently in, it’s a fight between D66 and the PVV as the largest.

Het politieke midden (GLPvdA, D66, CDA, VVD) moet nu samenwerken en verregaande maatregelen nemen tegen de online verspreiding van fascisme en de invloed van algoritmes. Het is de laatste kans de hondsdolheid te beteugelen.

Just for fun, I’ve come up with a little prediction as to what I think the results will be tonight (considering polls, turnout and strategic voting): PVV 26 GL-PvdA 24 D66 23 CDA 19 VVD 17 JA21 10 FvD 6 BBB 4 SP 4 DENK 3 PvdD 3 SGP 3 CU 3 Volt 3 50PLUS 2 NSC 0

Gestemd op een positieve, hoopvolle en verenigende visie voor Nederland waar de democratie, mensenrechten en de natuur beschermd zijn 💚❤️ Als je nog niet gestemd hebt, heb je nog wat tijd! Ga stemmen - en stem op een sociale, zorgzame en verantwoordelijke partij! (Niet PVV/BBB/JA21/FvD dus 😉)

Spooky Season is now in session! Everybody meet Geert, Thierry and Joost!

I’m pleased to say that my gay powers have been restored 💇🏻‍♂️💈✂️

Asylum seekers, housed in hotels in Manchester, are reaching out in their own words to address the concerns of the local community. Please take a minute to read their letter, & share it with the people in your life who need to hear the truth about the people they are protesting.

On this Reformation Sunday, this Catholic is marking the day in a way that the guy who kicked it all off definitely would’ve envisaged (though unironically probably would’ve loved): by drinking a beer bearing his likeness and his name out of a beer mug bearing his face and his name.

If you get the correct answer, you’re an honorary Brit 🇬🇧

Almost 500 years since the Reformation, and almost 200 years since Catholic Emancipation, today was a very joyful day for British Catholics like myself. My heart is full 🥹🇬🇧🇻🇦 Viva il papa! Long live the King!

Have a footie-obsessed friend visiting so was finally able to justify going on a tour of the Johan Cruijff ArenA (Ajax’ home stadium) yesterday. It was very cool getting to see it all up close and soak up the energy and atmosphere.

This is the level of sassy pettiness I aspire to get to

Very scared for our democracy: we only have 23 parties to choose from this year?! How are we meant to be able to make good choices when we have so few parties on offer?!

Dus de VVD werkt graag samen met fascisten maar sluit de enige haalbare coalitie (volgens de peilingen) uit - ongelofelijk onverantwoord. Het is dus duidelijk dat een stem op de VVD nu betekent een stem niet op rechts maar op extreem-rechts.

Did my own little quarter marathon this morning and ended up getting a 10k PB (46:27), so Wednesday’s got off to a pretty good start if I do say so myself!

Seeing the Far-Right polling as the largest party in so much of Europe (and most of her largest players) is depressing, but: 1- I’m grateful for our parliamentary democracies, which make it harder for absolutists to take over; and 2- This gives the rest of us a wake-up call to take it all seriously.

Made a little seasonal display for the living room: why only experience autumn outside when you can bring it inside too?

And the Pope is a Muslim…

The cutest little Prince of the Forest around

Just watched the episode “Isaac and Ishmael” (The West Wing), and though it was made in light of 9/11, it still feels poignant to this day (especially with it being 7 October): handles terrorism and the Middle East incredibly well, and rightly challenges our biases, prejudices and preconceptions.

Frohes Oktoberfest - O’zapft is! Celebrating Oktoberfest and marking 35 years since the reunification of Germany 🇩🇪🥨🍺

Duolingo asking the question we’re all thinking

Big news from the Church of England today! May she be blessed in her ministry, and may the Anglican Communion flourish under her guidance so that it can navigate its hardships, lead people to Jesus, and be a beacon of justice and mercy.

The idea that being a refugee is somehow a “golden ticket” is genuinely awful. These are people who the government have recognised are in need of protection. Do they think people chose that? That that’s what people wanted? www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025...

I’m so encouraged by Pope Leo’s willingness to call out MAGA hypocrisy/lies: to claim all life to be sacred but to then persecute our neighbour is not in line with Christian ethos. Oh and: “Someone who says I am against abortion but says I am in favour of the death penalty is not really pro-life.”

Embracing that autumn life

Unleashed my inner white girl and made a pumpkin spice latte to herald in the autumn 🍁🍂🎃

“The Slovakian Parliament adopts an anti-LGBT+ constitutional amendment” You know, I could really go for having just one (1) day where we don’t have a terribly depressing news story.

Being a White Brit in the Netherlands, it’s saddening (though sadly not surprising) how often I’m seen as belonging to a separate category of immigrants seemingly “more deserving” of living here. Worse still is how a Dutch-born person of African descent is seen by some as less Dutch than me.

When I said I’d go for a “slightly longer run” this morning, going the farthest I have in 4.5 years wasn’t exactly what I had in mind. But the sunny yet cool weather just made it easy to simply keep going. Feeling pretty chuffed with myself!

Apparently The Rapture is trending? Time to surface and oldie: No, the Rapture is not in the Bible: www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvsj...

Vrees niet de laagopgeleide hooligans die brandstichten. Vrees al die hoogopgeleide buurmannen, sales managers en Karins met Tesla’s die het stiekem met ze eens zijn. Vrees niet Wilders, maar de ranzige kleinburgers van VVD, JA21, SGP en BBB.

Anti-immigration demonstration in the Netherlands escalates. This is exactly what happens when far-right ideas are tolerated and normalised over an extended period of time. The far right gains confidence and grows, both at the ballot box and in the streets. nos.nl/artikel/2583...

Today is really not the day one wants to be in The Hague. In other news, I can’t wait to go to The Hague this evening.

A few weeks ago (thankfully when I was with her in England), my mum suffered two mini strokes, leaving her temporarily blind in one eye each time. Tomorrow, she’ll be undergoing an endarterectomy to lessen the chance of it happening again. Please pray for her, the doctors, & the operation’s success.

He knows he's lying.

Delusions of grandeur? What delusions of grandeur? I can’t hear you over my crown 😌 (All hail Prince Robert!)

Waiter saw my phone case & asked me to explain what Memento Mori meant… neither Duolingo nor my other experiences with German have prepared me for this, so I spent two minutes stumbling through the explanation of the religious implications of what it means to remember we’ll die. I think he got it?

Team Lidl are doing WHAT now?

Popped into Italy for the day: saw a gazillion churches, ate some panna cotta and spoke some Italian. Interestingly, this area was Austrian until about 100 years ago (it was given to Italy after WWI), meaning you can still see remnants of its German-language heritage too (such as gravestones)!

‘But I say to you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven; for He makes His sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.’ — Matthew‬ ‭5‬:‭44‬-‭45‬