This is Northumberland Calling 23.08.24

The Eppur si muove (still it moves) as Galileo said edition

Hello America (Particularly Central Ohio) this is Northumberland Calling

A bedraggled Paddy after our walk in the storm

Currently Storm Lilian is battering outside. I took Paddy for a walk and we both came back drenched. The old saying there is no such thing as bad weather just poor weather gear proved apt – I should have worn my wellies. My hiking boots collected pools of water. Paddy has taken to his bed. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/23/storm-lilian-latest-news-hurricane-ernesto-uk-travel-roads/ is giving updates on the storm complete with trees being down and flood warnings.

This shows the water level at Haydon Bridge (thus far no danger of flooding) https://check-for-flooding.service.gov.uk/station/8095?v=map&lyr=mv,ri,ti,gr,rf&fid=stations.8095&ext=-2.304379,54.950103,-2.157958,55.007446

The big news in the UK is that the Puberty Blocker ban has been extended both in time and to Northern Ireland. Wes Streeting is following the evidence, not the screams of trans activists. It means Susie Green’s scheme of going through Northern Ireland to service England, Wales and Scotland with Puberty Blockers is a non-starter. https://www.gov.uk/government/news/puberty-blockers-temporary-ban-extended

In Australia, women’s right took a knock when as expected Sal Glover lost her case to Roxanne Tickell. According to the judge, sex is changeable. It means the Australian laws which were designed to protect females no longer do. It will be interesting to see if this verdict galvanises Australian women in same way that the first Forstator verdict or indeed the Isla Bryson case galvanized women in the UK.  Eppur si muove (still it moves) as Galileo is reputed to have said about the earth circling the sun.  https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-08-23/nsw-sydney-giggle-transgender-discrimination-court-judgment/104260546

The Victorian post box where the slugs do munch…

The struggle is real. Slugs and snails do eat the post. The Victorian post box on the wall outside my house can’t be used in the summer months thanks to voracious slugs. Now another post box in another village in Northumberland has suffered the same fate. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/post-box-has-been-closed-because-snails-keep-eating-the-mail/ar-AA1pfyYs?ocid=BingNewsSerp

The Welsh government seem intent on erasing the past. The latest manifestation is telling library staff not to hold meetings in buildings with a racist past. As if the very fabric of a building is somehow imbued with racism which could rub off. Positively medieval in a way. Some of the guide appears to run counter to the 1964 Library and Museums Act for England and Wales which puts certain onuses on the library system including a provision for the general public and specialist researchers. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/19/avoid-meetings-in-racist-buildings-welsh-librarians-told/ or https://archive.ph/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/08/19/avoid-meetings-in-racist-buildings-welsh-librarians-told/

The GCSE results came out yesterday. This is the test which 16 years old take and it helps to decide what they can take for A levels and what their A level predictions are etc. The gap between North and South keeps growing. Girls still do better than boys. https://www.thetimes.com/uk/education/article/gcse-results-day-2024-grade-exams-7cjgll7vb

And Katharine Birbalsingh continues to have excellent results from Michaela (thus showing why so many people who live that deprived area want to send their children there, even if they do not allow ‘prayer rituals’ at lunchtime). Her regime works. It is a non-selective school (in other words pupils are not chosen based on their intellectual ability). The videos she posted on X showed the great joy the children experienced at getting their stunning results. For example this one: https://x.com/Miss_Snuffy/status/1826904428009402721  about a young man (happens to be black btw)  receiving his straight 9’s while his proud father looks on.  9 is the highest score anyone can achieve and he achieved them in all subjects.

This week, my editor let me know that my latest Secret Princess for the Warrior was accepted (I received payment last Friday – she forgot to send the email before she went on holiday) and she has also offered me a new contract. So I will be writing the sequel to that story or Svanna’s story. Svanna is the girl who masquerades as the Queen’s daughter in order for the real daughter (the heroine of the Secret Princess) to escape. I did my copy edits aka AAs or Author Alterations for Secret Princess this week and was pleasantly surprised at how well it read. As Svanna’s story will be partially set in Ireland, I looked up when Dublin was founded (841 by the Vikings but they think the Irish did have a settlement there before then) and adjusted the dates accordingly.  Secret Princess will be out on the 1^st of March 2025.

Tempted by Her Forbidden Warrior will be out on 1 September 2024 in the US. Best place to discover it – Amazon, Harlequin’s website,Target, or your independent Romance bookseller (eg The Ripped Bodice).

In the UK, it is Bank Holiday Weekend and Mills and Boon are having a 40% off all books on their website deal (including mine) Aug40 is the code. This is a list of my books: https://www.millsandboon.co.uk/search?q=Michelle+Styles

Plums picked during a lull in the storm

I have been picking plums from the Victoria plum tree and will be making a crumble with them. One of the joys of early autumn is plums.

Hopefully everyone else’s week was a good one. I look forward to seeing you in the comments.

If you like what you read on here, why not subscribe? It’s free and I don’t have any plans to put in a paywall.