Adam

You will have the same experience as me. Buy a new one, then find the old one 😬

An April Sunday brings the snow Making the blossom on the plum trees green, Not white. An hour or two, and it will go. Strange that I spend that hour moving between Cupboard and cupboard, shifting the store Of jam you made of fruit from these same trees: Five loads – a hundred pounds or more – More than enough for all next summer’s teas. Which now you will not sit and eat. Behind the glass, underneath the cellophane, remains your final summer – sweet And meaningless, and not to come again. Philip Larkin

Happy Birthday Philip Larkin

…and to prove
Our almost instinct almost true:
What will survive of us is love.

😄

Perplexing game of ‘Shag, Marry, Avoid, Jump Off A Cliff’, this.

Was this a Bond theme?
#totp
#pulp

Number of empty homes on the rise across England The number of vacant properties in England is rising, causing problems for residents and councils.

This article is a excellent example of the empty homes myth.

It starts with a big claim. 700k empty homes. But quickly reveals that is 264k long term vacant. So you go from 1/2 the new homes the govt wants to build to 1/6. Helpful, but not transformative.

The headline remains 700k.

I know one of the big arguments against a Republic is "what if we ended up with a President .... (insert your bogeyperson here) instead."

But people forget that for some 32 years, we were just a single heartbeat away from Prince Andrew being the first in line to the throne.

A lot of British people don't really grasp that we'd have a ceremonial and symbolic non executive president.

The whole "look at America and see what can happen" thing simply doesn't apply.

It's more a case of "look at Ireland or Germany".

Sending warmest wishes to you all.

In her letter Ali says she is resigning to avoid becoming a distraction though says she did not break any rules.

Perhaps one day a minister will resign with a letter which attempts to grapple with why they have found themselves in that scenario.

There's a lot wrong with British democracy, but three things we should defend with iron determination:

- no party involvement in appointing judges;

- non-partisan drawing of constituency boundaries;

- limited party spending by comparison with the US - though this is now very much at risk.

Photo of small wooden crucifix given to Michael Howard of CND by the mayor of Hiroshima.

My Dad was a humanist, not a Christian. I always wondered why this sat on the mantelpiece.

It was given to him by the mayor of #Hiroshima and was made from the roots of a tree that stood in the city.

I’m an atheist and it now sits on mine.

#r4Today
#CND

@cnduk.bsky.social
#r4Today
#WATO

Reform advocating seventy-two* fracking complexes in Lincs

'Let's swallow the planets.'

Poem of the week: Sea-Fever by John Masefield A single missing word in the 1902 poem sparks a deeper look at rhythm, dialect and longing

Who had to learn this one at school? Or possibly de la Mare’s The Listeners which, for some reason, occupies the same corner of my brain.

www.theguardian.com/books/2025/a...

I prosecute and defend the most serious sexual offences in our courts.

The overwhelming majority of offenders are British-born. Overwhelmingly the victim is someone known to them, either a partner or relative.

Anybody purporting to care about protecting women might start there.

I’m just gonna say right now that when I die, if anyone uses AI to write my obituary I will fucking haunt them forever

Speaking as a person working in 999 I can tell you a) bad things happen in leafy suburbs and rural areas and b) there are no areas I would fear to go. People largely go aboit their business. And if you're male you can walk the land like a King.

“…I don’t know who needs to hear this…”

I’m not supposed to be working this week - so shouldn’t be posting this - but @jonnelledge.bsky.social has written an excellent newsletter about empty homes. I found myself cheering at every paragraph.

Given that I’m currently looking at meerkats with the children, I do really need to get a life.

A story to be told www.geograph.org.uk/photo/6797563

RIP Allan Ahlberg. Gorgeous, resonant, timeless work that will live forever.

Liam Neeson has updated his status to Taken.

Two in five arrested for last summer’s UK riots had been reported for domestic abuse Police data indicates overlaps between public violent disorder and domestic violence and abuse

And while we’re on the subject, here’s some interesting data

www.theguardian.com/society/2025...

SAME

Reform is the toxic effluent oozing from the decaying Tory party.

I know. I can’t find the original article now, but iirc the judge said something like he accepted the driver did not intend to hurt them. The red mist descends, and you use your two ton vehicle as a weapon, but…