David K Smith

RAF Clifton
80 years ago, this was a thriving WWII airbase, now there's a stub of a runway next to the northern edge of York's ring road - most of the rest is underneath a large 1980s shopping/industrial complex. Today, me and the 13yo went there exploring and metal detecting.

Black pudding, Avocado, Porato Cake
Breakfast small plate for the 13yo.

Chicken Katsu Curry
Demolished by the 13yo - it's always been one of his favourites.
Recipe: www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/1739...

#FoodSky #BookSky #HomeCooking #SimpleRecipes #SoulFood #KatsuCurry

We went to the brand new exhibition of Japanese Woodblock prints at #YorkArtGallery, featuring one of the original prints of Hokusai's 'Great Wave of Kanagawa'. I thought it was outstanding, and me and the 13yo both enjoyed making our own four-layer stamped 'Great Wave' at the end.

Well, yes. We had spinach & ricotta.

Everything is premade here - the sauce is from a jar, the ravioli from a packet. It's super-easy, meltingly cheesy, slightly dirty, Friday night vegetarian food.

Ravioli Bake
This idea was from instagram - it's fab
In a baking dish, arrange in layers:
Tomato (marinara) sauce, premade fresh ravioli (any filling), grated mozzarella
Repeat
[Total 350g sauce, 250g pasta, 1 ball mozarella]
Finish with grated parmesan.
Bake, Fan 180, 30 min.
'It's amazing' - 13yo

Spanish Omelette
I struggle to make spanish omelette, mostly because I don't have a really perfect pan for it. But the 13yo absolutely loves it.

Manchester tickets start at around £80 at the very back and ho up to £300 for the front row.

It's worth saying your tumour has to be suitable, with a single well-defined zone, localised in one half of the prostate, and at one of the lower risk grades (Gleason 6 or 7). But if those apply then it is an option worth considering that should be made more available.

Having recently had focal therapy to treat prostate cancer myself, this is worth amplifying. I was lucky that my local urologist did mention it as a possibility and referred me to London, one of the only places it can be done on the NHS. But it's a lottery.
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/02...

If I play for a football team, score 15 goals in the first half of the season, and then transfer to a different team, my goals do not magically count for the new team, that did absolutely nothing to put the support in place to allow them to be scored.
REF judges universities, not academics.

If I was teaching a student with Tourettes, who involuntarily shouted "fa**ot" during my lecture, I would not be offended, I would reach out to them to check they were ok when the lecture finished. However, I would also edit it out of the lecture capture so it was not recorded for posterity.

The 13yo said: 'this is insanely good - I want all the leftovers!'

Korean Fried Cauliflower with Egg Fried Rice
Vegetarian tea for Monday night - the KFC recipe is in my latest book.
www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/d/1739...

#HomeCooking #AsianFood #KoreanFriedCauliflower #RecipeoftheDay #SoulFood #FoodSky #BookSky #CookSky

The incentives for schools must change so SEND support is rewarded, the curriculum needs to be engaging and meet the needs of far more pupils, and schools need to be places of learning & joy, not filled with rules, punishments and isolation rooms for anyone who finds total conformity hard.

The problem for SEND pupils in mainstream is Gove's very academic curriculum that fails to meet the needs of many pupils, education experts advocating zero tolerance discipline policies to 'hold the line', and schools being rewarded for spending less and achieving top exam results.

I think that was already decided when the USA elected Trump.

It is not in the interests of an Academy Trust to make extensive provisions for many SEND pupils. It costs money and likely impacts on league table positions. They would prefer to off-roll & exclude. I see nothing in the new policy that changes incentives for schools to properly support SEND pupils.

The number of times that even with a legally enforceable EHCP, monitored by the local authority, provisions were nonetheless ignored, and disabilities treated as personal failings, leaves me fearful for what will happen to some kids on ISPs with no external oversight beyond the school.

Fewer children in England to get EHCPs by 2035 under Send overhaul New special educational needs regime to result in far fewer children being given education, health and care plans

The biggest problem is individual support plans will be schools' responsibility, not immediately legally enforceable. Having been treated appallingly by a school head who did not abide by an EHCP, I know some academies will use this softening to gaslight parents.
www.theguardian.com/education/20...

A trip to St Aidans - Little Owls, Curlew, Grebe
#StAidans @rspb.bsky.social

'Oldest selfie on your phone'

I reckon I can win! Admittedly, this is a scanned photo, but it's genuinely on my phone, from a 1988 concert flyer. I was a very keen musician as a teenager - the piano-playing aspect of my musicality remains as a great source of comfort.
#oldestselfie #musician

Outstanding diverse food is broadly dependent on how many people from those parts of the world have come to live in your country - very few people from Mexico (you can add in much of Central/South America) have come to the UK because the USA and (in Europe) Spain/Portugal, are much better options.

Stained Glass (York Minster)

Monkey gargoyle partway up south face of York Minster

View from top of York Minster

East WIndow (1410), York Minster

The weather wasn't great but we went in the Minster and up the Tower today. I got to mess around with my new camera, and even the 13yo loved the Tower!
The vibrancy of 600-year old stained glass is really remarkable - so easy to see why churches were the centre of medieval life.

The GrossGlockner is a big mountain, but it isn't that big that hypoxia should be a serious issue.

For me, this was the kicker - phone coverage is good and he declined a call from police, later claiming his phone was 'in his backpack'. It just doesn't add up. The first thing you would do is try to phone for help.

$500?? What does it do? Deliver twinks to my doorstep, hot and ready to go??

And please do not forget, that for many complex children, by far the best place for them to be is in a safe and supportive specialist school. We need many more of these provisions, and they need to be properly funded to meet the needs and aspirations of the children attending them.

Schools that build units like this should be showered with cash, and should have adjustments made to their league table outcomes as a result of the school having a more diverse student body. This is how we change the mainstream system to become more properly SEN inclusive.