Richard

Photograph of a cobbled street with a low hedge and a jacaranda tree. The sea and the sky are visible beyond. The tree casts an intricate shadow onto the cobbles.

#AlphabetChallenge
#WeekSforShadows
A jacaranda tree, I think.

I think the prime time TV thing is the big thing, though I don't remember if World In Action was on BBC 2 or --like Newsnight-- on a bit late. There is a wealth of documentary on itvX and iPlayer and probably on the other channels. The issue I have is I don't buy an editorial that signposts to them.

I was hoping someone was brave enough to try to save others. The key question I asked myself today was whether I would do the same.

All my love to those caught up in this and to their families ❤️

Understood! We could put in a 10-year or even a 5-year cut off, I guess.

Just been in an evening meeting with a couple of volunteers, one of whom was getting a bit jumpy as we hit the half hour.
"I've got a plane to catch. I need to leave in 5"

I encouraged them to just go and get their plane.

Lesson for the day: time and tide and aeroplane schedules wait for no man.

I believe in the US, your global income over a certain allowance is taxable by the US for ten years, even after you move abroad: should the government implement a similar tax in the UK?

If they were considering a wealth tax, it looks like the exit strategy could be a ten year window!

Just "ix meds grend".

Axeman's Alley!

I agree. I do tend to feel that both the US constitution and the rambling threads of UK law are founded on the assumption of gentlemanly conduct. How or who regulates the constitution effectively, free from the same bias? It's not very different from the problem of

quis custodiet ipsos custodies?

Worth doing a series of pictures with GOP figures in!

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During the Thatcher years British freedom of speech gave birth to some pretty cutting characterisations of parliament, the monarchy and celebrity.

It looks like it is still going: youtube.com/@spittingimage

However, we should probably not show Trump.

What is driving the decision to learn in a manual or automatic car? Learner drivers say a lack of automatic instructors and the higher cost of lessons pushes them to manual.

Interesting article by @emermoreau.bsky.social for BBC News.
www.bbc.com/news/article...

When teaching my son to drive, I felt a manual licence was important to gain so as to not limit himself to the way life is in the UK. What if he wanted to work in Africa or Asia or anywhere that has older cars?

London is usually snowless: I guess southerly parts of the UK expect to get a bit of snow every winter but it can be a dusting or just on the leading edge of a weather front before it turns to slush and then rain, or we can have proper snow that lasts a few days. It doesn't usually stay for long.

My favorite sign of the day so far

The Trump Supremacy Opponents in disarray, allies in line, followers enthralled — the US president is already on his way to building a new world order

All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
Must-read from Ed Luce.
on.ft.com/3L3gJCU

Another idea I've borrowed from Richard Coles is to keep the (outside) Christmas lights on until Candlemas, ~2 February. There's no good reason to pack up the winter lights to endure January in its darkest coldest dark.

I always look favourably on St Valentines because it heralds the turn away from winter. Statistically, the coldest days are around 6-9 Feb, so even if it is snowing on St Valentines, you are still starting that easier slope down into spring, the snowdrops and daffodil shoots signalling the change.

I do worry about the décor, though. He doesn't have a good eye for contemporary style.

I'm more senior, so it was fine!

I was in a charity meeting yesterday and had to tell the person talking to translate their word salad into English!

I don't think it's wholly an age thing because I used to be very irritated with people writing more technical documents that answered the requirements of each section but didn't tell you what you actually wanted to know. 😠

However, I don't think it improves with our age! 😂

Make a movie food:

Thyme Bandits

The ALT text is just as gorgeous.

Make a movie food:

Children Of A Lesser Cod

It happens when God runs out of pebbles in his right hand pocket and calls "Over!"

Build them a New Town, basically, like Washington or Milton Keynes. It needs to be further north than Birmingham but otherwise adjacent to HS2 theoretically might mean HS2 got finished.

They need to get out more.

What strikes me about it is why suppliers would advertise through social media? Sure, it's a way for purchasers to find your product but within seconds, they are also being offered ALL of your competitors' similar products from right across the globe.

I don't know the video well enough to know about the footie but if this is recorded from TOTP2, maybe someone took that bit out as it might have been very odd/out of context so many years later.

With John Peel miming on the mandolin in the background, too! It's a long time since I've thought about the lovely Mr Peel and an even longer time since he popped off.

I do like the term "faux young" applied in this way!