This is Northumberland Calling 26.5.23

The putsch is so yesterday edition.

Because alert readers may remember a few weeks ago, I mentioned the former RAF airman from Jamaica who died alone and his funeral. It was held yesterday in a packed out  church with people attending from around the world. Several members of his family had thought he’d died during WW2. The service was also a celebration of Jamaican involvement in the armed services. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/05/25/the-last-pirate-of-the-caribbean/ or https://archive.is/dPqYu

Just Stop Oil protestors were hosed down at the Chelsea Garden Festival when a quick thinking attendee grabbed a hose used for watering and turned it on the protestors who had just covered an award winning garden dedicated to sustainability in orange powder. A great cheer went up from the crowd.  The protestors were arrested. But Chelsea has embraced sustainability and green issues in a big way and so it was a bit of an own goal (something Just Stop Oil seems to be familiar with). https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/05/25/chelsea-flower-show-just-stop-oil-protesters-arrested/ or  https://archive.is/pUYXO

Baroness Falkner, the chair of EHRC commissioners and who has spearheaded a more sensible approach towards gender versus biological sex was the victim of an attempted coup by disgruntled civil servants who disliked the stance she has taken about balancing rights. They compiled a dossier on her alleged offences including eye rolling. They have forced the EHRC to hire a KC at the cost of £120,000 and Baroness Falkner to spend some of her savings and pension defending herself. When that did not appear to be going anywhere, they briefed Channel 4 news which has a left wing bias into doing a very skewed hit piece on her, including cutting the Baroness’s rebuttal off mid-sentence. 54 peers have now written to  Ofcom, the media watchdog complaining about the piece. The Times of London has done a lead editorial about it as well.  From the Telegraph: https://archive.is/rdxcn The Times leader: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-times-view-on-baroness-falkner-hit-job-ssgtgv6r3 or https://archive.is/NgQYG

The English Premiership season is coming to an end. Manchester City are champions, Arsenal are second with Manchester United 3^rd after a 4 -1 win at Chelsea last night. Newcastle are fourth and it is possible  in theory that Newcastle could finish above Man U. Liverpool however do not have the points available in the remaining games to leapfrog either Newcastle or Man U so both clubs will be in Europe next year. The betting is that Man U will spend in the transfer market this summer as their on the pitch performance this year has been spotty to say the least. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/all-tables/

Ancient Jerusalem had problems with Montezuma’s revenge and other tummy troubles new research in the latrines from the era demonstrates. https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/ancient-jerusalem-was-plagued-by-tummy-trouble-and-dysentery-wszv0prk2  or https://archive.is/e36I0

Finally because who doesn’t love a shaggy dog story with hopefully a happy ending, Barney the Old English Sheep Dog was rescued by the RSPCA after  suffering years of neglect. He had over 5kg of  matted hair removed and had to learn to trust humans again.  He has apparently come on leaps and bounds after being in the RSPCA’s care and is now ready to be rehomed in his forever home. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2023/05/26/sheepdog-matted-fur-removed-dramatic-makeover-rspca/ or https://archive.is/O2KP0