Experimental Cookery 2025: Lovely Home-made Gravy

We've just had a fairly indifferent dinner - venison sausages, mashed potato, and gravy (plus peas and sweetcorn for me). The sausages were nice, the mash was okay but a bit bland (could have done with boiling the potatoes for another minute or two, and perhaps adding some mustard to give it a kick - but we didn't have any), and the peas and sweetcorn were as you would expect.

The method for the gravy came from the Hairy Bikers "Perfect Pies" book, which advocated slicing and frying an onion, adding some wine and some flour, some stock, boiling it down and straining. Nothing much to it, really.

I think that what went wrong was two-fold: too much flour, and boiling down a little too long. The outcome, therefore, was a really thick gravy that tasted fine but looked fairly unappealing - not really what I was aiming for.

I actually have loads of different methods for gravy scattered among my many books, most of which go unnoticed (since I don't generally care for gravy, we only ever have it fairly seldom, and when we do I tend to just bust out the granules as a lazy solution). But it's something that it's good to have in the back pocket, if only for special occasions. So I'll be making gravy again... just not necessarily this one. Though I should perhaps note, if it wasn't obvious, that the weaknesses of this meal were more down to my preparation of the components rather than anything in the books.

Should Have Seen That Coming. I Didn't. But I Should Have.

Our microwave died on us last night - at first glance it seems to work, but it doesn't actually heat anything. And given that that is the main, nay the only, purpose of a microwave, it's somewhat less than ideal.

I think this is my fourth microwave - there was the initial one bought when I first moved out, a replacement purchased some time in 2011, a replacement product for when that one failed almost immediately, and now the current machine. I don't have a specific record of buying this one (because I don't track everything), but I'm reasonably sure we must have had a new one some time since 2011, and I'm equally sure that this is the one we brought with us from the old flat. So it was at least eight years old, which is decent service.

The upshot is that I should probably have expected it to be on its way out, but alas I did not - I was blissfully unaware that my trusty appliance was just about done for.

I'm now in the process of trying to find a new microwave, and am finding myself somewhat stymied. My assertion last night was that "microwaves are all pretty much of a muchness", which is pretty much accurate. The problem with that is that when you ask Google to recommend the best microwave, every site therefore gives a completely different set of results. Similarly, the reviews of every microwave seem to be the same - loads of people saying it's great, some giving a more nuanced view, and then one or two saying it's a load of rubbish.

All of which isn't terribly helpful. I guess the reality is that it doesn't matter much: just pick one and be happy with it.

Celtic's Management Woes 2025

Funnily enough, I almost wrote a post by this name yesterday. It would have been a very different post!

Had I posted yesterday, I would have noted that Hearts are in a really strong position, and Celtic a surprisingly poor one, but that Celtic still had the best squad in the league, the best manager in the league, and sufficient money that, if they had to, they could go buy a whole new squad in January. I therefore expected (and expect) them to go on a very long unbeaten run in the latter parts of the season. The destination of the league will therefore, I think, be determined by just how much of a lead Hearts can build before Celtic get their act together.

(I would also have noted that it's a really good thing to have a serious challenge in place again, and also that it would be really good if Hearts did manage it - it's really not healthy to have one, or at most two, clubs winning everything all the time.)

Of course, Brendan Rodgers then resigned last night, which was followed by two rather acrimonious statements being issued by Celtic.

So, what now?

Well, the first thing that strikes me as really interesting is the contrast between how Celtic are doing and the way Rangers did - Rangers were the ones who removed their manager, and they did so right before an international break. They thus had control over the timing, and gave themselves the best possible opportunity to find a new manager. They then engaged in farce for several weeks, left poor Steven Smith to manage the club in a game in between, before finally settling on what seems to be a decent appointment (although with rather too many near-misses).

By contrast, when Brendan Rodgers walked away, Celtic immediately put in place a temporary team of impeccable credentials - Martin O'Neill probably wouldn't be in the frame even if he were interested, but as a safe pair of hands he is second to none. This gives them as much time as they need to take to get exactly the right person in position - as long as it's done reasonably quickly, and certainly before the transfer window opens, they'll be just fine.

As for who "the right person" is, I wouldn't care to speculate. I suspect they may well go for the obvious option, and bring back Ange, but my gut feeling is that that would be a mistake. But we'll see. In the meantime, my biggest question is whether Hearts can take advantage of this to widen the lead further - will someone do them a favour or two?

Day 300: Update on Goals

The penultimate update on goals for the year:

• Books: By day 300 I should have completed 24.66 books. I'm now far enough ahead of target that I'm reasonable confident that this goal will complete successfully - indeed, I've started giving some thought to which books I would want as any "extras" for the year.
• Weight: There has been a very small loss since the previous update, but not enough - this goal will show some progress but will not be successful.
• Church Website: There has still been no update made.
• Career: Done!
• Redecoration: Done!
• Blogging:  If I had set my usual goal for this year, I would expect to have posted 98 times by now.  As with the "books" goal, I'm now reasonably confident that this will be successful over the course of the year.
• Home Automation: The item I had been waiting to purchase was reduced very significantly for Amazon's "Big Deal Days". However, about a day before those started we saw an Amazon advert that prompted LC to declare that I should not buy said item. I therefore respected that, and as a consequence this goal has been abandoned On the one hand, that was somewhat unfortunate, not least since I had basically waited the whole year for that very moment, but on the other I can readily see where LC was coming from.

So that's two goals completed, two that are sufficiently advanced that I'm confident of completion, and one that has now been abandoned. Of the two that remain, one is something that I might be get to something approximating "done", while the other won't succeed (but where any progress is better than none).

I've also started giving some thought to goals for next year - two of the goals will clearly carry over, as will a third if it doesn't reach "done". I'm inclined not to set a formal "blogging" goal, though will continue to track it in the same way as last year. The others will be dropped for one reason or another. But that then seems a little light.

#25: "Defiant", by Brandon Sanderson

How to Achieve Independence

I said in my previous post that independence really shouldn't be a talking point in the upcoming Scottish elections - regardless of the outcome the UK government won't authorize a second independence referendum, and there's nothing to be done in the absence of that authorization. (Incidentally, Swinney's claim that Cameron somehow set a precedent by authorizing the previous one is nonsense - it's one of the oldest and most absolute principles in what passes for the UK constitution that no parliament can bind its successors.)

But, that being the case, how should those who are in favour of independence proceed?

Fundamentally, ultimately, it's about a whole lot of really hard work: first, build a clear and obvious majority in favour of independence. They demand a second referendum from Westminster. If one is not forthcoming (as is likely), conduct the next Scottish elections as a de facto referendum, win a majority of the votes, and then declare independence.

But the really important point there is that those steps have to be followed in order. Before any of the other steps in the process can be pursued the first step needs to be completed. Right now, the latest polls indicate that there is a wafer-thin majority in favour of independence. But that fluctuates - a few months ago there was a wafer-thin majority against, and in a few months that's likely to be the case again. If push came to shove, and there really was a referendum tomorrow, it would almost certainly be a win for the union, again.

And the fact that that is still the case shows a shocking complacency on the parts of the SNP and the former "Yes" campaign. At the time of the 2014 referendum, there was a clear generational split - young people favoured independence, but over-50s were very strongly pro-union. Move on eleven years, and the demographic shift should mean a permanent pro-independence majority - older voters gradually die off, while more and more younger voters join the electorate. But that shift hasn't happened. Over the course of the last eleven years, people who were pro-independence have shifted their positions, such that the demographic split remains constant - younger voters favour independence while those over fifty are strongly pro-union. Whatever the SNP and the former "Yes" campaign have been doing has been counter-productive - the SNP government, in particular, have managed to turn people against their core aim.

And that's before we talk about the missed opportunities of Brexit, or the disasters that were Boris and Truss, and indeed the now-loathed Labour government. I rather suspect the SNP are now banking on an incoming PM Nigel Farage as a great recruiting sergeant for independence. If so, they're deluding themselves.

Ultimately, there were some key questions that the "Yes" campaign just couldn't answer to the satisfaction of enough people, notably on the economy and currency questions. As FM, Salmond ran a reasonably tight ship, but even so he was never able to convince enough people that that would translate into setting up an independent country. In the eleven years since then, neither the SNP nor the "Yes" campaign have been able to advance the debate at all, and nobody could now accuse the current SNP government of running a reasonably tight ship (nor, indeed, of being able to build one).

Fix That.

The SNP, assuming that they do indeed get to run the next Scottish government, need to get a real handle on all of the basic elements of government, most notably the economy. They need to end the constant shambolic incompetence they've shown of late, they need to get these damn ferries finished, and they need to stop being caught in these awkward expenses stories (justified or not).

Meanwhile, either the SNP or their related think tanks need to start grappling seriously with the topics of establishing a new country - critically, the setting up of a new central bank and a new currency. The answers of 2014 didn't win over enough people, and they definitely don't work now. What made sense when the UK was part of the EU just doesn't make sense post-Brexit.

I just really can't see any of that happening. Indeed, in order even to start, I think the SNP need some time out of office and need a really good clean-out of the too many mediocrities that infest it. And so, I'm afraid, I think independence is essentially a dead subject for the remainder of my lifetime - it's noise for the SNP to try to win votes (and their opponents to try to stop them), but not something that's actually going to happen.

#24: "The Running Grave", by Robert Galbraith

Any Chance?

It would be really good if we could somehow avoid the upcoming Scottish elections being another completely pointless go around of "vote for us for Independence!" on one side and "vote for us to stop Independence!" on the other.

The reality is that the SNP have neither the ability nor the inclination to meaningfully advance the cause of independence. It's a project that is long-since failed and, unless something massively changes, is effectively dead for my lifetime. So, no, the SNP won't be delivering independence, or a second referendum, or any such thing. Even an outright majority of SNP MSPs wouldn't do that, and they won't get that anyway. And, equally, Labour, the Tories, and the Lib Dems won't be preventing independence, for the same reason that they won't be preventing us being invaded by Martians.

But I suppose I get it.

Because if the SNP don't stand on the topic of independence, they need to stand on their domestic record, and on that front they've been hopeless. There isn't a single thing... actually, there literally is a single thing that they've done since Salmond resigned that they can be proud of (the baby box). Everything is very obviously worse than it was then, and not just because the UK government has been useless, obstructive, and short of funds.

But equally, if the other parties don't stand on opposing independence, they need to stand on what they have to offer. And the sad reality there is that, as monumentally awful as the SNP government has been, all the alternatives are very obviously worse.

So I guess the argument will be about independence again.

Well, it's that or "we're the best to stop Reform!"

But the problem with them arguing about that is that a very large part of the reason for the rise of Reform has been the public's utter disgust with all of our mainstream parties. So arguing that "it's us or Reform" has a real danger of backfiring.

World Cup Qualification

It's fair to say that Scotland aren't very good at football. Every so often it looks like this time we might be about to get somewhere, and then there's immediately a wobble - it's as if the players look at the notion of actually being decent and just can't bring themselves to do it.

The most recent international break has been a really weird one. On paper, it's been really good - six points out of six, and a place in the playoffs guaranteed. What could be better?

And yet, look at the actual games and it's another story. Against Greece we were poor for almost all of the match and were hugely flattered by the scoreline. Against Belarus, we were saved by some dodgy refereeing decisions and a good bit of luck. All in all, not the best.

Next up is Greece away, and then a showdown home to Denmark that will decide whether Scotland come top or face the playoffs.

The permutations make the Greece game largely irrelevant. We can assume Denmark will beat Belarus, meaning they will end on between 13 and 16 points, and they have a vastly superior goal difference to Denmark. So if Scotland lose to Denmark, we will end on between 10 and 13 points, with Denmark on 16 - the playoffs. If we draw, we'll end on between 11 and 14 points, with Denmark on 14, with an equal head-to-head, and a worse goal difference - the playoffs. And if we win, we'll end on between 13 and 16 points, with Denmark on 13, but with the superior head-to-head. In which case we'd go through as group winners.

But I find it really hard to believe, on the evidence of this weekend, that Scotland will beat Denmark. And I also find it really hard to believe that Scotland have it in them to get through the playoffs. It's looking very much like another chance for glorious failure.

But maybe this was a blip, and the next two games will see better performances. Here's hoping!

Alien Earth

LC and I have been watching this and finished at the weekend. The premise is fairly straightforward: a Weyland-Yutani ship crashes on Earth while carrying a number of Xenomorph eggs and some other nasties, and we go from there.

It's good stuff, well made, and with some interesting themes to follow on. And yet...

I'm afraid I really didn't care for the ending of the season: there was an ongoing story that seemed to be coming to a conclusion, and then the final episode seemed to suddenly lose all forward momentum so as to set up the next season of the show. Which is unfortunate - there was enough there without that enforced cliffhanger.

Oh well. Despite that one significant negative, we enjoyed it enough that we'll almost certainly watch the second season once it's out (though we'll probably let it come to an end before making our start). And I'd make a qualified recommendation to others: if you enjoyed the "Alien" movies, you'll almost certainly enjoy this.