My Year in 2022

We've had a bad run - 2020 was a bad year and ended badly, 2021 was worse but with one massive bright side, but then 2022 was worse again. Thank goodness it's over!

My Year in... Blogging 

I've managed both 120 posts here and 60 on the Imaginarium, so that's good. I'm not convinced of the quality of the output, but that's another question!

My Year in... Work

This one has been a very mixed bag. I'm really not sure what to make of it overall - it feels like there could be a big step forward in the offing, but then I thought that before and it all turned to ash. So for the moment I'll just try to remain optimistic.

The other thing of note is that we have now returned to the office. This has been massively negative for me, as it essentially takes 5 hours out of my week in order to travel to an office where I do all the same things I could at home. This has also had the effect of vastly reducing my contact time with Funsize and Surprise!, which sucks, and has effectly eliminated all of my free time, which sucks more. Unfortunately, it is also the best thing for the team, and so I have to live with it.

My Year in... Health

I was ill twice in 2022, once with Covid and once with some sort of vomiting bug. LC has also had a brush with Covid, while Surprise! in particular has been forced to battle repeatedly with vomiting bugs in the last two months. But we're all still here and all still in mostly good health, so that's all good.

My Year in... Gaming

I wrapped up my two ongoing campaigns in the middle of the year, and then started a new campaign, "Isles of Dread". That's going well, but it is very definitely the final campaign with the current group. It also looks increasingly like it will be my final campaign ever; I'm less than thrilled by what I've seen of the 2024 D&D revision, so am thinking this is a good time to step off.

My Year in... Band

Band resumed again early in the year and has been fairly consistent since then. The band also had a fairly full Gala Day Season, and managed to improve significantly over the course of said season - I put that down to some fool leaving me in charge for a while. We ended the year with one Christmas lights switch-on, which was much more pleasant than the same event last year.

So that's all pretty good, really.

My Year in... Resolutions

As always, the wrap-up of annual goals, and setting of goals for next year, are handled in another post. Unfortunately, it doesn't make for particularly pleasant reading.

My Year in... Travel

This was another year spent entirely in the UK. We had three trips: to Legoland in Easter to celebrate our 10th anniversary, to Fort William in the summer, and then to Alnwick. These were all fine, but I do find I miss the Sun.

Hopefully next year will see us being able to venture abroad again; it has been too long.

My Year in... Faith

Well, we're still there, still going along, and it's all more or less okay.

My main takeaway from this year is a feeling of low-level guilt, if I'm honest - I'm supposed to be responsible for the church website, and the truth is that I've really dropped the ball on that for most of the year. I just haven't had the bandwidth to deal with these things as I would hope.

My Year in... Sadness

This was a big one. In January of this year my gran died, representing the fourth and final passing of one of my grandparents. That generation is therefore now ended. That in itself wasn't too terrible, as it wasn't hugely unexpected and because she had had a fairly horrible last few years.

What was horrible, though, is the effect that this had on the extended family. Those ties were already fraying, and there is now essentially no prospect of there ever being a reconciliation - there's just no real motivation for it. Additionally, there has been another falling out (for reasons that are not at all clear to me) between one sibling and a cousin, which represents another wedge.

It's a shame... but it is what it is.

Also of note was the unexpected and tragic death of one of my former students. That one was devastating, largely because it was so unexpected and so unfair.

My Year in... Love

LC and I celebrated our tenth wedding anniversary in April of this year! It's bizarre - it really doesn't feel like it was that long ago, and yet in that time we've moved house (after a massive ordeal), LC has established herself in her career, and we now have two children. Which all seems fairly crazy.

Parenthood remains a fairly tough challenge, and is at least three times as difficult with two than it was with one - it seems that as soon as Surprise! has recovered from whatever illness he has, he has passed it on to Funsize. She then plays with it for a while before handing it back. And the task of getting them out of the door and delivered to nursery and school before I head to work is the hardest thing in the whole entire world!

Speaking of which, Funsize has now started school, and continues to thrive. That's lovely to see.

So, yeah, that's all good.

My Year... Overall

This has been an incredibly tough year. Reading back, this post really doesn't capture the source of my malaise, nor the grinding slog that I've felt much of it to be. But perhaps that's no bad thing - perhaps it is better to focus on the highlights and try to leave the bad stuff behind. But 2023 really needs to be better, and I just don't see how that is likely to be.

I'm going to sign off for the year now. So, as usual, I shall wish you a Happy New Year!

End of Year Update on Goals

As part of the end-of-year wrap-up, here is the closing update on my goals for the year:

• Books: There will be a separate post about the books of the year, but the headline figure is that I fell well short of my goal of 60 books - in the end I completed little more than half that number. I had also hoped to complete The List this year, but that didn't happen either. That's not too bad, though, as I fully expect to finish next year.
• Weight: There has been no movement on this one. I won't be carrying this goal through to next year.
• Blogging: The traditional "My Year In..." post will complete the goal for this year. Additionally, I have posted a full 60 times on the Imaginarium, so this goal has been the shining light of the year.
• Redecorating the Hallway: This one is done, sort of. We got the hallway redecorated, but never got around to replacing the carpet or hanging suitable new pictures. I'm reasonably happy with the outcome, but I do expect that we'll spend some time next year finishing it up.
• Super Secret Goal: I abandoned this goal midway through the year. I'm still not sure whether this was the right thing to do.

So that's that: one resounding success, one middling success, one abandoned, and two abject failures. That's not a great result for the year - it suggests either something went wrong or I simply had the wrong goals set.

My goals for 2023 are somewhat similar:

• Books: My goal for the year is both fairly simple and fairly trivial: I want to finish up The List. Any books read beyond that will be a bonus.
• Blogging: Once again, I'd like to post 120 times in the year. I'm still not setting a goal for The Imaginarium.
• Redecoration: Our refresh of the house remains a long-term goal. In the next year we hope to tackle the painted sections of the bathrooms/toilets in the house. That's not a big job, but it will be good to have it done. We'll also aim to finish up the left over bits of the hallway - the new carpet, and getting some pictures up.

And that's that.

An Alien Mindset

I have, slowly but inescapably, been coming to the conclusion that I am rather weird. The latest evidence for this came while reading the introduction to one of my new cookbooks, in which Tom Kerridge made a comment about most people "going to the supermarket once a week to pick up some essentials" - the upshot being that each day they then look in their fridge/pantry and try to decide what they can make, and what they would like to make, with what they have in stock.

Conversely, my shopping list starts by making a list of the main meals we're going to have, looking up the required ingredients, and then getting those. There aren't very many days when we don't know exactly what we're having for dinner. (Although on some occasions the board says "takeaway" - but that doesn't really count.)

I must admit that I find the other approach really quite strange. Firstly because it must surely lead to times where there really isn't much, if anything, that the person is both able to make and would like to eat. Secondly, because it must surely lead to greater food waste - once bought, a lot of these 'essentials' start to go off, which means either a race to get them used up, or a failure to do so. (Then again, we have our own battles with food waste, largely because dairy, in particular, comes in certain sizes and our recipes call for certain other sizes.)

But I guess that's the point: people think in different ways. And, crucially, it's not that people have different opinions, where they analyse the facts and come to a different conclusion. Rather, people think in completely different patterns, meaning that even if they come to the same conclusion there is no guarantee that they could explain their thinking to one another.

Of course, that's not a new conclusion - diversity has been a big thing, especially in tech, for at least a decade now, largely because of exactly that same reasoning.

"Legend Tells Us..."

Funsize and I were playing a variant of Hide and Seek, where one of us hides a doll and then the other seeks. It's not really blog-worthy, which is why I haven't mentioned it until now.

Except that this time Funsize had a new wrinkle for the game - she had found a wicker mat that LC uses for crafts, and was using it as a map, to provide useful clues. But it was the nature of the clues that amused me, and which provided the title of this blog.

For Funsize unrolled the map, adopted her best Dungeon Master voice, and intoned... "Legend tells us..."

There then followed an entire story with multiple clues and steps, all leading to a villainous mermaid who had stolen the doll and hidden it in her tail.

I have never been more proud.

A Good Christmas

I hope everyone had a good Christmas, or as good as circumstances allow.

For us, it turned out to be our best Christmas for some years. Surprise! was a little overwhelmed by it all, and heartily sick of the whole thing by the time we'd unwrapped even only the presents Santa had brought (never mind the deluge at the two sets of grandparents'), but otherwise it was a nice restful time.

One of the key things that made for a better experience was that we elected not to head to my parents too early - instead we spent the morning at home, then went there after lunch (arriving just as they were finishing up). Then we headed to LC's parents in time for the big Christmas dinner.

(One thing is that that's still too late for the kids, but that should ease in future years, as Surprise! becomes less dependent on routine.)

Then we watched the "Ghosts" Christmas special, and that was basically that. A good day.

Boxing Day was also pretty good, doing most of the same things in reverse. But Boxing Day is always a day of chaos, and we've come to accept that.

The Curse of Soft Play

I do not have a happy relationship with soft play.

At the tail-end of the pandemic I attempted to take Funsize to soft play, only to be ripped off - they refused Funsize entry despite her having a valid ticket and then absolutely refused to refund that ticket. Needless to say, I won't be going back there again.

Then, in August, while Lady Chocolat was on an inservice day I attempted to take Funsize and Surprise! to soft play (a different one), only to find that they were absolutely full. There was another session, but that was too late. And so there were tears and recriminations.

Today we took Funsize and Surprise! to the same soft play. This time we had pre-booked tickets and timed our arrival to coincide with the session starting. Huzzah! Except that I've managed to get my car badly scraped all along one side.

That said, it may be that it's that car that's cursed - since I got it, indeed since before I actually got it, it has had one problem after another.

And that said, today has just been a rank rotten day from start to finish. So maybe it's that.

Funny Thing...

Over the few days I have received a couple of emails titled "Royal Mail has your parcel from YOUR ONLINE RETAILER", complete with the mail's trade dress and a bunch of dodgy-looking links for tracking purposes.

So, naturally, I thought to myself, "obvious scam is obvious", not least because I couldn't think of any parcel I was expecting. So I deleted them without going near the links.

Today the postman rang the bell and gave me my parcel. It turned out to be some coffee that I was getting as a freebie after ordering something else entirely.

Useless Days

I find myself in an odd position at work: I finished a big piece of work late last week, I then spent a couple of days on book-keeping of various sorts, and now I have about two days to go... with no clear idea of what to do. It's not that there isn't plenty needing my attention, but it falls into three categories: things that are very much not a priority, big pieces of work (that I don't want to start just before taking two weeks off), and things I can't work on effectively for one reason or another.

Which is a fairly rotten place to end up. But there it is - I guess I'll aim to find something to do, and just hope for the best.

Endlessly Rowing the Boat

It is now taking an increasingly long time to put Funsize to bed. The issue is that, when it comes to the singing of the songs, I have been collecting/devising new verses for "Row Row Row Your Boat", and I'm now up to eleven. As you can imagine, that's a lot of rowing!

(That obviously doesn't include the version from "Blackadder Goes Forth". And it turns out that Wikipedia also has a few variants I haven't considered.)

My favourite so far is:

Row row row your boat, while the weather's fine,
If you see a dinosaur, you've gone back in time.

Though I do confess it's a bit silly. But I like it!

Terminator: Dark Fate

There now follows a review of a not-very-good film from a few years ago. Feel free to skip this one!

Over the past few years, Hollywood has hit on the marvellous wheeze whereby they can make hundreds of millions by retelling exactly the same stories as in the 70's, 80's, and 90's but with a female protagonist. Which is a bit tedious, but is absolutely fair enough - boys had it all their own way for decades, and turnaround is fair play.

Unfortunately, nobody seems to have mentioned to the team behind this film that the scheme doesn't actually work if you already had a female protagonist - in this case, Sarah Connor.

The upshot here is that we have a film that is essentially a retread of "Terminator 2", sometimes looking like a shot-by-shot remake. Pretty much all it has going for it are updated special effects... that somehow are both technically superior but look much more dated.

The film also commits the cardinal sin of the remake (in a manner I haven't seen since "Alien 3") - in an instant, right at the start of the film, it completely negates and trivialises everything that has gone before. Everything that our heroes fought and suffered for is rendered meaningless. Good job.

Beyond that, there's not much to say. It's probably the third-best Terminator film, but pretty much by default. The protrayal of Sarah Conner is genuinely great. But the film is really not worth watching for that - it's two hours I'd rather have back.

Avoid.

Life in the Plague House

It has been a frustrating time. Surprise! has been ill, on and off, for the better part of two months now. Funsize, not to be outdone, has had three short bouts of illness in that time. And now LC, having finished school for the year, has decided to join in. Thus far, I am unaffected... but don't count on that continuing!

Needless to say, this hasn't made for the best experience. November was essentially a write off, and although December has been better, it still hasn't ben much fun. I'm now nearing the end of my year at work, which is a good thing, but my fear is that that will quickly be followed by my own battle with... whatever this is. Plus, I'm just completely worn down, so even if I don't go down with it I'll still be struggling.

Oh well, it can't be helped.

Anticipation Builds

Unless I've forgotten someone, I've now completed my Christmas shopping. Not only that, but I have all the presents in hand, wrapped, and under the tree. I'm only sending two Christmas cards this year (for environmental reasons), and one of these two has been dealt with. All of which means that I have more or less completed all of the things I 'have' to do for Christmas.

I'm now into the phase of Christmas that I really enjoy - the stresses are dealt with, which means I'm now able to just sit back and relax. Maybe with a mince pie.

Huzzah!

(None of that is really to brag about this. The end of November and the first days of December were pretty fraught as I tried to get all this in hand. I'm just noting my preference to get these things done with in a flurry of activity, instead of spreading them out into a longer, but perhaps less intense, period.)

#32: "Scoundrel", by Bernard Cornwell
#33: "Adventures in Zeitgeist", by Ryan Nock

Baking with Funsize #7: Jam Layer Flapjacks

This one came from Nadiya Hussain's latest TV series, by way of the BBC website. (I believe the recipe also appears in her latest book, "Nadiya Bakes Everyday".)

The flapjacks were nice and easy to make, and ideally suited for baking with Funsize. Indeed, unlike a lot of the previous efforts, this one held her attention throughout, which is good.

The flapjacks came out very well. I did make one big mistake, in that I cut the flapjacks too early. In highsight, after they had cooled "completely" I should have moved them into the fridge for a couple of hours before cutting. (I also made up a batch of brownies yesterday, and exactly the same was true there - chill and then cut.)

As anticipated, the end result is very nice - soft and squidgy with just the right sharpness from the jam, and a nice layering of chocolate. Huzzah!

#31: "Shogun", by James Clavell (a book from The List - three to go)

Flush!

When we first moved into the house we had more toilets than people. That has, of course, gradually reversed. However, one of the toilets, the one in the main bathroom, never worked terribly well - the flush was unreliable, and when it did work it was a feeble thing.

I've had various goes at fixing it, with no real success. A couple of months ago I thought I had cracked it - it stopped working entirely, I made an adjustment, and then it worked. Huzzah!

But on Monday it gae up again, this time completely, and this time beyond my ability to do anything about it.

Anyway, long story short, we've had the flushing mechanism replaced, and now it works properly, for the first time since we moved in. Additionally, the new mechanism is a much better design, so the hope is that this one will now keep working rather more reliably than the last.

Huzzah! - for real this time.

Rings of Power review

I really hate it when media that has been pilloried for "woke casting" turns out to be rubbish. Whether it was the female-led "Ghostbusters", the Star Wars sequels, or now "Rings of Power", there was a noisy segment of the internet (and supposed fandom) that reacted to the casting by condemning the whole thing. And since the internet doesn't allow for any sort of nuance, thereafter any and all criticism of the thing gets lumped in with the same racism and sexism that motivates that.

All of which is rather annoying.

Anyway, I finished "The Rings of Power" this week, and I'm afraid it sucks.

In fairness, there is an awful lot to like about the show: the look and feel of it is great, the casting is universally great, and they do a really good job with the material that they are given. Basically, if it wasn't that that material was just rubbish, the show would be great!

The most fundamental issue with the show is quite simply that they're trying to build an adaptation spanning multiple years of TV, but they're basing it on virtually no source material. Not only did Tolkien not actually write all that much on the Second Age, but Amazon only actually hold the rights to the even more miniscule amount in the appendices of "The Lord of the Rings" (plus one or two other specific things). I forget exactly who it was, but some wise person said something about "butter spread over too much bread"... somehow, that all comes to mind here. There's just not enough that happens to justify nine hours of TV, and the notion of many other seasons of this doesn't bode well.

The other fundamental problem concerns Galadriel. I should note that, as with everyone else, the casting here is perfect, and she does a good job with the portrayal she is asked to give. And that portrayal would also be absolutely spot-on... if this was the Dragonlance show and she was Laurana, the Golden General. But this isn't Galadriel, the noted and powerful sorceress. In short, they've turned her into the bog standard badass action woman. Good job, you guys!

The only other thing that really warrants discussion occurs in episode 6, which is the great big set-piece battle of the season. This was clearly their version of Helms Deep, where a small force faces off against much stronger forces, all while others race to their aid. Except that, unlike in Helms Deep, the defenders don't have extensive and impregnable walls around them. By rights, they should be slaughtered. And, unlike in Helms Deep, the reinforcements don't actually know that the battle is actually happening, nor where it is happening, or the need for urgency.

But the biggest issue with the battle is this: at various points the show cuts away from the battle (at night) to the Numenoreans racing to their aid (daytime), and then back to the battle (at night). Just one problem: the Numenoreans are coming from the West, which means that dawn should come to them later than at the battle. Unless, I suppose, they're riding so fast that they literally travel backwards in time.

I'm afraid the whole thing is just so spectacularly stupid as to undercut everything that's good about the episode. And since this was their big set piece... yeah, not good.

And despite that, I fully intend to watch the next season. Unlike "Wheel of Time", I'm sufficiently invested in the setting that I really want to give it a chance to improve. But it's the same as with the later Star Wars films - I'm now going in with increasingly desperate hope rather than expectation. Still, hope is never mere, even if it is meagre.

No IndyRef, ever

The Supreme Court have, as widely expected, ruled that Holyrood does not have the right to conduct an independence referendum without Westminster approval. Most importantly, this does not apply to holding a referendum in 2023; it applies to holding one ever.

The major consequence of this is that the SNP, and other pro-independence campaigners, need to drop any discussion of another independence referendum. That route is dead. Find some other route, and persuade people of it, or give up the fight.

Because Westminster will never authorise another referendum, as they know fine well there's a very good chance that they'll lose it, so that route is done. Whether it is a Tory government or a Labour one, it's done.

Alister Jack: A Quick Thought

I see that Boris Johnson has decided to elevate Alister Jack to the House of Lords in his resignation honours. This has prompted calls for him to be sacked as Secretary of State for Scotland and a bi-election called.

Well...

Firstly, it's a disgrace that we still have a House of Lords. Secondly, it's a disgrace that Boris Johnson (and, I presume, Liz Truss) get to give out resignation honours, given the nature of his departure. Thirdly, it's a disgrace that the majority of these honours are nakedly party political, designed to give the Tories an imbalance in representation in that place.

That said, that's all part of the system, so so be it.

I don't agree with the SNP calls for Jack to be sacked as Secretary of State for Scotland - while he's hopeless in that role, so would be any of his successors. More importantly, there's no constitutional impediment in him filling that role while in the Lords.

However, there absolutely should be a bi-election. The rules are very clear here: you can't be an MP if you're in the Lords. And this notion that he could delay his elevation until the General Election to avoid a defeat for the Tories is a disgrace. If he's going to accept the elevation at all, it really needs to be now, not later, and a bi-election held.

#29: "Firefly: Life Signs", by James Lovegrove 

Return of the Poo

One of the things that I don't recall anyone ever actually telling me about parenthood is that you find yourself spending an inordinate amount of effort considering poo. Is there enough, too much, what about the colour, consistency? Where does it stand on the universal food stuff comparison chart?

Fun times.

Surprise! has been unwell for the past week, suffering from a bout of the same sickness bug that laid low the rest of us the week before. This was an unwelcome surprise, as we'd assumed we got it from him, and so we'd come to the end, only to be rudely disabused of that notion.

The symptoms were fun: first he was productive at one end, then the other. And gradually it all tailed off as he was emptied out. And I think I'll avoid going into any more detail than that.

All of which is a tragic build up to the absolute highlight of my weekend: the return of the poo in yesterday's nappy.

It's fair to say it was not the greatest weekend ever.

Rangers Management Woes 2022

Dear oh dear!

WHen Steven Gerrard resigned from Rangers last season, it seemed to be immense good fortune that Giovanni Van Bronckhorst was a free agent and willing to come. And the initial results were good. Alas, once we got past the winter break the wheels started to come off - for the fourth year in a row, the league was decided by one team having a meltdown in form while the other went fron strength to strength.

But last season there were a couple of mitigating factors: the signings made in January, that on paper were excellent, proved to be disastrously poor; and the run in the Europa League covered a lot of troubles.

Then there was the summer, a chance to rebuild, and a chance for GvB to really put his mark on the team. Early signs were promising, with the team managing to qualify for the Champions League with some impressive performances.

And then the wheels well and truly came off: a flood of bad performances, a shockingly poor Champions League campaign, poor performances in the league, and now a defeat that may put the league beyond them.

At the time of writing, Giovanni Van Bronckhorst is still Rangers manager. If I waited to post this until tomorrow, there's a decent chance that that would not be the case. Though perhaps that precipitous - the board might yet give him until the break for the World Cup and then decide.

But I really can't see any way back for GvB or any way to turn this around - he's basically reliant on a collapse from Celtic, which isn't impossible but really doesn't look likely.

I've no idea who they'd replace him with, though.

Experimental Cookery 2022: Cajun Chicken Traybake

This one came from "Jamie's £1 Wonders" show, and was as quick, easy, and cheap as promised - a handful of inexpensive ingredients mixed together in a tray, then stuck in the oven. Also of note was that the rice was cooked along with the rest of the meal, reducing the washing up and also making the whole thing even easier.

Unfortunately, for various reasons, we didn't get the full benefit of the meal - I had to rush mine, while LC was left waiting until it had cooled beyond its best. Still, from what we saw it was nice enough. And, since neither Funsize nor Surprise! had any, we've been left with lunch for today.

This feels like one we'll have again - being quick and easy is a major boon. With a bit of luck at least one of the children, or ideally both, will start eating this. But we'll see.

Jamie's £1 Wonders

I watched Jamie's latest show yesterday. And, um, yeah, it's a thing.

The truth is that this show, like "Jamie's Money Saving Meals" isn't actually for poor people - Jamie's just not in a position to understand and approach the problems that the genuinely poor face. And there are people who are better placed to address those problems (notably Jack Monroe).

Where this show does have value, like "Money Saving Meals" before it isn't for people who have nothing, it's for people who can and have made use of Jamie's work in the past, and who may well have a well-stocked kitchen and a well-stocked pantry, but for whom there is value in having a few lost cost meals that they can use to bring overall bills before. That is, if you can afford to buy a great big chunk of salmon and then make a week's worth of meals from that, or if you have a rack of spices and herbs, and just need some recipes with which to use those, this show may be of use to you.

In other words, it's aimed more or less squarely at people like me.

And, look, I'm not going to fault Jamie for his offering. The meals he made yesterday mostly looked reasonably appealing - there were at least two I figured I might have a go at, and one other that I thought looked quite nice but just couldn't eat (brocolli...).

But at the same time, it did feel like a bit of an odd one. I just wish I thought it wasn't needed.

Halloween 2022

Well, we now have a house full of sweets. So many sweets.

Actually, I rather enjoyed Halloween this year - the estate seems to get really quite involved in it, which means both that there are plenty of enthusiastic houses to visit and also plenty of people going about in costume. And where the whole thing could be quite sour and mercenary, in general it all seemed to be in pretty good fun.

One thing that was interesting was that Funsize is now something of an old hand at this, well versed in the need for a costume, a song at the ready, and off she goes. Meanwhile Surprise! was getting involved for the first time, which started the evening with him being rather apprehensive about it all, but ended with him happily wandering up to the doors to collect his sweet, sweet treasure.

Most of which he won't get to eat, poor thing. Oh well.

Alas, the night that followed was not so good. But that's a whole other topic, and one of which I'll spare you the details.

Lights Out

This weekend, in amongst all the other horrors, I found myself having to buy a set of C sized batteries. I really don't like these: other than D size, the C's are the least useful of all the batteries, so I try to avoid anything that needs them.

Worse, though, in this instance the batteries are for something that doesn't need them. More accurately, they're for something that runs on mains power, and for which we do indeed use mains power exclusively, on the rare occasions we use it at all: a portable radio.

But the reason we bought the batteries is that we seem to be heading towards a winter of power cuts. Initially, these were just distant rumblings, nothing to worry about. Then, as the weeks progressed, they gradually shifted the mood. And a couple of weeks ago there were reports that the BBC were preparing emergency scripts for multi-day blackouts (potentially 48 hours), with broadcasts to be made on Radio 2 and Radio 4 to keep people informed - hence the need for batteries.

That was the point at which I started to get worried. Because if they're preparing such things that suggests that the "unlikely" 3-hour blackouts (4-7 pm on some weeknights) almost certainly are going to happen, and it would be wise to prepare for the worst. Though there's only so much you can do to prepare for not being able to power anything and not being able to heat anything. I guess we're going to have to learn to enjoy nocturnal winter BBQs.

Unfortunately, I think I have to recommend others do the same: better to prepare now, before the inevitable rush.

Day 304: Update on Goals

The 31st of October is the 304th day of the year, so I'm overdue for an update on goals:

• Books: By this point I should be aiming to have complete 50 books almost exactly, which given the progress of the year raises a weary chuckle. I've actually completed 28 books, with three others in progress. I expect to end the year on 34, though even that is subject to revision. I also expect to finish the year with three books outstanding on The List.
• Weight: A few ups and downs, but across the year I'm a little lighter. That's as much due to last week's illness as anything else.
• Blogging: This one is going pretty well - this blog is going to end the month a little short again, but not by too much. Meanwhile, The Imaginarium is right on target. So that's good.
• Redecorating the Hallway: The decorators came in and replaced the wallpaper with paint, so that part of the job is done. We do still want to replace the carpet and hang some pictures, so this goal isn't yet done, but is expected to complete by the end of the year.
• Super Secret Goal: Abandoned.

The predictions for the year haven't changed: I expect to end the year with the Blogging and Redecoration goals completed, the SSG abandoned, and the Books and Weight goals being abject failures. That's not a terribly good showing.

This is the final update until the end-of-year round up. We'll see how things stand then... but I wouldn't expect much change.

Ill

I've been ill again. On Monday I went to work and everything was fine, except for a persistent and increasing headache. But as the night progressed I found myself crying out for my good friends Huey and, sometimes, Ralf, who had inexplicably fallen down the toilet. I was violently, violently sick.

I had actually planned to have a day off on Tuesday while LC went to school for a training day, but in the event that didn't happen. I instead spent it drifting in and out of sleep, completely incapacitated. Then on Wednesday I was a lot better, then a lot better again on Thursday, and today I returned to work.

Unfortunately, in the interim LC has herself come down with the same bug (and is now well on the way to recovery) while Funsize was sick for the first time yesterday and is therefore another day behind. Surprise! was the first to get it, so he's long since recovered.

Anyway, it's been a fun time.

#28: "Monstrous Menagerie", by E.N. Publishing

End of an Error

I tend not to like regeneration episodes of "Doctor Who" - with very few exceptions they are overshadowed by the great big change that is to come, which detracts from the story they're in the process of telling. The big exception to this was the Ecclestone -> Tennant switch, which had the advantage of being a massive surprise. Given that "Power of the Doctor" was also the final episode of the Chibnall era, which I'm afraid I just haven't rated, I wasn't terribly hopeful.

The good news is that it was better than I'd expected. The story suffered from just throwing far too much on the screen too quickly and not really allowing anything to breathe, but it did at least seem to have some sort of coherent narritive in there. And Sacha Dhawan was excellent as the Master, so giving him more screen time was no bad thing. (That said, I kept expecting him to morph into Orlo from "The Great". Which would have been interesting. Huzzah!)

There are spoilers from here on out, some of them massive. So you know what to do...

...

The other really thing about PotD was the big play on nostalgia - the appearances by several Doctors and Companions past, the references to Adric, Ace's baseball bat, UNIT... it all added up to an episode that was more for me than for current audiences, I think. It was good to see Ace back in action (always a favourite), and really quite nice to see Baker and McCoy back in the saddle for what is likely to be one last ride. (Also good to see Davison and David Bradley back.)But my biggest takeaway there is that I'd still really like to see McGann getting a mini-series at some point...

Of course, one thing that Chibnall has messed up is that the reverence given to the First Doctor now makes no sense whatsoever in-universe. It still plays for the audience, a bit, I guess, but now that he's not the first, he's actually just one particular incarnation - might as well just roll the dice and pick someone, or even just cast someone random and put them in position. After all, why not? (Grr.)

One thing I was a little surprised not to see, though I'm not sure exactly where it would fit, was one final scene back at The Edge, where we see Thirteen, post-regeneration, walking to join all her predecessors. But on the other hand, the Companions Support Group was a better idea...

...

And with that the Whittaker era comes to an end. It's a shame, as it had such potential, but I still maintain that she was badly served by most of the material she was given, and was asked to give a performance that was itself disappointing. Not her fault, but I'm afraid it does leave Thirteen at the bottom of my ranking.

And it also marks the end of the Chibnall era. I'm much happier about that, and really intrigued as to where RTD takes us from here. I just hope he has a really good explanation for Ten coming back...

Experimental Cookery 2022: Winter Chicken Bake

This one comes from the Hairy Biker's "One Pot Wonders", and is a companion piece to their Summer Chicken Bake. The principle is the same - create a base of vegetables, lay the chicken on top, add a sauce, and bake. Quick, simple, and done.

Tasty, too. On balance, I think I preferred the summer bake, largely because this was essentially just an inferior Sunday Roast in a pan, but on the other hand this had the major advantage that I prepared it in all of 10 minutes, programmed the oven, and then it was ready when we got home. And for that reason, we'll certainly have this again!

Metrics

One of my hard-won lessons is that what you choose to measure inevitably controls your thinking. That is, if you decide that you're going to measure, say, your car's mileage, you'll inevitably find yourself doing something with that number - either you'll seek to drive it down to as low a value as possible, to conserve fuel, or you'll seek to drive it up as high as possible, to see what your "high score" will be on the car. Or something - but people very seldom measure something and then do nothing with that information.

What that means is that you need to pick and choose your metrics very carefully, and just because something is easy to measure does not mean that you should measure it - if something is irrelevant then it's better not to know, so that you focus on other things that are important.

(Indeed, the effect of this can be readily seen in the blog: I've been tracking the number of books read, which has the effect that I've been pushed towards reading shorter books so I can clear them out. Had I instead chosen to count the number of pages read, that would have led to different behaviours.)

The upshot:

• Decide what is important, decide in what way it is important, and measure it (in the right way). Then review the results and take action.
• For things that aren't considered important, don't measure them!

Don't Look Back...

Yesterday the nursery drop off for Surprise! was pretty horrible - he didn't want to be left, and proceeded to grab on to me and hold tight, while starting to cry. That cry turned into a howl as I handed him over (something to do with having to drop him off, which did mean leaving).

This morning was a very different drop off. He happily wandered in to the room, and didn't even turn back to say goodbye. They I took Funsize to school, and her drop off was essentially the same - in she went, without a backwards glance.

Which was certainly better, and indeed it's good that they're both happy to go and indeed confident in doing so, but still a little recognition would be nice, before they gleefully stride away!

Done, But Not Complete

Over the past week we've had the wallpaper stripped from our hallway, and a nice triple coating of paint applied to the walls. This makes for a vast improvement, and means that the bulk of the redecoration job is done.

That said, when I had previously considered this task I must admit that I'd neglected to think of all the other things that need doing: a dramatic change to the walls means we'll also need new carpet, new curtains, and potentially new shades for the two lights. Plus, of course, there is a step of hanging, or re-hanging some pictures on the walls to break up the colour scheme somewhat.

So we've made a bery big step forward, indeed the largest step forward, but there remains a little to do.

Nope, it's too weird

The adjustment to having a new king was going well, I thought - all the requisite chess-based jokes had been made, the republican sentiment had been viciously stamped out, and pen-related failures had been had in abundance. Huzzah!

But this morning I heard on the news that they're now ready to put Charles' effigy on new coins, and while that seems entirely sensible they're going to have him facing the wrong way!

Apparently this is old custom - with each change of monarch they change the direction they are facing on the coins. Which makes sense, I suppose. But ERII reigned for so long that there is now a very clear right way to be facing, and ironically, it isn't to the right. But that's how CRIII will be facing.

(Actually, it's something worth considering that decimalisation occurred during ERII's reign, which meant that all the coins had to be replaced, which means that at no time in my life were we using coins with GRIV's face on them. I might have seen a few very old sixpences that had it, but these weren't ever in actual use. So, yeah, it's pretty ingrained.)

The upshot is that we'll just have to call the whole thing off. Either that, or stop using coins as currency.

Malaise

This hasn't been a great week. It should have been - I've been on a training course all week, which has meant working from home, having a very little to do in the mornings, and then a nice, relaxed afternoon.

But due to Hurricane Ian my course has been cancelled for the past two days, leaing me nastily caught between stools - there's too much time to do nothing all day, but there's also not an obvious thing to do.

What should have been a reasonably restful and yet nicely productive week has turned into a bit of an unproductive mess. Which isn't what I want, on any metric.

Oh well. On the other hand, all of this is a consequence of Hurricane Ian, and it's probably not quite right if I'm complaining!

The Wheel of Time

After some months of waiting, LC and I finally started the "Wheel of Time" TV series. She then dropped out after a few episodes; I gutted it out to the bitter end. And it truly was a bitter end - what a pile of rubbish that was!

I've got to be honest, I knew they were in trouble as soon as I heard some of the key changes, and to explain that I'll need to provide some background:

The "Wheel of Time" books wouldn't be written the way they are these days - some of the material is now considered problematic. In particular, one of the central conceits is that the One Power, the source of magic in the setting, has two halves: a male half and a female half, where the male half has been tainted, leading to all men who call on it inevitably going mad and dying. Additionally, the setting posits a prophesied saviour, the Dragon Reborn, a man who will use the One Power to save the world... or break it.

This creates something of a problem, partly because strict sex binaries are now considered unbearably passé, and partly because you just can't have a prophesied male Chosen One these days.

And yet this is entirely foundational to the series, because the central tension is that you now have a saviour who is also inevitably doomed to madness and death; not only is there nobody around to teach him how to use his power, but how could you ever trust him?

The TV series discards that, of course: here, the One Power is not split (though men still go mad), and the saviour could be a man or a woman.

Now, I should note at this point that I have no objection, in general, to changes to stories and settings. And the notion of a female Chosen One is perfectly fine with me (although the Chosen One narrative itself is extremely dated). But there are some changes that just don't work, because making them so fundamentally alters everything else that it breaks the whole story - you can't have a male Jane Eyre, or a female James Bond. And the Dragon Reborn needs to be a man, or the whole premise falls apart.

Anyway...

If that had been the only problem with the series, that wouldn't have been unrecoverable. If nothing else, they haven't actually changed the identity of the Dragon Reborn, so ultimately it doesn't matter all that much.

And they did make some other changes that were all to the good: compressing a load of stuff, bringing some elements forward so that we won't have entire seasons where nothing happens. And they've shifted the focus, making Moiraine the main character - an especially good idea as Rosamund Pike is excellent in this series.

But that very excellence is in contrast to the other massive problem with the series: Rosamund Pike is excellent, and is perhaps the only actually good performance in the series. The rest of the main cast, and especially the five potential Dragons, are more wooden than the sets.

Beyond that, yeah, I guess it's fine - in a kind of extremely-expensive-yet-somehow-low-budget kind of way. It's just so po faced, tedious, and... blah. There is nothing to recommend this over the books (which I can't recommend either), or indeed going and watching something else.

Ultimately, this is one to avoid. And I won't be returning for season two.

Such a shame.

Experimental Cookery 2022: A Consistently Good Gravy

Ages ago, back when I was working through "Jamie's Ministry of Food", one of the things I omitted was the gravy, largely because I'm just not a fan, and partly because if I ever was inclined to make gravy I always found the powder adequate (because I'm just not a fan). However, it did always bug me that there was that incompleteness.

Funsize let it be known recently that the vegetables we have with a roast are one of her very favourite things, and so on Saturday we had a traditional Sunday roast - beef, roast potatoes, Yorkshir puddings, and so on. And so I took the opportunity to make up a 'proper' gravy.

The upshot: it's all fine. It's easy enough to make, it made for a nice, flavoursome gravy, it was distinctly different than the powdered stuff (big shock)... but it really wasn't worth the effort. I might make it again, but not for either beef or chicken - powder is easily available for those, but for pork, lamb, or turkey it might be worthwhile.

Still, it's certainly not something I regret, and another one to tick off the list.

Best Case Scenario

I wish I could say I was surprised that the Truss government has crashed the economy after less than three weeks in post. But the reality is that I did point out that she was the Dougal McGuire of politics and that the prospect of her as PM filled me with terror. There are only two things I'm not sure of: did they crash it accidentally, because they really are that stupid, or did they do it deliberately so their mates could cash in big time; and, which would be worse?

Anyway, what happens next?

Unfortunately, the best case scenario I can realistically see is genuinely horrifying:

1. Tory MPs submit letters of No Confidence, leading to a very prompt vote to oust Truss.
2. There then proceeds to be another round of Loathe Island as the Tory party selects a new leader. Boris wins, as inevitably he will.
3. Boris then immediately reverses all of Truss's madness. And the markets, breathing a huge sigh of relief, stabilise.
4. And then Boris calls a General Election on the back of being our great saviour, and a grateful nation gives him another five years.

And that's the best case scenario I can foresee. The alternative, which is essentially that this cavalcade of horrors limps on for another two years, is almost too horrible to contemplate.

#26: "Stormchild", by Bernard Cornwell
#27: "Mythological Figures, Maleficent Monsters", by Mike Myler and Russ Morrisey

My Turn

Oddly, I felt the exact moment I came down with Covid - last Tuesday I was feeling quite well, good even, until about 7pm. I had been to work, had dinner, given the children their baths (it being my turn), and was taking a short break between that and putting Funsize to bed. During this interlude I did the washing up, and it was while doing that that I suddenly felt awful - aching all over, sore head, and just generally crap. The next morning I took a test, and sure enough that was that.

Which all rather sucks.

Right now, government policy is that we've beaten Covid, which may be utter nonsense, but there it is, which means that there are legally no restrictions at all. However, work take a considerably more sensible position - I was off on Wednesday (and Thursday and Friday) by virtue of not feeling well, but I'm also back to working from home until such time as I test negative for two days. That said, since I'm also working from home in the final week of September (for other reasons), I may not actually be back to the office any time soon.

I'm actually feeling more or less okay now. Indeed, by some cruel twist of events, it seems that for much of the past weekend I've actually been the least ill person in the house much of the time. So much for it being my turn.

But, more than anything, I'm rather annoyed at all of this - it was Robert's funeral on Saturday, which of course I was unable to attend. Gutted.

#24: "Trials & Treasures", by E. N. Publishing
#25: "Memories of Holdenshire", by Andrew Engelbrite, Sen. H.H.S, and Savannah Broadway 

Something Quite Interesting Happened This Weekend

As we know, the Scottish Government have asked the Supreme Court to rule on whether they can have a referendum on independence without authorisation from Westminster. Westminster, for their part, argue that the constitution is a reserved matter.

It had been widely assumed, including by me, that the Supreme Court were going to rule in favour of Westminster. And, indeed, that even if the Supreme Court sided with Holyrood, Westminster would simply respond by amending the law to block a referendum. And that would be that - no referendum, ever, and we proceed to using a General Election as a de facto referendum.

But...

Last week we got a new king, and at the weekend King Charles was obliged to take various oaths. Including, in specific reference to Scotland, an oath to uphold the Claim of Right.

Now, the Claim of Right is one of the foundational documents of Scotland's constitution. It goes back to the time of Robert the Bruce - the Scottish nobles wanted to make him king, but he had been excommunicated by the Pope, and it was simply unthinkable that someone who had been excommunication could be sovereign in a Christian country. So the nobles wrote to the Pope asserting that while Robert would be king, he would not be sovereign - they made the Claim of Right that it was the people who are sovereign in Scotland. It also asserts that the people of Scotland have the right to choose the form of government that best suits them.

Now, the Claim of Right is usually a historical footnote. The only other time I'm aware of it being invoked was during the Glorious Revolution, to replace James VII with Mary II and William of Orange. That is, of course, an event that leads directly to King Charles III taking the throne.

So, anyway, my assumption had been that the Supreme Court would have considered any appeal to the Claim of Right to be largely a matter of dusty constitutional trivia, and should be put aside in favour of Westminster.

But because of the events of the last week, the Supreme Court will now be making its ruling a matter of a few weeks after a new King (from whom they derive their authority) has just sworn an oath to uphold that right. Suddenly it's not the dusty historical document it once was.

In other words, I'm now not quite so sure that the Supreme Court will side with Westminster. And, more than that, if the Supreme Court do decide, based on the Claim of Right, that Holyrood can conduct their referendum, I'm fairly sure that that same Claim will prevent Westminster from blocking it.

It may yet come to nothing. But it's interesting, at least.

Experimental Cookery 2022: Mini Meatloaves with BBQ Beans

We won't be having this one again.

This was quick, easy, and cheap to make, taking about an hour from start to finish, costing about £5 for all of us, and not really requiring any skill at all. Soften some onion, mix with breadcrumbs and mince, split up and bake. Then prepare some mash and the beans.

I really rather enjoyed it. Sadly, nobody else ate much of it. Funsize, having previously said she'd like it, absolutely refused to touch the mash or the beans, and barely touched the meat; Surprise! had a little of each, but not much; and LC abandoned hers about halfway through.

Which is a shame, but there it is. Been a while since we had a failure like this, but never mind.

Day 250: Update on Goals

It's day 250 of the year already, so it's time for another update on goals:

• Books: By this point I should be aiming to have complete 41.1 books. I've actually completed 23, with three in progress. I have absolutely no chance of hitting my target of 60 books, and it now looks like I won't complete The List either - I expect to be three books short there, too. Disappointing.
• Weight: Nothing much to report here. I've lost a little weight since the previous update, but am still pretty much where I started the year.
• Blogging: By day 250 I should have written 82.2 posts here, so I'm pretty much right on target. I'm also spot-on for the Imaginarium, surprisingly. So this one is going well.
• Redecorating the Hallway: We've booked someone to come and do the work here, have picked out a new colour, and are basically good to go here. I expect to be able to report this as done in the next update.
• Super Secret Goal: This one isn't happening. That's not to say that it was a bad idea - it increasingly looks like it's something I should be getting on with. But I just don't have the bandwidth. So this is an abandoned goal.

The upshot of that is that I expect to finish the year with two goals completed, one abandoned, and two abject failures. 2022 has not been a great year on this front, at all.

Bye Boris!

At the time of writing, Boris Johnson is still Prime Minister of the UK. That will, thank goodness, cease to be the case in the very near future.

I would breathe a huge sigh of relief, but the successor is Liz Truss, the Father Dougal McGuire of British politics. It's really hard to tell if that's an improvement or not - at least with Boris I was confident that he wouldn't accidentally trigger a nuclear exchange.

Oh well, baby steps.

Bye Boris. Please don't come back.

All Caught Up

This is my eightieth blog post of the year, which means I'm now once again at the point where I have caught up with where I 'should' be. Huzzah!

And, yes, it's probably a bit of a cheat to post something saying just that I've posted the right number of times - that's definitely a case of cooking the books to make them look good. But given the effort that has been involved in updating this month, I've decided to allow it. One of the benefits of making up the rules, I guess.

Funny That

LC mentioned the other day that she had been considering the possibility of us getting Funsize a tablet for Christmas. She had had access to one for quite some time, as we gave out ancient Hudl tablet a bit of a reprieve, but that has now reached the point of being actually done for, not merely obsolete, so it was time to consider something else.

Funnily enough, I had been considering much the same thing from a slightly different angle - my intention for my bonuses this year, had they been worth anything, had been to replace all out IT stuff - PCs for me and LC, a new phone for at least one of us, a NAS for use as a media server, and a tablet for family use. As it happened, it was all a moot point...

Anyway, having looked at the options, it appears that the dedicated 'kids' tablets are no longer the way to go - the likes of the Leappad have gone more or less the way of the Hudl in that they haven't had an update in some time. That left us with a choice of inexpensive normal tablets, which have the distinct advantage of being less limited - so we could potentially make use of them for reading, surfing, or whatever else. And some of these are aimed at that kids niche, simply by virtue of being fitted with a robust cover and a kids' profile.

So that seems to have worked out well. Though we'll need to see where we go from here.

Like Riding a Bike...

The last time I rode a bike was about 25 years ago. Unfortunately, the area around where I lived was never really well suited to getting about by bike, the distances I routinely travelled were either too short or too long to justify it, and so as soon as I could drive it became largely obsolete. Technically, I still own a bike, but I suspect that it's now so far gone that it would be better to invest in an entirely new one if I were so inclined.

None of which really matters, since this post isn't actually about me knowing how to ride a bike.

Almost immediately after she was born, Funsize was gifted a bike by a neighbour whose daughter had outgrown it. Some time later, she started riding with stabilizers, and then with a balance handle. But the next, and final, step is to learn to ride without support. And that has proven tricky.

Unfortunately, it is also something that has been hampered by my return to the office, by my failure to schedule regular lessons... and also by a failure to see a way to teach it in a systematic manner. I had a feeling it should look like this, and when this failed, I found myself with no alternative approach to try.

None of which is ideal, since it leaves Funsize not yet able to ride without aid, leaves me frustrated at my failure to teach, and generally leaves us stuck.

Though I do now have an approach to try that looks like it might work. Watch this space...

Took a While

I finally finished "The Angel's Game" yesterday, after having started it at the end of June. Indeed, it was the book that caused me to get so badly bogged down and therefore not complete any in July.

I should note that the reason I got bogged down was nothing to do with the quality of the novel - I thoroughly enjoyed it, especially as I got further into it. But the issue is that it's very much not a quick read, and with time being so limited my notion that I could knock it out in a week was clearly laughable.

Still, it's good to be done with it. Hopefully I'll now be able to pick up the pace a little now - I've narrowed my ambitions down to completing a further twelve books this year, and even that looks oddly tight. (Some of the ones I'm hoping to tackle are huge.)

#23: "The Angel's Game", by Carlos Ruiz Zafon (probably the book of the year so far)

Gala Day Season Ends

The band played Broxburn Gala Day on Saturday. With the cancellation of one other event next month, we've now completed our programme of events for the summer - five in all. And with that, we're now done until our two Christmas events.

As mentioned before, this has been a fairly light, but fairly enjoyable, gala day season. Next year I would expect to see a few more events occurring, although it does look like some are now cancelled forever.

One thing that was particularly pleasing to see on Saturday was that the band is clearly better than it was back when we started the season - as I mentioned, Mid Calder wasn't the disaster that I feared it might have been, but even so the improvement was quite significant. And given that I've been essentially running the band for much of the past couple of months (due to a variety of reasons), I'm claiming a lot of credit for that. The band may well hate me for all the hard work we've put in, but we've definitely seen the benefit.

The challenge now, of course, is to build from this foundation so that we start next season at the same place we finished up this year. A task which starts on Thursday at practice...

A Tribute

I had the very great privilege to be Robert's first piping instructor. He will always be the gold standard against whom all others are now measured.

Robert's enthusiasm and aptitude for the subject was obvious. Every practice we'd cover something, and he'd quickly pick it up. Then, at the next practice it was obvious that he had worked on it very hard; we very rarely had to repeat a lesson.

That by itself would have marked Robert out, but there was more. He was dedicated, always being where he said he'd be when he needed to be there. His uniform and instrument were always well maintained, shown the respect they needed. And that same respect characterised his dealings with people too - I don't recall any picked fights, or cross words, or any trouble at all. That just wasn't his way.

I only knew Robert for too few years as a boy. Even so, the calibre of the man was clear. And it was the very best.

Rest in peace, my friend.

Experimental Cookery 2022: Summer Chicken Bake

This one came from the Hairy Bikers' "One Pot Wonders", which pretty much right away marks it as being a very low-prep meal - it consisted of placing some chicken on a bed of vegetables, baking, adding a sauce, baking again, adding some toppings, and one final bake.

The result was very nice, and we'd definitely have it again. Perhaps most amusing was Surprise!'s response to it all - he was supposed to be having risotto for dinner, but it appears he's a massive fan of chickpeas, demanding multiple helpings. That's no bad thing, as we're now gradually moving him away from 'baby' food and towards the same meals as the rest of us, with the dream being to be able to cook one meal for all four of us. Which happens sometimes, but not as often as I'd like to hope. We'll get there.

Anyway, that's that one.

School Dinners

Funsize started school on Tuesday, which was quite a thing - it seems no time since we were bringing her home as a tiny helpless bundle. But she'd reached a point she was clearly ready to go, as she'd gotten everything out of preschool that she was going to get. Plus, all her best friends were going, so it's good that she did too.

Anyway, on Tuesday she came home with a leaflet outlining the school dinners that are being served. In Scotland all children are entitled to a free lunch at school until P5, which is really good (she gets breakfast too, three days a week). I've written before advocating a provision like this, and indeed a universal provision of this sort, so I'm obviously well pleased with this.

But I was even more impressed on looking through the meals on offer for that school dinner - each day a choice of three options (one of them vegetarian), complete with a starter and drink. The range is impressive, as indeed some of the markers of quality (free range eggs, seasonal vegetables, etc).

This is all really very good. More of it please!

#22: "Level Up: Adventurer's Guide", by E.N. Publishing

Experimental Cookery 2022: Smoky Firecracker Chicken

This one comes from Mary Berry's "Simple Comforts". It's really easy (mix up a marinade, leave the chicken overnight, bake in oven), and the results were very pleasing.

And that's all there is to say about that, really. We'll have this again when we're having a barbecue, and indeed it may replace some of our 'bought' chicken at the birthday BBQ, which is nice.

#21: "Sharpe's Assassin", by Bernard Cornwell (finally finished another book!)

Experimental Cookery 2022: Piri Piri Pheasant

As part of that same box of stuff from the Wild Meat Company, we had a pack of four pheasant breasts marinaded in a piri piri sauce. These then formed the basis of a simple meal earlier in the week - we had them with some rice and some salad.

Cooking the pheasant was a bit tricky. Having looked online, I saw some wildly different cooking times and approaches. In the end, I pan fried them in a little butter for a few minutes on each side, and the finished them off in the oven. The upshot was that they were definitely cooked, but they were probably over-cooked - they were really quite dry.

Taste-wise, these were fine. It was a nice marinade, the meal was different but not unpleasant, and the rice and the salad went well. Unfortunately, Surprise! hasn't been at all well all week, and consequently our mealtime was extremely disturbed; I don't think either LC or I really would have enjoyed any meal that night, and I'm afraid the dryness here didn't help.

Ultimately, I think we won't have these again, mostly because I doubt we'll order that same box again, and without doing so it's unlikely we'll have pheasant. A shame, but there it is.

There is now only one item remaining from that box: we have a couple of venison steaks. These should be much more reliable, so I'm looking forward to getting them used up.

Happy Retirement Serena

It was with some sadness that I saw the news that Serena Williams has decided to retire. I wish her well.

In my opinion, Serena is probably the greatest womens tennis player of all time. The trophy tables may not quite bear that out, but she has twice taken some lengthy time out to focus on other things, and then stepped back and been instantly amongst the very best players. Had she not taken those breaks, the tables would likely look different. The only downside being that she, and her sister, were so good and so dominant for so long that they rendered womens tennis extremely dull for a long time. But that's not their issue.

We've actually been extremely lucky  to have been viewing in an era that has seen arguably the greatest mens player and the greatest womens player of all time playing, and indeed an era in which that greatest mens player has been challenged by multiple contenders for that same spot - for my money Federer is still the best ever, but Nadal and Djokovic are both exceptionally good, and Murray would have been up there but for injury concerns.

So tennis is poorer for the retirement of Serena Williams. And what a gap she leaves!

The Reason Boris is Still Prime Minister

One of the ways being Prime Minister is not like most other jobs is that he or she is not allowed simply to resign and walk away. Legally, the Prime Minister is a part of the Privy Council and serves in that role at the pleasure of the monarch, and so while they can offer their resignation, they cannot simply walk away.

The reason for this is that there must always be a government. Which means that while the horror show of the Tory leadership contest is ongoing, Boris remains Prime Minister, and his various ministers and other sycophants retain their roles. (It's also why Gordon Brown remained Prime Minister in 2010 while the Tories and the Lib Dems finalised their coalition agreement, and indeed why our MPs stop being MPs while an election is ongoing but our PM does not stop being the PM.)

And the reason we must always have a government is that at any time a crisis may occur that requires immediate action. The country cannot be paralysed while a pandemic hits, or if we are plunged into war.

Or while there's a cost of living crisis rapidly blowing up in all our faces.

When government ministers claim that they cannot take action until a new PM is elected and in place, they are talking unmitigated rubbish. They is precisely what the government is there for.

What Does It Have To Do With You?

Rishi Sunak won't be our next Prime Minister. Despite his very best efforts, he just isn't awful enough for the Tories. A shame - although he is truly, truly awful, at least I wouldn't be concerned about him accidentally kicking off World War 3.

Rishi's latest pitch is to crack down on 'bad' degrees - the ones that don't raise income potential. It's a classic Tory talking point, sadly just too little too late.

But...

Leaving aside the question of how you define a 'bad' degree, leaving aside the problem that qualifications in nursing and teaching would be included in those that reduce income potential, and indeed leaving behind the massive societal benefits of having an educated populace, there is another issue:

University education in England is not free. The students who are at university studying for these 'bad' degrees are paying tens of thousands of pounds for the privilige. (That's one of the very worst legacies of the Blair government, but that's another rant.)

That being the case, it's not the government's business whether those reduce income potential or not. The market has spoken, and the Tories, of all people, should be respecting that.

So, really, what does it have to do with them?

The Orville: New Horizons

The third season of "The Orville" has been streaming on Disney+, and came to an end last night. For the most part it has been a fantastic third season - it's probably not the best place for new viewers to start, but otherwise it has been exceptional.

I was extremely surprised by the final episode, which was not at all what I was expecting. That said, I very much enjoyed the episode, and felt that it made for an extremely good finale for the series as a whole. At the moment it isn't clear whether there will be a fourth season or not, and I now find myself torn. On the one hand, it has been left with a really strong platform for continuing; on the other hand, that last episode makes for a near-perfect sendoff. So maybe it's better to let it go at this point.

Anyway, this is yet another success for Disney+, which is by far the strongest of our three subscriptions. And it is highly recommended.

Six Weeks

I see "Lightyear" has made the jump from the cinema to Disney+, which is good news for us - we weren't going to make it to the cinema to see it, and now don't have to wait. But that means that the gap is all of six weeks. "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" was seven weeks between the two. "Thor: Love and Thunder" released in cinemas on the 23rd of June, which means that it has been out six weeks as of now - there's no indication of when it will come to Disney+, but given the above it would seem to be fairly soon.

And if that's the case, suddenly there is absolutely no point in going to the cinema to see anything from the Disney/Pixar/Marvel/Lucasfilm/20th Century stable - since we're going to get it for no extra cost just a few weeks later, it's not worth the expense.

Which, of course, bodes really badly for the cinema industry as a whole, because that stable represents a huge chunk of the 'big' films, and the other streaming services will be pushing for similarly quick transitions for other films. (I note that "Jurassic World: Dominion" is already available for home rental, and am presuming it will be on one of the services soon.)

There's no great point or conclusion here; I'm just noting how extreme things have become.

What it does mean, ultimately, is that the cinema is going to be much less about going to see the new big releases, and much more about the experience of going to the cinema - which to a very large extent means either taking the kids out for a treat, or taking ourselves out in the absence of the kids.

Congratulations England

I must confess that I didn't watch any of the recent European Championships, largely due to have no time at all in which to do so (and a to do list that is absurdly long). So I'm not in a position to say much of any value about it at all.

Except one thing: congratulations to the England team on what is a great achievement.

Maximising the Vote

Whoever wins the current season of Loathe Island... sorry, the Tory leadership contest, will no doubt be asked by Nicola Sturgeon if they will authorise a Section 30 order for a second independence referendum. They will, just as inevitably, say "no". Later this year, the Supreme Court are going to rule on whether the Scottish Parliament can hold such a referendum without such an order (and, in effect, whether Scotland is a voluntary member of a union, or an imprisoned colony in the English Empire). The expectation is that they will also say "no".

At which point the next General Election becomes a de facto referendum.

Now, in order to 'win' such a contest, the pro-independence side will require two things:

• A majority of the votes cast.
• The overwhelming majority of Scotland's seats - ideally, all 59, but certainly more than the 48 currently held.

In order to achieve these, the best approach is for the "yes" camp to get behind a single candidate in every seat, to maximise the vote for that candidate. And, since they enjoy by far the strongest name recognition (and since this will, rightly or wrongly, be perceived as their initiative), that candidate should be SNP.

Which is absolutely fine in 56 of the constituencies, where the SNP are either the incumbent or the strongest pro-independence opposition. But there are 2 seats currently held by Alba and one by a (formerly-SNP) independent.

Now, in a normal election, what would happen is that they'd stand for re-election, the SNP would put up candidates, the SNP would win the seats, and the three individuals would be out of politics for a while. No big deal.

But in a de facto referendum, that represents a big risk. Firstly, it's just possible that the split vote will allow a unionist to sneak in, cutting the number of seats down a tad. More importantly, the votes that go to the losing Alba/independent candidate will inevitably not be added to the SNP total, and so will be 'lost' to the pro-independence cause.

Which kind of sucks for the individuals involved, but they're going to have to ask themselves: just how much do they really value independence? Will they stand down for the good of the cause?

Highs and Lows of the Weekend

It has been an eventful weekend...

Low! Surprise! is going through a phase where he has decided that he loves Mummy but hates Daddy. Frustrating for LC; soul-destroying for me.

High! I was at a band event on Saturday. When I got there I discovered that, once again, some fool had left me in charge. It went well.

High! LC went out for the evening on Saturday, and once Surprise! got used to the idea he realised that actually it's not so bad. Things got a bit tense around 10.30 when he woke up again and had to come to terms with the fact that Mummy simply wasn't there, but eventually he was persuaded to have a drink of water and go back to sleep.

Low! No sleep on Saturday night - LC returned home after midnight, Surprise! work us up just after 5.

Low! I had volunteered to do the reading in church this week, which would have been fine except that the Old Testament reading was Hosea 1 - the uplifting tale of how our hero was instructed to name his children Unloved and NotMine. Cheery stuff, that hits rather differently now than it did a few years ago.

High! A nice visit to Almond Valley in the afternoon. Fun in the sun, ice creams, and a little bit of a rest.

High! WIld boar for dinner. See my previous post.

High! Surprise! seems to have realised he doesn't hate Daddy after all.

Low! But he has gunky eyes and a fever.

Low! And now it's Monday.

Experimental Cookery 2022: Sticky BBQ'd Wild Boar Loin Steaks

For my birthday BBQ this year we once again bought a box of stuff from the Wild Meat Company. In the event, a lot of it went unused, and so we're now gradually working through the leftovers. This time out was the wild boar loin steaks.

There isn't really anything to say about the preparation or the meal here - it was a very quick marinade followed by a quick cook on the griddle (would have been the BBQ, but too much hassle just for this). Really, the experimental cookery is about the meat.

And it was fine. Both LC and I kind of liked it, but neither of us was utterly blown away. Given the cost of wild boar relative to other meats, this is therefore not something we'll have again except as an incidental (if we make another combined order and end up with these left). Which is fine.

One thing that I did find interesting was that the boar was left very slightly rare (which is apparently fine with boar, unlike pork). This wasn't something that I would normally have done, and indeed even with duck is something I have studiously avoided. But it was fairly apparent, at least in this case, that it was the way to go - the meat was left softer as a result, which made for better eating. Maybe one day we'll try duck again and apply the same lesson.

Oh, and also a disaster: we should have used our steak knives! They so rarely get called upon, and this would have been a good chance. Oh well.

Gala Day Season

One of the many things that was cancelled during the pandemic, and that has now resumed to a certain extent, is Gala Day season. For the uninitiated these are local celebrations largely intended to drum up some community spirit. Over the years they have waxed and waned in popularity, though they do seem much stronger in the middle of Scotland than further West - there were a good number when we lived in Falkirk, and there seem to be more now we live in Livingston.

Following the pandemic, the Gala Days appear to fall into three camps: about a third seem simply to be 'done' (they haven't happened this year and look unlikely to resume); about a third are still on hiatus but expected to return next year; and about a third have been back.

My band have attended three Gala Days so far this year (Mid Calder, Uphall Station, and Polbeth), and are attending another not-Gala Day on Saturday. We then have one in Broxburn later in the year.

All in all, this has been a fairly successful, if rather light, year - we usually do a few more galas than this, but on the other hand it was no bad thing to ease back in gently. Plus, the Gala Days that we have attended have gone pretty well (at least for our part!), and in particular Mid Calder was not the disaster I feared it might have been, given that we'd been away for nearly three years by that point.

Oh, No...

I don't particularly care for Rishi Sunak, for a variety of reasons, but I wouldn't have a problem with him as PM - if nothing else, he's a fairly serious person with some reasonable sense. Alas, I don't think he's going to get the job.

I likewise don't like Penny Mordant, and in particular I didn't like her penchant for lying (especially over the Turkey veto) - after Boris, the last thing we need is another Prime Liar. But, again, she was a fairly serious person, and I wouldn't have had a problem with her as PM.

But the prospect of Liz Truss as PM terrifies me. Not because I think she's particularly malevolent; indeed, of the three she's probably the least troublesome in that regard. But, alas, I think she's a blithering idiot. She's basically the Dougal McGuire of politics - she's nice and inoffensive enough, but liable to burn the whole place down by accident.

And she's probably our next PM. Looks like Theresa May will soon have serious competition for her title of second-worst PM of all time record.

Day 200: Update on Goals

Shockingly, it's day 200 of the year already. So, time for another update on goals:

• Books: As I noted a few weeks ago, I'm now hopelessly behind on my reading - I've completed only 20 books, and have read essentially nothing in all of July. I won't be hitting the 60 book target, or anything close to it, and the jury is out on whether I'll finish The List this year - there are four books to go, which shouldn't be impossible but is looking increasingly tight.
• Weight: The update here is devastating - shortly after returning to the office I lost a fair bit of weight, only for it all to come piling back on. I don't even know what happened there; I dropped weight because I essentially stopped snacking, but I didn't start again prior to it coming back. Sigh.
• Blogging: By day 200 I should have written 65.75 posts here. That puts me 7 behind target. As with the reading, I've largely skipped all of July so far, but am gradually picking up the slack again. I've posted 30 times on the Imaginarium, and again haven't posted in July.
• Redecorating the Hallway: We've concluded that we're not able to do the decorating ourselves this time - stripping the wallpaper from above the stairs is a tougher job than we can manage. So the intent is to get someone in to do it for us this time, with the expectation that we will be able to repaint it in future.
• Super Secret Goal: I said last time that I'd be in a position to make a definitive decision on this by now... and I still can't. That's frustrating, to say the least. I think the answer to that is that I'm going to have to spend some time exploring my options, and then see where things go. (There's more to say on this one, much more, but it's a topic I don't blog about.)

And that's the update. It's a poor one this time, filled with setbacks and frustrations. Which is about right.

Service Not Included

I don't carry cash these days - with the rise of contactless I have taken to using my card for even very small payments, and with the pandemic the use of cash has fallen massively out of favour in general. This occasionally causes problems with things like paying for parking, though I mostly deal with that through the medium of being prepared (that is, I take coins with me when I know I'm going to need them).

Unfortunately, this left me in a moral bind last week - LC and I went out to dinner, we had a great time, and then the bill came. "Service not included" was printed on the receipt, and there was no option to add a tip at the card machine.

Which sucked. It was a good meal, and those who produced it deserved some recognition of their work. But I can't give a tip in cash if I don't have any cash, obviously.

There are, of course, solutions to this. The best is actually to abolish tipping - it's radical, but restaurants could actually pay their staff appropriately and set their prices to match. Failing that, the ability to add a tip at the paypoint could be made available as standard. And failing even that, add a contactless point somewhere in the restaurant for electronic tipping.

In the meantime, it's tricky. Ultimately, I couldn't give a tip with cash I didn't have, I felt bad about it, but there it is.

Two Quick Notes About a Plebiscitary Election

Just two quick further thoughts about the use of a Westminster election as a de facto referendum:

• It's worth noting that this means that the franchise would be more restricted than in the 2014 referendum, and indeed in the proposed 2023 referendum, Holyrood elections, or similar. In Scotland the right to vote extends to 16 year olds, and is based on residency rather than citizenship... but not for General Elections. That may well be enough to swing the answer from "yes" to "no".
• There is a question of what it means to 'win' such a thing, since first past the post means that the SNP have an overwhelming majority of Scottish MPs on a narrow minority of the vote. Here I need to note that while I am in favour of independence, I am a democrat first - I won't support independence unless a majority of votes cast are in favour.

Indyref 2: What Next?

I was somewhat surprised by Nicola Sturgeon's statement in the Scottish Parliament today - it was considerably more clear cut than I had expected. I also found it reassuringly close to my preferred set of options - try for a Section 30 first, if that fails try for a referendum without, and if that fails use an election as a de facto referendum. I would have preferred that to be a Holyrood election rather than a General Election, but we can't have everything.

My big unknown concerns the question of what happens next? It's now clear that Westminster can't stop Scotland having a vote, of some description, so what is their best play?

My first thought is that they may well try to obstruct as much as they can - deny the Section 30 request, fight through the courts as long as possible, and if necessary repeal the relevant Act and/or specifically legislate to ensure the referendum can't go ahead. That buys time, but it doesn't stop the vote - the General Election remains the fallback, and can't be avoided.

I did wonder whether they might consider some legislation to try to block the SNP turning the General Election into a de facto referendum (perhaps by making it illegal to campaign for the break up of the country), but it's hard to see how they can do that without major problems in Northern Ireland. They might, of course, still do that, but let's hope not.

So that would suggest that the General Election will indeed become the fallback, a de facto referendum. Not my preference, but we really do need to get this done.

But...

I do wonder if Westminster wouldn't be better coming to the table and negotiating. "Yes, you can have a Section 30 order. But..." That probably gives them the most control over the process, and may give the union the best chance of survival. The big problem with it, though, is that there's only a limited scope for negotiation - there have been lots of fixes along the way, and patience with them is exceedingly thin. So trying to limit the franchise, or require a super-majority, or similar is probably a non-starter. Their best bet may be to influence the question - cast it as Remain/Leave rather than Yes/No. But I'm really not sure how effective that truly is.

Of course, there is one other option - block the referendum, let the SNP fight the election on that one-line manifesto, and then simply ignore the result. A few years ago I would have said that they surely wouldn't do that... but things are very different now.

The Melon Incident

We had my birthday BBQ on Sunday (a few days in advance of the actual event). It was, once again, an enjoyable affair. This time we were exceptionally lucky with the weather - it rained before and after the cooking, but was dry for a couple of hours at the key time.

The one small fly in the ointment came in the middle of the afternoon when Funsize sought out some melon to eat, only to discover it was all gone. She was consequently very upset, not least because she hadn't actually had any. Fortunately, some kind soul made a trip to Morrisons yesterday and bought some for her to enjoy.

As always, we over-catered for the BBQ. In truth, I'd rather have too much than too little, but it does seem that we'd be better off without quite so much excess. I'll need to look at that, as my calculations should have been okay, but this proved not to be accurate. Still, I'll be having a BBQ at work before too long, so perhaps there is scope for using up some of the leftovers.

Funny How Things Turn

Last year the Tories won a huge byelection victory in Hartlepool. At that point their command of the political map was absolute, and growing stronger all the time - they were riding high in the polls, they were up against a feeble opposition, they had the media in their pocket, and they were rapidly consolidating their hold by drawing up boundary changes, taking control of elections, and disenfranchising the poor. They basically looked unbeatable.

And then Partygate happened.

It turns out that the British people don't, after all, like being taken for fools. They don't like being lied to, and given the runaround. They don't like being instructed to make sacrifices, some of them truly terrible, only to have those who make the rules break the rules and then crow about it.

And they don't like that Boris absolutely and completely refused to take the fall that was unquestionably coming.

Last night the Tories suffered two utterly crushing byelection defeats. It is likely, if there were to be a General Election in the near future, that they would be utterly devastated, to the extent that even Boris and Jacob Rees-Mogg would lose their seats.

The game is up, and all because Boris and Carrie just couldn't bear not to party in the pandemic.

Obi-Wan

LC and I have been watching through the Obi-Wan series on Disney+. It has been pretty good, though it is very much not an unalloyed joy - each episode seemed to have something that just didn't work all that well. Still, it was decent fun, and good to catch up with both the main characters.

Having said that, I'm very much hoping that this is a one-and-done series. Like "Picard", it was a good story that was worth the telling, but my feeling is that it was good once, but would very definitely be a case of diminishing returns. Plus, I'm increasingly inclined to think that Star Wars needs to move on from the Skywalker Saga and the ancilliary stories, and instead do something genuinely new and unconnected.

Netflix: Coming to the End of the Road?

We've had Netflix now for a few years. Initially, it was good value - pretty much immediately there was "Star Trek: Discovery", which was soon joined by "The Witcher", "The Good Place", and a bunch of others. But it has gradually been winding down in use and thus value. Worse, it has lost Discovery, and will soon be losing the rest of Trek, and it has been getting fewer and fewer interesting new shows.

The truth is, it has just begun to be overshadowed by Disney+ (which is extremely good) and even Prime. And now, with Paramount+ coming on-stream, and with Now TV scooping up most of the best films, the offering is looking increasingly threadbare.

The upshot is that I think we're now closer to the end of our time with Netflix than to the start. It's not time yet, but the time to cancel is coming.

What that means in practice is this:

For the time being, we'll keep it, and continue watching the shows we're currently watching. However we won't start watching anything new on a whim - unless there's something that jumps out at us as "you must watch this!", of course.

Over time, that means that the list of shows we watch will gradually drop - they'll move to other services, come to their end, or drop in quality. If nothing new is being added, and things are ending, it will fall from use.

And every so often we'll need to ask ourselves whether it is still worth the money. As long as that remains a "yes", we'll keep it (and, for the moment, it's a "yes", although not by much), but when the time comes that that changes, it will be time to pull the plug.

Of course, all that said, I'm more or less minded to think that the best approach to all these streaming services is actually to be quite mercenary with them - drop in for a few months, binge a bunch of stuff, and then move on to the next one. Right now, Disney+ seems to be the only one that really justifies a permanent spot.

#20: "Kobold Guide to Monsters", by Kobold Press

Experimental Cookery 2022: Aubergine and Potato Curry

This one came from the Tesco magazine, so I don't expect it is even remotely authentic! However, it tasted okay to me. (LC was less enamored of it. It appears that her appreciation of aubergines is very much conditional on how they are cooked.)

The meal was easy to prepare, if a little time-consuming - about an hour from start to finish. That said, it may have felt worse than it really was, as I spent almost the whole of Saturday afternoon cooking one thing or another. And, as an added bonus, it provided not only a dinner for the two of us, but also a lunch for me on Monday (with one final portion that was discarded).

All in all, I think that's a pretty good showing. I don't think this will be being added to our permanent 'veggie' repertoire, but it might be good to have as an occasional change.

#19: "The Gates of Firestorm Peak", by Bruce Cordell

Playing With Fire

As I've mentioned, I'm deeply skeptical of the SNP's chances of actually holding a second independence referendum next year. However, I've been deeply worried at some of the responses to the announcement.

On the one hand, we have various strands of the unionist camp who have been positively gleeful in announcing that of course it won't happen because of course Westminster have an absolute veto - they'll say "no", and that's the end of the matter.

The major reason that that's problematic is that it cuts right through a crucial point of principle: is Scotland a voluntary member of a union, courtesy of having had a vote in 2014, or is Scotland an imperial possession, that was only permitted that vote by the very great generosity of an indulgent (and arrogant) Prime Minister?

If the answer to that is "we're a voluntary member of a union", then Scotland must have the right to ask itself if we want to remain in that union - unilaterally, whenever we want, and indeed as often as we want. (It would be reasonable to specify in law a "cooling down" period between votes. At present, however, no such period is defined - and if one is to be introduced, it must take effect after the next such referendum. We need to know what we're voting for.)

(The "once in a generation" thing was campaign rhetoric by Alex Salmond who, not surprisingly, isn't the definitive authority on anything. It certainly wasn't a promise, a condition, or in any way binding. But even if it had been, UK law does actually define what a "generation" is in terms of a referendum for leaving the UK, which is specified in the Good Friday Agreement as 7 years. Which, of course, have already passed.)

On the other hand, we have had various people suggesting that if the SNP go ahead with an advisory referendum without Westminster approval, the UK government should follow the example of Spain with Catalonia, and violently repress Scottish democracy. Which is an utterly abhorrent thing to suggest, and which I'll therefore waste no more time on.

Fundamentally, though, many of the unionist commentators are coming to the position that Westminster should have a permanent veto on a referendum and that they should permanently exercise it; and that, therefore, Scotland should never be allowed a democratic route to independence.

I find that really quite scary, because while it may be superficially attractive it betrays a lack of deep thought. If you close off every peaceful, democratic route to independence, that doesn't end the struggle for independence. It will stops it being peaceful and democratic - a prospect that is, of course, terrifying. That should be the last thing that we want.

If Westminster are indeed to veto the referendum in 2023, as I'm pretty sure they will (one way or another), they must detail when and how one may be held in the future. Otherwise, they are playing with fire.

Calling It

We're now at the mid-point of June, and I'm on the verge of finishing my first book of the month. Given that last month started off as a good month for reading before ending with me dropping yet further behind, I'm going to call it early: there's no chance of me catching up on the reading goal. Indeed, my expectation is that I'll drop further behind, and quite possibly yet further behind with each month that passes.

That being the case I'm mostly abandoning that goal for this year, leaving in place a much-restricted goal: I'd like to read though the remaining four books from The List this year. Though even that feels like a challenge.

I'll Believe It When I See It

Today Nicola Sturgeon announced the start of a new independence campaign, with the intent to have a second referendum in 2023. Her stated intent is to request a Section 30 order, but to go ahead without if need be.

I'm afraid I'm deeply skeptical of this. Indeed, I'm doubtful of both her ability to do as she has said but even her intent to do so. I think there's a distinct possibility that this announcement is about placating factions within the SNP-voting base, but may well be intended at the outset to fail.

The biggest block, as far as I can see, is that Westminster retains the right to pass any legislation it wishes over any part of the UK. So if Holyrood does go ahead with a referendum in the absence of agreement, rather than challenging it in course (or perhaps as well as doing so), Westminster can simply pass legislation repealing the relevant Act. And, for good measure, barring Holyrood from trying again. And, unlike in the question of the referendum bill itself, there is absolutely no doubt about Westminster's right to do that - they certainly can.