I can’t say I’ve noticed any difference between NHS and private dental care apart from my pocket getting a drilling. They still want to get patients in and out sharpish to make more money.

I pay 50 quid per six monthly check up. Every time I go he tries to persuade me to have a particular old filling drilled out and replaced, it’s not giving me any grief. I happen to have two mates who are dentists, both dispute this diagnosis. I’m not sure whether the profit motive and healthcare sit comfortably together and with an electric toothbrush and a waterpic I don’t seem to need a polish.

Best man for the flow tips: Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi (pronounced ‘chick sent me high eee’ !) on YT or elsewhere.

Why? Ethnic cleansing aka ‘mowing the lawn’ whilst the world looks on and they are actively supported by the USA, UK and Germany.

With regard to their cost, I’ve bought a number off Ebay. The last two, one BNWOT and the other a vgc ladies’ one with Liberty lining for my daughter. Bidders seem to cut out at £70 so I come in 10 secs at the end with a random 70 odd quid bid and bingo! I quite like their cut but they’re not that practical (too hot, too cold, bumfreezer) and no good for rural pursuits.

The sock could have been from his time at Oxford. He would have had a ‘scout’ who would clean his room and do his laundry alongside others on his stair, hence the tag.

Isn’t whinig to come across as edgy a bit of an oxymoron?

Should you go to Ludlow, the carvings on the misericords in St Laurence church are outstanding.

Tutu said apartheid in Israel was worse than in SA. Netanyahu told Max Hastings 25yrs ago his ultimate aim was to clear out Gaza and the West Bank. This didn’t start on 7th Oct but in 1948.

If by ‘a space for self-determination’ you mean a highly militarised, ethno-nationalist, apartheid state, driven by an ugly supremacism that aggressively craves lebensraum and cannot make peace with its neighbours, then no. I don’t think the Madagascans would like that at all.

John, what you are trying to achieve is completely reasonable and achievable. Maybe you’re overempathising and internalising your daughter’s stress. Just send a note saying how your daughter experiences anxiety in a number of contexts and that you would be most grateful if they gave her a bit of slack and you look forward to discussing her progress at the next parents’ evening (and that you appreciate the difficult job they are doing!)  Job jobbed.

When I was teaching I would often have kids who were painfully shy or reticent for all sorts of reasons. I was a firm believer in ‘reading around the class,’ Shakespeare plays etc, but would simply pass a kid who didn’t want to do it and it didn’t necessarily affect their achievements. Just a word to the teacher (HoYs can be very busy and preoccupied) should suffice.  A student who was severely dyslexic after a while put up her hand and said, ‘Sir, I’ll read’, I had to look down with tears in the corner of my eyes. She did it and went on to do really well.

Many parents are disengaged or negative about schools but for most teachers a ‘quiet word’ would be noted and acted on.

E – cooking a ragu with requisite vino addition so, chef’s privilege, a glass of

D – Chateau Grandis 2012

L – Veedon Fleece

£30k for a breakfast? We have the best government money can buy.

Once in a car and once on my bike. My mrs, although very sharp, struggles with left and right so she refuses to drive abroad. I quite like it. Oddly I’m just back from Spain and I did a double take about was I on the correct side of the road coming away from the airport and I hadn’t driven in Spain. The other thing that demanded attention was driving in Australia and remembering whether you’re on a two-lane or a four-lane road as it’s not always clear and it could make overtaking a bit interesting. Anyone remember ‘priorite a droit’? Oh and turning right against the lights in LA freaked me out a bit. It’s a wonder we’re all still here.

I’m a bit surprised no-one in the press has brought up Reeves once having her parliamentary credit card suspended for spaffing it up the wall. Seemingly fiscal rules are only for the plebs.

Forget books. Ride your bike. Do things for other people. Do things for yourself. Get away as much as you can. Don’t blow all your dosh on stupid consumables. Stay connected with your social network. You’ll be happier, healthier and live longer.

He’s had £100k and he’s giving back £6k. Result!

Burn the candle at both ends.

Interesting economic analysis from the Israeli Shir Hever:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1jdZHyp2e3U

Check out this YT for a view from Israel:

‘The Looming Catastrophe in the Middle East (with Gideon Levy) Chris Hedges Report’

I can’t provide the link as I only have a limited gadget and am in foreign parts

Pay might not be brilliant relatively but they do appear to become surprisingly rich when they leave office. I seem to remember Blair suddenly becoming a major landlord and Johnson going from borrowing from a ‘remote cousin in Canada’ and freeby wall paper to buying a house in the Cotswolds for millions and then having a pool installed. I’d be very interested to know how you do that, seems like a magic money tree does exist after all.

Starmer’s approach is one of technocratic managerialism, the LP can sort out capitalism better than the capitalists, and therefore you need to look and behave like a manager. Hence swishly suited and booted, hobnob with the rich and behave dictatorally with the party and the nation. The poor can be fobbed off with flag-waving and football and the pensioners are all rich and vote Tory anyway. Not sure how well it’s all working out though.

At least coke and hookers involve a consensual financial transaction. There’ll be less money for coke this year.

We had an offer knocked back down the street, they had an offer from people renting and we had two properties to sell first. We now realise we dodged a bullet: multiple permanent potholes in the road; food delivery vans and lorries double parking; near a food outlet (litter and vermin); near a cafe open till midnight (car doors); students renting either side; near a noisy pedestrian crossing, difficulty parking. The interior of this place was amazing but all of these issues would have loomed large had we bought it. So, we bought a place up the road, away from all this and with parking. The other place was still on the market when we moved in.

Roof – any signs of water ingress? How old is the roofing? Any crumbling plaster? Modern consumer board for electrics? Power sockets in skirting board or wall? Any signs of leaky guttering or drain pipes? Any blown dg units?

One of our mob has just bought a ‘doer upper’/ house that Jack built. We’ve to sort out dpc, new soil pipe, floorboards, carpet top to bottom, new kitchen, replace one or two rads,  decorate top to bottom including priming out coloured walls, patch of garden is a garden is a jungle. So all up thousands of £s, much time and hassle. As above, people have a way of concealing nightmares, all well and good so long as it is reflected in the price and you know what you’re taking on.

‘No, it’s got to be “their” better direction.’ Nonsense. I voted Labour in the hope they’d do something about landlords/renters, minimum wage, zero hours, council house building, education and the NHS etc etc none of which impacts on me. Most people aren’t neoliberal possessive individualists.

Is man flu worse than bird flu?

That’ll be Yossarian.

I got something like that at the end of July and only now am I considering getting back on the bike next week. Have been hobbling around since then, it’s been a pain in the perineum.

Problem with Victoria Falls is that you get hit with a whopper of a bill for Zimbabwe visas (which apparently is the same charge the UK imposes on Zimbabwean visitors). I didn’t think the falls were that interesting.

I hear that the cardboard re-cycling bins at Waitrose, Eccy Rd, are being terminated. I’ve had to make quite a few trips to Blackhorse Rd re-cycling and if there’s a queue that can take an age.

Yep Chobe, my mrs noted 28 different animals we saw there in a day plus countless elephants (crossing the river Disney style) and hippos. We just booked up in situ a morning in a land rover and an afternoon on a boat and it was far far cheaper than you would pay as part of a package. We needed to park up and sleep on the road to Ghanzi and she phoned around and we ended up driving into the Kalahari and staying with bushmen at D’Qari Qari (sp?). When I hitchhiked through there in ’83 it was pretty much inaccessible and terrible dust roads.

Check out Botswana as an alternative. Chobe national park, Okavango, stay with bushmen in the Ghanzi area, good road all the way round the Kalahari.

SS20 you can tell your daughter The Young Ones was based on the members of a household half way along Landcross Road.

Stayed last night in the Greyhound in Chalfont St Peter and one of the rooms was named ‘The Chalfonts’ (cf The Grapes).

I’d use a bit then cut the remainder into segments and freeze it in a jar. Lucky you.

‘roach’ !

Got some half price jeans on the Edwin website.