Cunning plan at 0712 is that, with only about four news items, plus with Starmer still not having spoken, this post I’d ordinarily put after Mon 6 to 10 is now.
In the context of those lists, then the one we had yesterday, Sunday, was the last ever attempted, made in 2013, using old style mics but better SFX and sound quality. It was clearly a labour of love for all and well done, say I.
At the other end, 1938 … well they do not exist, except in other casts trying to recreate them, with next to no effects. Frankly, they’re not good, the script is trite, parts missing. Not worth it.
I went back to the first Coke/Westbury in 1968 and in showing signs of ageing, it was the real thing of that time.
Right, why I am I making such a big thing out of the series as a whole? Well, “reimagined” series, modern actors, modern production values, manners, nature of people … these certainly lose all old-worldly charm … but in the 2013 Gregory Affair, they lost none of it. Ditto with the Rupert Davies’ Maigrets.
At least it begins with potatoes but soon moves to strawbs, oranges etc.
Usual formulaic opener “shocking”, usual everything, not sure if AI, think not.
Also, they mention a Greenpeace report. That lot? Consumer watch groups have tended to be leftwing since the 50s but now they seem to be into loopy things like Net Zero, the IPCC and other lunacies, not to mention the forcing of sicko sexuality to children at fatherless home and school.
The true consumerwatch work seems to be done now by the nonWoke.
In practical terms, I cut the “bad” bits out and peel the rest … with potatoes and carrots but not with apples, all of which I wash before cooking. Fruit? Blueberries and bananas, washing the blueberries in the pack in a tub before using. Frankenstrawbs and frankengrapes today … no, I avoid.
Having said all that, when I do mixed veg, I bubble in pan first, drain, refill and finish cooking. I used to pan fry steak, now boiling it, using the runoff as soup base.
(0526) Morning all. Quick check of X and nothing much except what we know, reworded … at this stage of the morning of course. Now, on Two Tier, no point speculating at this pount … let’s see how it pans out after 8 a.m., then take stock. (0602)
5. Er … yes … ok
4. Steve at 1419
Trump Hits Historic Border Milestone: 13 Straight Months with Zero Illegal Aliens Released into the US
Pirro Says Vandals Who Poured Corrosive Chemicals in Lincoln Reflecting Pool will Face Serious Charges
There is a Path” – Tulsi Gabbard Says Fauci Can be Prosecuted for Lying to Congress Despite Pre-emptive Pardon
Russia Strikes Bridges In Zaporizhzhia, Ukraine Targets Maritime Approaches To Crimea
Study Links Ultraprocessed Foods to Cognitive Decline; Processed Meat Shows Strongest Association
Push-Up Capacity Linked to Lower Cardiovascular Disease Risk, Study Finds
Much more.
3. Public notice
2. DAD at 1419
a) Jordan Bardella, leader of France’s far-right National Rally, said he would like to “put the Commission and the EU back at the service of the nations and no longer the other way around”….
b) French president hopeful Bruno Retailleau wants mandatory chemical castration for sex offenders….
c) Wife of Spanish PM Pedro Pedro Sánchez has passport revoked as court orders corruption trial. The case is one of several corruption affairs….
1. Lord Toby’s site
He quotes from the Wail:
“Police “guided” the family of a hotel worker in “toning down” their public statements after she was murdered by an asylum seeker – in case their words led to anti-immigration rioting. Rhiannon Whyte, 27, was stabbed 23 times with a screwdriver by Sudanese national Deng Majek while waiting at a train station in October 2024.
Majek, 28, who was sentenced to 29 years in prison in January, then spent the night dancing and drinking in the car park of Park Inn Hotel in Bescot, Walsall, where Rhiannon worked. Her death came three months after the fatal stabbings of three young girls in Southport by 17 year-old Axel Rudakubana, a British citizen of Rwandan descent.”
This is where I, the redactor/editor/bottlewasher, am in a slight quandary. There are no films in the queue just now, no short morning features but there is jazz, coming up soon today. In one sense, it’s overkill to run the Paul Temple which might just be the “best one ever”, to almost “squander” it on an already full Sunday.
Were it a film, I’d not … too late in the afternoon, but this 4 hours 30 mins ten-parter is simply fab … I can’t get away from it myself … and I’m thinking to myself that I should not be keeping this back while I have it … not when I know there are fellow aficionados who’d like it. More after the play …
I do recall we did have it a few years back, likely at N.O. … but why would I not have run it again? 🤔 At that stage, I was not quite as au fait with the series history, with the protagonist pairs, but of late, this “return to”, later series has quite stood out, due to Crawford Logan and Gerda Stevenson … the producers and cast are marvellous, it retains the old mystique.
Plus the main pair are without as many sharp edges, with less stridency, and she in particular is more 3D. This story? Talk about convoluted. Once you can buy the formulaic, realising it’s a good formula, I’m thinking you might be pleasantly surprised. Plus the bridgeman overexplaining the episode connections is, imho, quite fun.
Anyway, this is for those who’d like to rest their eyes for a few hours. I’ll still start the jazz about 1600.
(0559) Sun, 21 Jun 2026, 9:24 am is the official UK time for the change … welcome to the coming winter of our content? (0724)
5. HAPPY BIRTHDAY, OUR STEVE, YEAH !!
A gentle, classical ditty to reflect advancing age, young man:
There’s a real rush of birthdays at this time, as also seems to be the case in February … have you ever reflected as to what your olds were up to nine months earlier, with that spark in the eye? Had to be late September, did it not?
Iran Says It’s Closing the Strait of Hormuz After Accusing US and Israel of Violations – VP Vance Says Strait is Still Open With Record Amount of Traffic
Trump Nukes Giorgia Meloni in Blistering Response to Her Triggered Rant
Florida Attorney General Fires off Subpoena to MLB, Announces Formal Investigation into League’s Religious Discrimination Against Christians
Historic Brooklyn Church Built in 1860 Engulfed in Flames – Steeple Collapses
Zelensky’s Presence At G7 Shows Europe Wants Ukraine War To Continue
Chlorine dioxide poses an existential threat to the pandemic-vaccine industry
Global rice production has doubled over 50 years; it is the result of a combination of human ingenuity and increased atmospheric CO2
Much much more … interesting too.
2. DAD at 1418
It looks as if my favourite site for French news (FdeSouche) has been attacked, so, today, you will have to accept some older news.
a) This week, ‘Sophie of Dundee’ was exonerated. The girl who was smeared, mocked and condemned online has now been proved right. She and her friends said they’d been forced to defend themselves from an abusive man. The online mob called them liars. The court showed who was telling the truth.
b) The government is preparing to protect Corsican traditions and identity. But what about French identity?
c) The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is facing questions over the shortlist for this year’s Vigdís Prize for Women’s Empowerment after the European abortion-rights campaign ‘My Voice, My Choice’ was named among the three shortlisted candidates for the award.
d) Resurfaced Video of Christopher Hitchens’s most chilling prediction that just came true.
1. Taxpayers Association
“Is my daughter an aberration? The numbers say not. Youth unemployment stands at 16.2%, the worst since 2015 – worse even than at the peak of the pandemic, when the economy was switched off at the mains. A Government review has warned of a “lost generation”, and has put the bill at £125 billion a year. It means real people, my daughter among them, going painfully workless, with all the damage that causes.
You might assume the cause is impersonal – a temporary slump, or the machines coming for us all. But then you read the news, and it turns weary resignation into something hotter, because you see much of this is deliberate.
