Mon Mat one

 

IMDb summarises the three series of Peter Gunn and ascribes points out of 10 … interesting was that series one (NBC), which we’ve now seen almost all of, was mixed. They were finding their way, establishing their pattern but the notion of Edie constantly left on the shelf started wearing thin. Mother left st the end of S1 for a big part offer but she died in RL about a year later.

NBC ran series two then discontinued … it was picked up by ABC but with a different look. Wiki says that by the end of series three, the show had run its course. There were various episodes trying to jump the shark and the friendly Acapulco chief inspector was a positive but there started to appear a too self-conscious, almost oddball, almost slapstick element appearing here and there.

There were some excellent episodes in all three series and we’ve seen one recently … the money laundering in the laudromat, an 8/10 for sure. Well, there’s another today … allow me to explain why good but also a note of caution.

Edie was a problem … forever demurely accepting being stood up by Gunn, so she opened her own cafe/bar/jazz club. All right, fine … her piano player in all series actually became her firever hubby in RL, so that was nice. And he accepted Gunn osculating with her? Uh huh. I just do not see Gunn as a lover, imho.

Right, so to this episode … not only Edie but another lovely also kick back at various points. At first I thought he’d been kneed in the goolies but then realused he’d been kicked in the shin. Now I don’t know how ohysical your relationship with your good woman was/is but I can say … ouch, it does smart.

Thing was though, as MMutR and I discussed, we had a different society then on the whole … if a man was in company, esp. with other men aroubd, and the lady physically lashed out (slap, thrown crockery, rolling pin, kick to the shin) … well if you did not just wear it, you were a beta, not a man … and I still go by this, maybe many men still do.

The exception is where real damage was/is intended, as against an insta-reaction. In that case, he has no choice but to disarm her … my method was full nelson and scissor hold until she warmed to the idea. She still kicked once released but not as badly. Well this whole episode has two very physical ladies in action, grappling with Gunn … I was smiling.

A good move on the part of writer/director? Debatable but it certainly livened up proceedings.

Olivia had some things to say about the issue.

Monday [3 to 5]

(0538)(0558)

 

5. Revisited


4. Steve at 1526

  • Lula
  • Frank Luntz Warns CNN of Flawed Polling and Defiant Trump Voter
  • Republican Governor Candidate Steve Hilton Gets Applause From Bill Maher’s Liberal Audience for Saying He’ll Clean Up the Streets of California
  • Zelensky Caught Lying Again! Ukraine was Violating Starlink Terms and Using It for Guiding Weapons into Russia – That’s Why It Was Turned Off!
  • Iran Claims A US Drone Then Rubio Calls On Cubans To Revolt With The CIA
  • Russian Army Shatters Ukrainian Defenses In Zaporozhye
  • The silent thief: How everyday isolation is stealing our minds, landmark study reveals
  • Hopelessly Naive
  • Marching Orders For Christians On Election Day

3. Alberta

Monday [1 and 2]

(0453 new time) Particularly difficult day chez Higham today with appointments and govt inspectors in the house … it might play merry havic with posting from around 0930 onwards, throughout the day. (0535)

 

2. DAD at 1526

a) French authorities arrested over 1,300 rioters and reported 53 injured police officers as violent unrest continues at the week-end….

b) Dijon (21): a man steals a goat from the Parc de la Colombière, ties its legs together, and locks himself inside a toilet with the animal; police intervene.

c) These people don’t belong in the West. They are not like us.

d) France’s ten-year borrowing rate (OAT) has soared this week, while the country is under strain after the riots of 17 October, which have added to investor unease. Moody’s nevertheless justified its stance in a statement, explaining that “the AA3 rating is based on the assumption that a 2027 budget reducing the deficit will be adopted, while funding costs and social tensions will moderate somewhat over the coming months”.

e) French police intercepted three buses carrying about 220 illeg@l immigr@nts to an anti-National Rally protest in Orléans, detaining passengers for hours and issuing deportation notices.

1. Lula

On a morning when the catalogue of criminality ranges from big crimes such as Lula’s swindle in Brazil and Danielle Smith’s major move on Albertans, to localised scandals in various countries, plus peripheral big moves such as Putin’s … best cunning plan might be to present post item by post item, then use a summary for the main post tomorrow at OoL, Jstack and on X.


That’s basically what happened … this commentary below is more widely worrying for us:


It’s his comment about Le Pen, as if she’s any different to Meloni, Smith or Farage … all controlled opp and you’ll see it at Mon 3 with Smith’s latest move.

Sunday [12 to 15]

(1000) Brunchtime. (1040)

 

15. Mid-March through late April


14. Sudbury … for your winter holiday


13. Juss wondering


12. Clarkson’s Farm on X

The UK government has spent years heaping costs, regulation and tax uncertainty onto British food producers, Farmers, and Small businesses – then turns around and tells the public to stockpile three days of tinned food and bottled water because “unexpected events seem to be becoming more common.”

Official figures show a net loss of more than 3,000 agriculture, forestry and fishing businesses in 2025 alone, the highest on record, with thousands more closures in the years before that.

Inheritance tax changes on family farms (even after partial U-turns), soaring energy and inspection costs, labour shortages, post-Brexit trade deals that opened the door to cheaper imports, and chaotic subsidy schemes that left most applicants empty-handed have all piled on the pressure.

Local abattoirs have collapsed from roughly 2,500 in the 1970s to around 200 today; surveys of farmers show large numbers warning they may have to stop producing meat locally or exit entirely if the next one closes.

This week the government launched its “Be Ready” campaign, advising households to keep non-perishable food, litres of bottled water per person, cash, torches and radios in case of cyber attacks, extreme weather or other disruptions. That is sensible basic preparedness.

What is absurd is watching the same state systematically weaken the domestic producers who actually grow and process the food that would make the country more resilient in the first place, while imports fill the gap and rural businesses fold.

You cannot talk seriously about national resilience and food security while watching the infrastructure that produces British food shrink year after year. The contradiction is obvious.

Sunday [11]

National Insurance

From House of Yres on X

2.2 MILLION NATIONAL INSURANCE REGISTRATIONS TO ADULT OVERSEAS NATIONALS IN THREE YEARS.

Who is registering, what nationalities are recorded, and where in the UK are they based? Here’s what the DWP’s Stat-Xplore data shows.

📊 THE ANNUAL TOTALS

• 2023/24: 1,000,530 • 2024/25: 642,210 • 2025/26: 561,508

Registrations fell by 12.6% in the latest year and by 43.9% compared with 2023/24. That decline belongs in the picture too.

🌍 THE 15 LARGEST NATIONALITY GROUPS April 2025–March 2026:

🇮🇳 India — 119,186 🇵🇰 Pakistan — 44,342 🇳🇬 Nigeria — 43,485 🇨🇳 China — 27,769 🇳🇵 Nepal — 23,566 🇺🇸 United States — 16,067 🇧🇩 Bangladesh — 15,264 🇺🇦 Ukraine — 12,843 🇮🇪 Ireland — 11,893 🇮🇷 Iran — 10,700 🇦🇺 Australia — 9,842 🇦🇫 Afghanistan — 9,480 🇬🇭 Ghana — 9,018 🇪🇷 Eritrea — 8,580 🇸🇩 Sudan — 7,703

Indian, Pakistani and Nigerian nationals together accounted for 207,013 registrations — 36.9% of the annual total. Across the full three years, the table records:

• India: 495,204 • Pakistan: 200,068 • Nigeria: 188,127

That is approximately 883,400 registrations from those three nationalities — 40.1% of the three-year total.

📍 WHERE IN THE UK?

For the year ending March 2026, DWP reports that 43% of registrations with a known UK address were in London or the South East.

The five largest local-authority totals, rounded by DWP, were:

• Newham — 18,000 • Birmingham — 18,000 • Manchester — 13,000 • Tower Hamlets — 10,000 • Glasgow City — 9,700

These locations reflect the address recorded when the person registered. What do these figures actually measure?

National Insurance registrations, classified by nationality at registration. They do not count everyone arriving during those years, measure net migration, or tell us how many people are still in the UK. Nationality also does not necessarily identify the country someone travelled from. A useful part of understanding migration — provided we are clear about what the numbers show.

Source: DWP / Stat-Xplore, “NINo Registrations to Adult Overseas Nationals Entering the UK”. [DWP statistical release](https://gov.uk/government/statistics/national-insurance-numbers-allocated-to-adult-overseas-nationals-to-march-2026) Trace. Verify. Record. We are HOUSE.

Sunday [6 to 10]

(0550) Still in bed, halfway between sleeps, still dark out there. In trouble at this end as usual. Zzzzzing again. (0751 new time)

 

10. Moo corner


9. I may have forgotten to post this one


8. Bukele again

7. In America but similar here


6. The bizarre El Salvador v Haitian war

At Vox’s, a quoted article says:

With the announcement of the deployment from El Salvador to Haiti of a contingent of 3,000 troops, whose mission is to locate the 4 members of that country’s armed forces who were kidnapped last Sunday—when they entered territory controlled by gangs and were attacked by a gang of armed irregulars—fierce armed clashes are looming in the coming hours.At this point, knowing how things are resolved in Haiti, the chances of these soldiers still being alive are minimal…We thus have the table set for an armed confrontation just 45 km from the Dominican Republic-Haiti border: an army of armed gang members with nothing to lose facing off against regular El Salvadoran troops, who will fight an urban war in the streets of a country that isn’t theirs and is utterly unknown to them.

Vox says:

I wouldn’t bet against Bukele and the El Salvadorans. This is a spiritual war and the voodoo masters cannot stand against a Christian army.I don’t know that I’d be averse to him invading Hollywood and Los Angeles.