We have two days of hot weather to either enjoy, or endure, and the weather forecasters tell us that the temperatures should dip a little lower on Monday and then we may have some thunder and rainstorms on Tuesday. Whether we get the rain or not, we shall have to wait and see. This morning, we thought we would make the best of the fine weather by having a full load of washing done and then pegged out onto the washing line by 10.30 and with these temperatures, it should not take too long to be completely dry. Meg and I went by car to pick up our newspaper and our friendly newsagent informed us that he was going to be shut for a week as he is going on holiday to Vienna, which sounds marvellous. Next week, we shall have to get used to getting our newspaper voucher exchanged at Waitrose, as we used to in years gone by. Meg and I made our way to the park and passed the time of day with Intrepid Octogenerian Hiker who was half way through his regime of some 9-10 km per day. Then we were joined by Seasoned World Traveller for whom I had acquired a SIM for his standby mobile. We gossiped a bit about mutual acquaintances and thought we would probably rendezvous again on Tuesday morning in Waitrose. We drove home and made a lunch of mince,broccoli and baked potato – unremarkable but typical on a Saturday. This afternoon,after a siesta, I made a brief foray into the garden to remove a bramble that had suddenly grown and was annoying me but making descent into Mog’s Den for the first time in a week, I noticed with some pleasure that a buddleja I had planted last year has now grown to an enormous size. In fact, it probably needs a good tying up but I am going to wait until the weather cools down before I attempt this.

The news came through yesterday of the stabbing of Salman Rushdie and I found myself quite upset by it. I was talking to our chiropodist about the partition of India and the novel by Salman Rushie ‘Midnight’s Children’ which is fictitious in one sense, but absolutely realistic in another as it documents the traumas suffered when the Musim and Hindu populations that had coexisted pretty well for decades in Indian villages were wrenched apart by the dynamics set in place by partition, many families finding themselves the ‘wrong’ side of the line. The British by and large stood by and did nothing whilst the communal violence flared across the border areas. There are a series of programmes (on Channel 4 I think) where descendants of British Asians have gone back to find the villages in which their grandparents had lived and whether they were remembered at all from those traumatic times in 1947. Salman Rushdie appears to be quite seriously injured and as I write, it may be that he will lose one eye completely, the nerves in one of his arms has been severed and his liver badly damaged by the attack. One commentator has observed that ‘his fight is our fight’ and I suspect that this is a sentiment shared by many of us. It may be some time before Rushdie’s medical condition stabilises for a firm prognosis but what is particularly shocking is that this attack took place some 32 years after the fatwa (a type of call for assassination) was pronounced on Rushdie by the Ayatollah of Iran in 1989. The attacker has now been charged with murder but we must await some of the news bulletins to ascertain whether the attack actually was the result of the ‘fatwa’ or something more random.

I have been in contact with our friends in Scarborough to firm up the arrangements for us to meet in York in about twelve days time. I think I have found a suitable hotel on the appoaches to the station and once I have heard from our friends, I can go ahead and make a firm booking for the four of us. We will have tremendous amount to catch up on as we we have not actually met face-to-face for I think about four years now and quite a lot of water have flowed under the bridge in both of our lives. I have ensured that Meg and I both have up-to-date rail discount passes so that we can make the journey from Harrogate to York without having to trouble ourselves with car parking in central York. Meg and I decided to get married in York and our son went to boarding school there, so the city of York has very happy associations for all members of the family. We think we should be clear of train drivers’ disputes on the day we intend to travel but we will keep our fingers crossed!

Today we were pleased to have no particular commitments and all we had to do was to develop strategies to survive the heat. The next three days are probably going to be critical and, thereafter, there ought to be some cooling and the possibility of downpours with, perhaps, a thunderstorm or two thrown in. To avoid the heat, we travelled by car to pick up our newspaper and then made our way to the park. We were practically fried to a frazzle on our normal bench but shortly afterwards the adjacent bench. nicely located under a large sycamore tree, became vacant and we were delighted to occupy it and to enjoy some gentle breezes. We had hoped to see one or two of our regular park friends today but neither made an appearance so after a suitable wait, we made our way home. Fortunately today we had a very simple lunch planned which was a meal of seabass served on a bed of lettuce. This is quickly and easily prepared and is nutritious without being too filling but in view of the tremendous heat (28-29 degrees outside our back door), we treated ourselves to a sweet of cooling ice-cream. This afternoon, Meg and I started off the afternoon by changing into some nice cooling clothing, appropriate to today’s conditions, because we have to do everything we can to keep ourselves stable in these unprecedented times. I have already filled the fridge with several bottles of tap water so that we always have some cooled water available. Then I replied to some of my emails at length. First, one of my university flatmates who lives in Colombo, Sri Lanka, had lost the address of my blog so he had written to a mutual friend/flatmate. I supplied both the WordPress and the text version web addresses and also included my current business card which some months ago, I had the foresight to put on an easily accessible website. Then I wrote a long email to our University of Winchester friend who lives in a little hamlet in Berkshire and updated her on all of the activities in which we have been engaged since she came to stay with us about a month ago. After this, I texted one of our friends with whom we hope to rendezvous when we make our visit up to Yorkshire in about 12 days time. I have done preliminary research to locate a restaurant within easy reach of York station that will act as a meeting point for the four of us – my first choice of restaurant had to be abandoned when I discovered that it only opens in the evening and not at lunchtimes apart from the weekends but I have now located a hotel with a good restaurant in the approaches to the station which I think will fit the bill for us.

As I write today, there is a special program to which I am half listening on the heatwave and the drought. One fact that has emerged is that one fire started on a farm somewhere in the South where an agricultural implement had struck a stone which created a spark and that was enough to set the grassland alight and for the fire to take hold. There is also quite a lot of talk about the reservoirs that have been built (or rather not been built) in the past few decades. Although there are plans to build a new reservoir in Havant to assist the rain starved South of the country, it appears that many reservoirs have been been sold off to increase the profitability of the water companies rather than to enhance the supply of water. I heard one account that suggested that the last major reservoir to be built ‘in the South’ was Rutland Water, perhaps commentators being ignorant of the fact that this is the East Midlnds and not the South! There is also a report that the capacity of Rhine has reduced so much that the clearance of the huge barges that ply up and down the Rhine is now down to about 40cm (about the size of large rock) The Rhine is decribed as the ‘M1’ of Germany as so many heavy goods are distributed up and down its length. The solution of the Germans is to transport loads in much smaller barges only one quarter of the capacity of the normal transportation barges. This is evidently inefficient, clogs up the river and the cumulative effect of all of this may be to knock half a percentage point off the anticipated economic growth of the German economy this year. There seems to be a growing consensus that these extremes of heat are going to be the ‘new’ normal and this means that serious thought has to be given to stop leakages and increase investment in water. Of course, privatisation was meant to be the ‘solution’ to all of these problems but we are seeing a familiar pattern in which concern about returns to shareholders seems much important than investment to improve the water supply, whatever the water regulator attempts to do.

Today being a Thursday is my shopping day so I got up in plenty of time in order to arrive at the supermarket before it opens at 8.00am. I was there at 5 minutes before opening so myself and another ‘early bird’ spent some time chatting about how we were coping with the extremely hot weather and the uses of vinegar as a home made weedkiller. I mention this because the acetic acid in the vinegar acts as a dessicating agent and the hotter the sun, the more the leaves will shrivel and die at minimal expense. After I had done the shopping and then whizzed around for the newspaper, I got home and had a delayed breakfast. By the morning’s post, some pre-odered SIMS arrived for a couple of ancient mobile phones that I am going to use as backups. I have found through bitter experience that one of the best low-cost but reliable provders is Tescomobile and as I already have an account set up, it is easy to add a couple of ‘Family and Friends’ into my account details and then adding a little bit of credit to each becomes a breeze. I have also discovered over the years that this provider has a top-up number which repeats the number of the SIM back to you and this is particularly useful just to ensure that the newly installed SIMS are working as intended. Another reason for using this service is that they do not necessarily cancel the account if it is left unused for a period of time (as backup phones typically are) and although their terms and conditions state that one should make at least one chargeable call every six months, I think that in practice this is often as much as a year. After extolling the virtues of this, I also have ordered a spare SIM for Seasoned World Traveller who I will probably see in the park over the next day ot so.
After that, Meg and I made for the huge M&S store at Longbridge just ‘down the road’ where we were shopping for underwear. Bewildered by the range of choice in ladies undergarments – I will not be more specific at this stage – we got the assistance of a very friendly shop assistant who managed to direct me to the correct style, size and colour of the garments in question. We treated ourselves to cups of coffee and a dainty little sandwhich which I figured would be better for us than filling ourselves full of cake and so we made for home. It was so hot today that I made ourselves a very light lunch based around a tin of tuna which I always keep in stock for such occasions and it certainly sufficed. We knew that our chiropodist was due at 3.00pm so we made sure that we were all lunched, washed up and tidied up before she arrived.

This evening, Meg and I had scheduled for ouselves to attend a special church service which was the ‘official’ induction of the new priest. We got there in plenty of time and in no time at all, the church was absolutely packed. As well as the ‘normal’ congregation there was also delegation from the cathedral and other members of the church hierarchy, some members of cognate congregations and quite a fair number of relatives. The only similar event I have ever attended was as a guest to the inauguration of a distant cousin of my mothers to the bishopric of Liverpool in the Anglican church and this was held, as I remember, in York Minster for some reason now forgotten. This occasion was marked by a profusion of ritual but I was quite touched by the emotional appeal of it all as the responses of the congregation was quite heartfelt and vociferously expressed and the congregation joined in the singing of the hymns, and the occasional sung response, with a gusto more redolent of Methodism than Catholicism. Afterwards, there was a magnificent buffet and Meg and chatted with people some of whom we knew a little by sight and some of whom recognised us from the park. We were delighted to meet up again with a doughty Geordie lady who is in her mid 80’s but who, after a bad episode of COVID and quite a long stay in hospital, now preferred to worship ‘on line’ rather than attending Church in person. She was very sweet and kindly when I updated her on Meg’s ailments and whilst Meg was chatting, I circulated a little and told some of my theological jokes (such as the Desmond Tutu story mentioned in the blog a day or so ago) to anyone I thought I would appreciate it. I was very touched to see the warmth with which members of the congregation came to express their congratulations and support for our new priest and Meg and I were practically the last to leave. Tomorrow morning, we have no pressng commitments so we might allow the luxury of an extra few minutes in bed after all of this excitement.

Needless to say, the day started off hot and sultry and is probably the start of a series of 4-5 days until a thunderstorm might cool us all down. In the 1970’s, we all got used to lawns that were scorched yellow and it is almost the same all over again, although I suspect that the temperatures now may be hotter and more extensive than they were fifty years ago. It is evident that we need to save whatever water we can in the few days and weeks ahead so I am trying to do my little bit by not throwing away washing up water but letting it cool down and then throwing it over some of the plants (in pots) outside our back door. We had a morning filled with one of the minor frustrations of life. After we had collected our newspaper, we then repaired to the park and had our coffee and were it not to be for the slightest of cooling breezes, we would have been burnt to a frazzle. Then we toiled to the far end of the High Street in seach of a branch of Barclays Bank with whom we have some financial affairs to settle. As soon as we got there, the branch looked closed as indeed it is every Wednesday and, as from October, we were told that the branch was going to be closed completely and those who had dealings with Barclays Bank would need to travel to Redditch, a neighbouring town some 7 miles away. When I talk with neighbours and friends, I am constantly given horror stories about how badly banks treat their customers these days – I suppose since ‘quantitative easing’ when shedloads of mony was pushed by the Bank of England towards the Banks, they do not really need customers like us any more and we just represent a cost or even a nuisance. Not everything you want to do can be handled online but the banks do make it harder and harder for ‘ordinary’ customers.

This afternoon, our hairdresser called round and so we are both duly shorn. We were also expecting our chiropodist who failed to turn up which was no surprise as we had misread our own planning board as she is not due to come until tomorrow. After the shopping is done first thing tomorrow morning, we might go the large M&S store in Longbridege (ex-site of the ‘Austin’ factory, aka British Leyland) It is a little known fact that during World War Two, over 3,000 aircraft were also produced at Longbridge – including the famous Hawker Hurricane, which won around 60% of air victories in the Battle of Britain.) I happen to have a particular fondness for the Hawker Hurricane ever since I made a model of one when I was a boy in about 1960. There was a firm called ‘KeilCraft’ who printed out designs on balsa wood. To construct the model of your choice, you cut it out with a craft knife, glued it altogether, covered it in a tissue paper to which ‘dope’ was then applied to shrink it over the frame and finally it got painted in the authentic colours of the originals. Needless to say, it took a lot of patient hours of work and one wonders if there is any equivalent in the toys and handicrafts of today.

Today, it looks as though the seriousness of the crisis facing the British economy is finally starting to strike home. A Treasury minister has confirmed that a package of measures is being worked upon in the background and despite denials from the politicians, whoever wins the election for the party leader will no doubt implement a lot of what officals have decided. Liz Truss,in particular, has always maintained that tax cuts plus removal of the ‘green levies’ on fuel will be her principal policy choice – but she has no answer to the fact that this alone cannot bridge the massive increase in fuel costs. The average fuel bill was £1,400 in October 2021 but after fuel ‘caps’ are removed, this is expected to rise to £4,266 next January. The government is committed to giving everyone £400 towards this increase of £2,800 which is about one seventh of the anticipated increase. There is now sheer panic sweeping the nation as many Direct Debits are already in place that will anticipate this rise in fuel prices. Martin Lewis, the well-known and respected financial guru, was practically apopletic on Radio 4 this morning claiming that ministers’ claims they can’t do anything until a new PM is in place are “simply not true”. It is rare to find anyone so respected and authoritative as Martin Lewis so angry which may help to explain why Treasury ministers have been spurred into action. Meanwhile, Boris Johnson has said that any new PM will probably hand out more money to consumers and even Lizz Truss is starting to hint that despite her opposition to ‘handouts’ that she, too, will change policy and support some sort of package of measures. But so far, it is all smoke and mirrors and everything is on hold until September 6th (days after the new cap on fuel prices has been lifted)

I have come to expect Tuesdays are busy days and today was certainly no exception. Tuesday morning is the morning when a lot of the pre-pandemic Waitrose ‘gang’ congregate in the Waitrose coffee bar to see each other, exchange news and gossip and generally enjoy eavh other’s company. I seem to be at the intersection of many overlapping circles so I have to manage my interactions with a degree of care, giving a certain amount of time to each one. I started off having a few words with Seasoned World Taveller who I see in the park many days each week but he seems to have got into the habit of 10.30 on Tuesday mornings. Then there are three more elderly ladies, all of whom of course know each other. Two of them have husbands with dementia so to some extent we act as a source of mutual support to each other. Finally, there is a person who used to be our regular gardener and he himself is recovering from quite a serious illness so again, we do what we can do to help his recovery which seems to be taking place im very small increments. As my regular shopping day is a Thurday, if there is anything of which I have run out, then Tuesday is a good day to top up supplies and today there were about five or six things that I needed to buy. Then, of course, we need to return home and get some lunch organised so that upon my return from Pilates, we can eat wit the minimum of delay. There were only two of us in my Pilates class today which was a little unusual but some of the regulars are either away on holiday or have moved, temporarily or permanently, to other classes. On the way home, I popped into my local Asda to buy one or two commodities that I know I can only buy from there – it was very hot walk back so it was one of those days when I was actively seeking the shadiest part of the street. On my way down to Pilates, I had a quick word with our Irish friends and the upshot of this is that Meg is going to spend part of he evening with the lady of the house whilst we two husbands are off to the church for a church meeting which will take place every 2-3 months, once things settle down.

This afternoon, I busied myself getting some documents run off that I need for the meeting this evening. At the same time, and knowing that I need to get myself a birthday cake for my sister, I found a website from a firm in Nottingham that makes personalised cakes and delivers them by post. Rather than chasing all over Bromsgrove choosing, ordering and then collecting a cake, I have bit the bullet and ordered what I need over the web. The design I have chosen looks excellent and my ordered cake will arrive in a few days time. I have sent a query off to the firm to which they say they will respond within 24 hours to ask about such things as keeping qualities, storage advice and so on. It may be that I have odered it a tad too early but I was not sure how long the delivery was going to take and hence my spur of the moment order today. You can see why busy people resort so much to the internet as you could spend a fortune on petrol chasing around to find even a local retailer who will supply you with what you need. We will see if my questions are answered when the reply comes.

Today the political debate seems to be intensifying. A consensus appears to be developing across most of the political spectrum that massive problems are facing the country with rocketing fuel increases and an inflation rate that may well exceed 13%. But there do not seem to be any government plans to do anything about all of this until the new Prime Minister is first announced on 5th September and then takes office some weeks later. Gordon Brown, the ex-Labour Prime Minister who lost to David Cameron is suggesting that there is now a need for an immediate, emergency budget. The Conservative front runner, Liz Truss, is announcing that she will cut taxes and green levies but is setting her face against what she calls ‘handouts’. Such a policy will benefit the already wealthy but those on low incomes and Universal Credit will soon experience massive cuts to their living stndards. Some are arguing that such a policy spells electoral suicide for the Conservative party but in the race to be Conservative leader, this seems unimportant to members of the conservative constituency parties who form the electorate in the voting for a new Prime Minister and amongst whom Liz Truss still has a commanding lead of over 30%

This morning, I had a special mission when I collected my copy of The Times from my local newsagent. I knew that he was working on a sort of science-fiction-cum-philosophy type book and as he was advertising it on a banner poster on his front door, I sent off to Amazon for my own copy. This arrived on Saturday so I took it down today to have it signed by the author. This put me in mind of a famnous story told by Spike Milligan. Apparently, a lifelong fan had written to him saying that he would dearly like to have a ‘singed’ publicity photo. Spike obliged by getting one of his publicity phots and with a cigarette lighter ‘singed’ each of the edges and duly sent it off. A few days later, Spike received a letter from the disappointed fan who explained that he dearly wished to have a ‘singed’ publicity photo but all that he received was a publicity photo which was ‘signed’ along each edge! Anyway, it is always precious to get a book personally signed by the author so I shall have to read it cover-to-cover in the next few days. Today in the park we met two of our regulars, Seasoned World Traveller and Veteran Octogenerian Hiker but to be honest, it was so hot in the middle of the day that we cut our converations short and repaired to the shade of a nearby tree where we could carry on our conversations in relative comfort. Upon our return to the house, we had some weeds growing along our curtillage (if that is the correct term for a raised pebbled area at the base of the fence bordering our roadway). So the biggest of these that were easily hand-pullable were duly got rid of but I used my own home made weedkiller for the smaller ones that were less easy to grab. MY own weedkiller is basically a strong vinegar with a tiny bit of washing up liquid, the function of which is to reduce the surface tension and thereby make the solution ‘wetter’ Then if the weeds get sprayed in the middle of the day when the sun is high, then there should be a massive dehydration effect and the weeds ought to shrivel and die within hours. In the past, this technqiue had worked pretty well but I only use the solution for small pesky weeds that are troublesome to remove. After lunch, we felt that we needed to have a quick word with our Irish friends about some church issues but they were not in. Down the road, though, we saw our Italian friend and on the spur of the moment, invited her around for a quick cup of tea or even a glass of wine. But she was dosing herself on some antibiotics for some swollen glands so declined our invitation today but we thought we would get together for a longer chat when she is feeling a bit better. Tonight is the closing night of the Commonwealth Games but that clashes with an ‘Endeavour’ to which we are well and truly committed – the highlights of the closing ceremony will be shown later on in any case. Last night, we had a wonderful Mozart concert on BBC4 with a film later on about Mozart’s life and times whih we enjoyed whilst we were getting ready for bed.

This afternoon, I struggled somewhat trying to get a photo of myself which I need to get into a reasonable shape for a church related function. I had tried to take some selfies of myself by reversing the camera on my iPhone and succeeded in taking images that looked as though I was an escapee from Alcatraz. I had also had an acquaintance in the park take a couple of mugshots of me that were a bit more presentable but there was a background behind my head of green grass. This I tried to remove with an editor native to Apple that only worked in rectangles but I finished off wih an image that was tolerable. The trouble is that it was a .png file and when I tried to convert it to a JPEG file the results were absolutely dire. So I managed to get photo ready for onward transmission but I am not really happy with any of them. There is some specialist software that will remove backgrounds from photos but I am wary of downloading anything ‘free’ from the web these days so I may be forced to a more kludgy solution to get something which is halfway presentable. I have been in correspondence with the under manager at the Harrogate hotel regarding the little ‘party’ for my sister in just over two weeks time and it looks as though I need to organise my own cake to take along to Harrogate for me. Mind you, there is a good cake making firm on the High Street in Bromsgrove so this might do the job for me.

Another fine day dawned with the promise of a sunny day ahead. Being a Sunday, I walked down to get the newspaper first thing in the morning and the only people on the road at this time are joggers and dog-walkers. Meg and I breakfasted watching a bit of Sunday morning TV – normally, it would have been a politics programme but they are all off having their summer break at the moment. Meg and I took the car down to the park where we encountered Seasoned World Traveller as we have expected that we might. After a while, some other park acquaintances turned up, a couple who we had not seen for a couple of weeks but they like a lot of the nation had been taking some holiday (in England) and taking the opportunity to meet with relatives as well. As well as the congestion at the airports, the Mediterranean style of weather we are enjoying at the moment lessens the incentive to go off to foreign climes in search of the sun. We had a Sunday lunch of a ham joint which, these days, we tend to cook and then save half for another week to ensure that our consumption of red meat is kept within reasonable bounds. After lunch, we indulged in a lazy afternoon reading the Sunday newspaper whilst keep an eye open on the film of ‘Around the World in 80 days’ which is one of those spectaculars where you can watch the more interesting bits if you want to and ignore some of the rest. In the Commonwealth games, we watched the end of the men’s cycling road race, some boxing finals and finally some diving. The athletics finals tend to be broadcast in the evenings and this is a bit more to our taste, particularly when there are relay races and the potential for things to go wrong disastrously if the baton changes are anything less than perfect.

As one might expect, there is quite a sustained analysis of the contest to be the next Conservative party leader and therefore, Prime Minister. Some analysts have attempted a more in depth analysis of why Liz Truss is enjoying her current 30 point lead over Rishi Sunak and is coming to conclusions which are not really earth shattering. The ‘finding’ which some will find disturbing is that the actual policies and performances of the two candidates is relatively unimportant, whatever the rival camps might say. Much more significant is the appeal to the two ‘tribes’ within the modern Conservative party. Rishi Sunak enjoys a lead over the erstwhile ‘Remainers’ whilst Liz Truss has an overwhelming lead amomgs the ‘Leave’ group. As the latter group is so much larger than the former, this explains the huge lead that Liz Truss is enjoying. But there is a certain dramatic irony in all of this as Rishi Sunak has always been a ‘Leave’ campaigner whereas Liz Truss voted ‘Remain’ but very rapidly converted as soon as she saw which way the wind was blowing. One is tempted to remind oneself of the remark by Groucho Marx that ‘Those are my principles, and if you do not like them… well, I have others’. The other thing which is all too self evident is that many of the current crop of ambitious Conservative politicians have seen which way the wind is blowing and thrown in their support behind the likely winner (Liz Truss), evidently hoping for a ministerial job and all of the perks that follows. So we have seen many of the defeated candidates (Tugendhat, Mordant, Javid) all pledging their support for Truss despite having previously disagreed with many of her policies.

I rather like quotations, particularly political ones, and whilst they can sometimes be very trite, sometimes they do give pause for thought. Quite by accident, I came across this one recently which, whilst an oversimplication, is witty. The author was Desmond Tutu, the esteemed Soth African Archbishop: ‘When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said ‘Let us pray.’ We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land’. Tonight, after we had had some tea, I thoght I had better throw some water over some of our plants in pots. Some have suffered tremendously. in the extreme temperatures that we have been experiencing and the diffuclty is being able to discern whether a plant is now too far gone (and therefore not needing watering) and those that might survive from a good soaking. I shall just have to be empirical about this but when we are all trying conserve water in this drought I don’t wish to appear wasteful. Perhaps in future, all houses will be designed so that water that runs off a roof can be diverted into a waterbutt for gardening or for car washing which will be a minimal addition to the overall cost of a house after all.

Today was the most glorious of days with a brilliant blue sky but just a few puffy white clouds and the gentlest of breezes to ensure that we did not get too hot. We had a leisurely start to the day and then went down into town by car to pick up our newspaper and then we made our way, a little earlier than usual, to the park and our favourite bench. Whilst we were drinking our coffee, we bumped into someone we know by sight and we indulged her by throwing a ball for her cocker spaniel. She let us know that her dog spotted us from quite a fair distance and made for us like an arrow from a bow, anticipating that we throw a beloved tennis ball as far as we could ready for the dog to retrieve. Actually, it seems like an animal day today because I went outside just after breakfast wondering if the sound of my sweeping the path would be picked up by Miggles, our adopted cat and indeed it was. After a gap of nearly a week, the cat seems to have rediscovered us (or rather a saucer of rather delicious cat food to which he/she is partial) We also met our old acquaintance, Seasoned World Traveller in the park and we spent some time talking about mobile telephone technology and then, inevitably, the Conservative party leaders election. Then we made our way home and prepared a lunch with some TVP mince, broccoli and baked potato. As it such a beautiful afternoon, we took a load of washing and soon had a lineful drying in the sun. The washing today was a little fuller than usual because I had bought a pack of five socks yesterday and thought I would give them a wash today before I start wearing them.

On consulting the TV schedules, I notice that there is a showing of ‘Pride and Prejudice‘ this evening – the downside of all this is that it starts at 6.00pm which is just the time when we will be attending church. I thought I would see if I could make a recording of this to ‘timeshift’ this but when I tried the control on our TV set I just got a message saying ‘PVR’ and nothing else at all. I don’t know and cannot tell if there are other buttons I should be pressing of if the PVR unit as a whole has failed. Later on, I am going to try and catch it on i-Player which may or may not be helpful to me. In the event, I did manage to get it in iPlayer even though the original transmission was still continuing at the time.

The Tory party leader hustings are carrying out with various meetings across the country. What is interesting about the Liz Truss campaign is that be common consensus with all economists (except the radical right Patrick Minford) is that the Truss nostrum of ‘tax cuts now’ will only add to the inflationary spiral. Nonetheless, her message seems to be well received in the conservative membership as a whole. If these are overwhelmingly white, male and middle class then perhaps they are quite pleased to get tax cuts – and increased rates will only add to the returns on their investments so perhaps what is good for them is dire for the rest of the country. After Liz Truss is elected, she will have to make actual decisions and one wonders how rhetoric and ideology are going to square with the pragmatic business of running a country going into one of the worst economic scenarious that any of us can remember in our lifetime. Whilst on this subject, it appears to be that the country is heading for the most severe of economic downturns whilst there is no Prime Minister or Chancellor of the Exchequeur in evidence as they are both on holiday. So we have a zombie government and no government action or steer whilst it looks as the country is speeding downhill. Given the state of the crisis ahead of us, perhaps it is time for the most radical of measures somewhat similar to that experienced in the 1970’s when we had the power disputes that put the country into a three day week. I think there is scope for measures that parallel those that we experienced during the pandemic. How about reducing thr national speed limit to 50mph to save fuel for the nation, reducing all street lighting and turning it off where possible, having a crash insulation programme all over the country, a massive raid on the unearned profits of the power and utility companies with all of the taxes raised going to all of those on UC (Universal Credit) and so on. I am sure that there must be imaginative ways in which the population as a whole and their political leaders can navigate their way through this particular crisis but it will take some imagination, intelligence and political flair none of which will be manifest when a new Prime Minister emerges.

Meg and I were a little tired today after our very enjoyable day out in Oxford yesterday. Fortunately, the roads were not too busy and we made good time both on the journey out and back again. This morning, though, we decided to go down to town by car where we collected our newspaper and then, as it was not getting a little late, we went to the park where we met up with two of our regular park friends that we tend to always meet at the weekends. Today, Seasoned World Traveller and I spent some time discussing the rank folly (in our joint view) of Nancy Pelosi, the veteran Democratic Speaker of the House of Representatives in the United States making a visit to Taiwan which could only inflame world tensions with China. The Chinese have reacted immediately and strongly to what is perceived as the ‘understanding’ between China and the USA (‘constructive ambiguity’)being breached. The latest move today is that China is withdrawing cooperation with the United States over climate change policies and the cack-handed move by Pelosi may well means that the Chinese and Russian leaders now make common cause with each other. In short, we looks as though we are all going to be losers and the world is now a less secure place. After we had had our coffee and a chat, Meg and I made a visit to our local Morrisons. This is because parking is easy and we needed an item from the pharmacy so it is likely to be cheaper and less bother than going into town. In the supermarket, we also picked up some icecream that we always need in this type of weather, some alcohol free beer (ditto) as well as our pharmacy item. Then it was home to have a lunch of smoked hake that we often enjoy on a Friday. The weather was set fair this afternoon and although the lawns had hardly grown in the recent hot wather, they were a little wispy and untidy. So I got them cut using the last bit of petrol that I had in store – the petrol mower only takes two gallons a season so I must remind myself to get some more before next week.

Last night, Meg and I watched the Sky News debate between Lizz Truss and Rishi Sunak on Sky News. They had an interesting format in that the audience consisted of uncommitted Tory party members. Each candidate had to field questions from the audience for 30 minutes and then Kate Burley fired a series of penetrating questions at each of the candidates. For me the best moment of the night came when Kate Burley put a series of about 5-6 things on which Liz Truss had apparently changed her mind, some historic and some recent, and then asked ‘Could the real Liz Truss stand up?’ She had no real answer to the inconsistencies and resorted to formulas such as the policy to reduce the pay of civil servants in the regions was ‘misinterpreted’ but she could not say by whom. Rishi Sunak came over as sharp, on the ball and pretty dynamic although some of his detractors would say that he was ‘too slick’. The audience had been equipped with the technology that has been around for years where they press either a ‘1’ or ‘ ‘2’ on their device and the results are collated and immediately shown on a large screen. (I used something similar in my last days of lecturing and that was 15 years ago) But when the results were due to be shown, the technology had ‘crashed’ although I do smell a rat here. So Kate Burley asked for a show of hands and my impression was that Liz Truss got about 20% of the audience vote, Rishi Dunal about 60%. Certainly there was a clear and uneqivocal winner. As this was not the result that the presenters had been expecting, I wonder whether the software crash was actual or diplomatic but the show of hands was quite decisive. I doubt that this will cut much ice with overall Tory party electorate who are giving Liz Truss a 30 point lead as the the Boris Johnson-lite candidate. There is a story hat Boris Johnson would probably win the vote if it were left to voters n the constituencies. I am reminded of the classic American debates between John Kennedy and Richard Nixon. This was not decided on policies but on candidate ‘appeal’ Richard Nixon needed to shave twice a day but did not and acquired a 5 o’clock shadow which gave him a slightly shifty appearance, The Democrats exploited this tremendously with the attack line ‘Would you buy a used car from this man?’ Richard Nixon carried the soubriquet of ‘tricky Dicky’ thereafter and of course, he lost this election to Kennedy (although he won on subsequent occasions)

Today was a beautiful, bright and sunny day but somewhat on the humid side. First thing I did this morning was to visit an ATM, top up the car with fuel and then race round my local supermarket all in advance of our trip down to Oxford today. We set off 15 minutes earlier than we would have intended as Bromsgrove is experiencing horrific traffic delays at the moment whilst a four-way traffic scheme is in operation as some of the critical junctions in the town centre are being widened (or so I am told). The traffic delays are horrendous and a lot of local businesses are suffering a bit hit as nobody can get near them to spend any money. We stopped just north of Oxford in the car park belonging to a cafe which I used to use when I journeyed down from Leicester to Winchester some 25 years ago as this car park represented the half way point through the journey. We used the SatNav to locate the restaurant in which we were booked at midday before we set about finding a place to park (not easy in central Oxford) We turned up at the restaurant the minute it opened as did our friends who had travelled through Oxford on bike (parking their car on the outskirts and then cycling a couple of miles into the city) We had a pretty good ‘meal du jour’ and a wonderful chat, which is par for the course. We tend not to have coffee in the restaurant where we have had a meal but we search out a more specialised coffee house with the prospect of enjoyable cake also being available. As you might imagine, Oxford was teeming with tourists and we stumbled through crowds of tourists, some of whom were being a guided tour to the Oxford Colleges. As well as these more ‘normal’ tourists, there are are also others who are following the Morse/Lewis/Endeavour trails as these popular television programmes typically use Oxford as their backdrop. Oxford appeared amazingly cosmopolitan with a massive range of accents, dress, hairstyles and the like mingling in the streets. After we had lunched and then located a suitable cafe for coffee and cakes, our Oxfordshire friends have given us some magnificent gifts of eggs (newly laid from their own hens), honey (from their own hives) and finally a book on Beekeeping that our friend had just written. It seems to be a day for friends displaying the books they have written because our friendly newsagent from whom I buy a newspaper every day has a big banner in his window advertising the book that he himself has just written.

When we got home, we turned on the TV and watched the news items concerning the Commonealth Games currently held in Birmingham. This afternoon we had quite a lot of ‘background’ stories explaining how individual athletes and even presenters were performing in these games. Although the games are entitled the ‘Birmingham’ games, it is in fact a West Midlands regional games because many of the venues and the atheletes themselves come from many different parts of the West Midlands. For example, today’s time cycling trials were held in the streets of Wolverhampton and the citizens had come out in their hundreds and even thousands to cheer on the competitors. Compared with similar games that have been held in the past, several themes are very prominent. The first of these is that the paralympics athlete events are integrated into the overall programme so we do not have a pattern, as in the Olympic games, where the able-bodied athletes in one time period are then followed by the paralympic atheletes about a fortnight later. So the Birmingham games are massively inclusive in terms of different classes of athletes but also the LGBT+ communities are finding an incredibly inclusive atmosphere suffusing the Games. The multiculturalism that ‘is’ Birmingham is being shown in many diverse ways, not least in the ways that the street vendors of different kinds of food are finding great opportunities to bring their foodstuffs to the spectators of different events. It is already being said that these are the ‘friendly’ games and there certainly seems to be a fund of good will in evidence at every sports venue around the region.

Tonight Sky News are going to stage a debate between the two Conservative party front runners before an audience of Conservative voters. It is being trailed that the key presenter, Kate Burley, is going to try her hardest to ensure that the candidates actually answer the questions that are put to them. I suspect that she will fail in her efforts, however well intentioned, as politicians seem almost as a class to be programmed to answer a questions that was not actually asked, to be enamoured of a soundbite and despite the fact that they claim that debates are all a matter of policies, in practice the whole debate will be seen in terms of style rather than substance i.e. how well they manage their own self images rather than a projection of policy issues ‘per se’.