This is Northumberland Calling 26.07.24
The Faster, Higher, Stronger—Together with a serving of political violence and spaniel glitter edition
Hello America (Particularly Central Ohio) this is Northumberland Calling
Breaking news is that there has been a series of arson attacks or malicious vandalism on the French railway system. The SNCF said to expect a high level of disruption. The Olympics Games opening ceremony will be today and it appears to be a prime target for malcontents and those intent on politically-motivated violence. This is a developing story. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/07/26/france-train-network-sabotaged-olympics/
The scandal surrounding the current Olympics Games was already on show with mistreatment of horses, convicted rapists competing and of course the payments for winning the gold medals before the arson attacks. A dark underbelly to these Games exists, something of a tradition if Sharron Davies’ Unfair Play which details the East German doping scandal of the 1970s and the subsequent cover up is anything to go by. These Olympics may be the time which the myth of the Olympic Ideal is finally laid to rest. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/olympics/2024/07/26/paris-2024-ideal-thomas-bach-ideal-scandal/ or https://archive.ph/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/olympics/2024/07/26/paris-2024-ideal-thomas-bach-ideal-scandal/
Violence erupted in Manchester for a second night – the cause a short video showing a police officer stamping on someone’s head as they attempted to quell an altercation at Manchester airport which left 3 police officers requiring hospital treatment. The family of the victim has appealed for calm and apparently one of the sons who wasn’t involved is a serving police officer. The may of Manchester has viewed the footage of the entire incident and said that it is not a clear cut case and people need to allow the Independent Police Commission to do their job. In the meantime, the police officer involved has been suspended, pending the outcome. Several groups appear intent on hijacking the incident for their own political purposes. Lord Walney has issued a warning about political violence and the need to wait for the full facts to emerge. Will he be listened to? https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/07/25/manchester-airport-andy-burnham-warn-protesters-exploit-row/ or https://archive.ph/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/07/25/manchester-airport-andy-burnham-warn-protesters-exploit-row/
The real hero of the hour with the stabbing of the British Army officer near a barracks in Kent earlier this week was his wife who attempted to pull the attacker off. It turns out that she sung in the Military Wives Choir on television. Both she and her husband who remains in hospital in a serious but stable condition appear to be thoroughly decent citizen dedicated to public service. Very little is known about the attacker who appeared in court yesterday. https://www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/article/man-charged-with-attempted-murder-of-army-officer-mgb2tw7mm or https://archive.ph/https://www.thetimes.com/uk/crime/article/man-charged-with-attempted-murder-of-army-officer-mgb2tw7mm
The Transactivist and medical gender -affirmation zealot Susie Green who has no medical training has vowed to defy the UK ban on private prescriptions of Puberty Blockers by exploiting a loophole which Northern Ireland has not yet closed. It allows for her to set up a charity in Europe and import the drugs to private addresses in Northern Ireland. It remains to be seen if she can accomplish this, but it shows the determination of a few zealots to ignore the medical evidence and to continue to push their ideology. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/07/25/mermaids-susie-green-puberty-blockers-ban-northern-ireland/ or https://archive.ph/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/07/25/mermaids-susie-green-puberty-blockers-ban-northern-ireland/
The entitlement of certain parents was on full display earlier this week when one of the parents of the jailed Just Stop Oil complained that the length of sentence would prevent her daughter from attending her brother’s wedding next summer, seemingly oblivious to the fact that her daughter prevented thousands of people going about their business. Ella Wheelan’s op ed is good on how middle class ‘progressive’ parents have raised a generation of self-absorbed selfish brats. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/07/25/progressive-parents-have-brought-up-a-generation-of-entitle/ or https://archive.ph/nUCbL
My editors wants further revisions and she wants them done by 31 July so no prizes for guessing what I am doing. It will be a much better read for the final flourishes as she calls it – mainly making sure the back story is on the page and not just in my head.
I was able to put a 2nd super on one of the bee hives and thus we might get some honey this year. The hive had started laying honey down in the first super. You want to add a super when the hive is first interested as they can rapidly fill one and once they are out of space, they get thoughts about swarming. It is all a balancing act.
Currently it is Spaniel Glitter season and Paddy keeps returning from his walks festooned with burrs, seeds and other bits of foliage. I then spend time combing his ears and coat to get the decoration out. Thankfully, Spaniel Glitter season does not last overly long…
Yesterday (25 July) marked the 1618 anniversary of Constantine the Great being declared Emperor of Rome in York. This led to Christianity becoming the dominant religion in the Roman empire and the draining of the legionaries from Britain as Constantine consolidated his power. There are reasons why the York Minster was built over the old Roman fort and was such a place of pilgrimage in early Christianity in my humble opinion, but what do I know? Other reasons probably existed.
Hopefully everyone else’s week was a good one. I look forward to seeing you in the comments.
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Hello Northumberland! Good to see Ya.
Another great roundup of articles. I'm sorry to read that the Olympic ideals are dead and sorry to hear about violence in Manchester. As far as Susie Green goes, I'll just say that she and Mermaids are a real piece of work. But that was a heartening story about the soldiers wife. I'm afraid I agree that "kids are being turned into megalomaniac monsters." And that "the adults in the room need to reassert that we might know a little better than spoilt, overgrown children, who think throwing their toys out of their eco prams is the way to change the world."
Paddy is looking good and clean. Wishing You luck on the revisions. That's a near deadline.
TY, as always, Michelle.
Good luck on the revisions!
I would love to keep bees. Deer are everywhere here and they eat everything, so certain flowers I can’t keep even in my yard because they jump the fence. But I have a ton of oregano and lavender that are crawling with honey bees. I dry the oregano but I let a lot go to seed because the bees love it so much. Everyone sprays here but I don’t so I wonder if that’s why they come back each summer.