Nice young man who's done a small job for me came again today to have a look at a larger job that I thought needed doing. He said not to do it because I'm a tenant and it's far too expensive. So I won't. Then he fixed my curtain rail and didn't charge me for it. An honest tracement.

From The Times: "Reform UK has pledged to overhaul the national curriculum, aiming to replace “shame” over Britain’s past with a more “patriotic” education that it claims will foster national pride in pupils." Can you imagine it?

1/2 Leaders across the political spectrum theorise about what needs doing and how to do it. Those on the right, particularly the furthest (Reform), don't have a clue about reality and won't learn from reports like this. 14 years of Conservatism, particularly the Johnson yearsl, were deleterious.

The God of the Evangelical American Christians is like the ancient Greek gods, Zeus and that lot, less glamorous but just as immoral. The Greek gods mucked about with mortals as they pleased, playing games with them.

Will the King wear a bullet-proof vest and a steel helmet while he's in America?

She's an old lady and, like me, she likes a lie in in on a Sunday morning. And a few others.

A historian on Facebook wrote: Thirteen-year-old Anna Kowalski stood, seven months pregnant, in her kitchen on March 20, 1924, when city milk inspector Mr. Patrick O'Brien arrived to conduct the annual household dairy permit inspection.

I can imagine that the hounds of hell have been unleashed against Ms Dugdale since she said that she admired Jo Rowling. It's really very childish and very sad, the way those people behave. Stonewall isn't what it used to be. It's now controlled by a rabid mob.

The would-be Trump assassins don't seem to be able to aim straight.

Whose idea was gender recognition certificates? They're not magic. You have to believe in genders, or what's the point? If they're claimed by men who look like Desperate Dan in a frock there's none at all. It's not surprising that most of those who claim to be transgender don't bother to get one.

The Greeks and Romans had lots of nude statues but they took them terribly seriously.

Fertiliser dependency is part of the problem and has been developing for years. If this isn't recognised and dealt with, things can only get worse.

It's currently fashionable to identify as something or other, possibly even as more than one something or other, because if you don't, apparently you don't exist. The disadvantage is that if you label yourself in some way other people will make assumptions based on their preconceptions. Hmm.

I thought pretence was the prerogative of the gender identarians.

A letter to Wes Streeting about the Puberty Blockers Trial from Genspect UK. It's difficult for politicians to publicly admit that they were wrong. It's even more difficult when there's pressure from other leading members of your party to conform to a rather wobbly party line.

What's happening in the Middle East and the recent Gender Identity craze are just two of the conflicts that might not have developed if there wasn't so much ignorance of history. If you don't know and understand what's happened in the past, how can you understand what's happening now?

Farage is the MP for the most deprived neighbourhood in England, Jaywick, a seaside village outside Clacton. I doubt its residents have had any support from him. Farage's income has come from money juggling, in one form or another, and as an MEP and MP. Nothing one might call a proper job.

Were they afraid to wake him up?

Dear Reform UK, you needn't send me any more leaflets. All 10 of them went in the bin. Anyway, I've voted, and it wasn't for you.

Stubbed my big toe again. Now it's multi-coloured. Damn chair Keeps getting in the way. Ouch!

Another two leaflets from Reform through the door. That makes 10. Flippin' heck.

You'd think somebody in Downing Street might read the FT.

Had porridge for lunch. I can if I want.

Handy hint: how to deter Reform canvassers. Fill the window by your front door with wildlife and environment stickers. Works a treat.

This 1,800 year-old Roman glass cup is so well preserved that the railway construction worker who found it in the 1800s used it as a flower vase not realising its age! 💐 😲 From Himlingøje, Denmark. National Museum of Denmark 📷 by me #Archaeology

Enjoying the morning sunshine in a warm spot.

My Green District Councillor, a good man who's done a good job, has been anxious to distance himself from Polanski, who's attracted negative criticism on the village Facebook page. The consensus seems to be that he's "a nutter". But as our chap pointed out, he has nothing to do with potholes, etc.

I arose unnaturally early as I was expecting the nice footcare lady who trims my toenails. I'd do them myself but they're too far away. Anyway, she's texted that she has the flu, poor thing. I don't usually do mornings. I think the cat's confused, and I need another two or three hours of sleep.

🌿💚Vote for Anne Baker 💚🌿 #Senedd2026 #VoteGreen #RaisingWomensVoices @greenparty.org.uk

This good news was mentioned on the news today and I almost missed it. I'm happy that my three ash trees seem healthy but thousands have died from dieback. This new method of growing healthy seedlings should help to replace many of them.

Two more Reform UK leaflets through the door today. I think that makes eight, a positive deluge. Their printers must be rubbing their hands with glee.

Edible Canopy has taken over Martin Crawford's Agroforestry Research Trust nursery, specialising in edible varieties suitable for agroforestry systems, sorted by canopy layer. I need to go shopping. ediblecanopy.com #permaculture #agroforestry #devon #agroecology

A friend just told me about Isaac Asimov's Three Laws of Robotics, which he thought should apply to humans too. It reminded me that Asimov, a Jew, took a dim view of the foundation of Israel, predicting that it would cause conflict in the Middle East with its neighbours. He was right about that.

This, by a US Guardian columnist, is provocativ. It led me to wonder if opinion pieces are followed by a counter-argument. Apparently sometimes they do. Sometimes isn't enough. The Guardian has a pro-trans bias, mainly for the benefit of its American readership. I regret renewing my subscription.

Boris Johnson hasn't been in the news for a while. Has he had any more children?

Data centres are being built to satisfy the anticipated high demand for AI, which isn't necessarily for constructive purposes. We're already consuming energy here on social media and through our online activity in general. Thoughtless profligacy has consequences.

I just heard that over the weekend Trump tried to access the nuclear codes and had to stopped by the generals. Ooooh shit! It's 25th Amendment time! Calling Dr. Strangelove! Where's Slim Pickens when you need him.

Multiple oil spills are visible from space after Iranian and US-Israeli strikes hit oil facilities and ships in the region, with experts warning of an impending environmental catastrophe. https://cnn.it/3Ovxzwk

Just read that José Antonio Morante de la Puebla, a bull fighter whose comeback from retirement in Seville attracted huge crowds, was seriously injured after a bull’s horn perforated his rectum. Only what he deserved IMO.

This is an interesting example of how social trends develop. I think I was the first non-religious celebrant in my area in 1991, when some local clergy seemed to think I was practising devil worship. There was similar resistance to cremation when it started in 1885.

The AFN Network+ has become Root and Reason, the food resilience collective. We are refocusing our work as an independent, non-profit initiative shaping change in the UK food system through informed, system-wide collaboration. Find out more 👉 www.rootandreason.org.uk

Republicans can no longer deny the depth of the president’s cognitive decline and should act for the good of the party, wrote Matthew Parris in The Times Trouble is, the party has many equally bonkers people who aren't in decline.

1/3 This is for anyone who still doesn't understand the law on single-sex spaces or that discrimination can be positive as well as negative. I don't believe any of my male friends would consider intruding into a women's single-sex space. My father wouldn't have understood it. Cont'd...

Just reduced my Octopus Direct Debit. I was paying too much. Isn't insulation a wonderful thing?

Nope. She's actually a bunch of wires and things, with absolutely no sex appeal.

My car drove 250x faster than a horse today, stupid horse.

A dismal job market has given rise to a grim new cottage industry: a buzzy San Francisco-based AI company called Mercor is hiring desperate job-seekers to train AI models to do the work they can’t get hired for anymore. futurism.com/artificial-i...

Specifically Starmer's judgement, which is generally poor.

Perhaps a few gay and lesbian people could have a few words with her?