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Latest from the Blog
the joy (and agony) of choosing six pieces of music AS THE SOUNDTRACK OF YOUR LIFE
There is a very good reason why Desert Island Discs has been going strong since 1942, and why a panel of broadcasting industry figures recently selected it as the greatest radio programme of all time … that reason being that the mix of music and life stories...
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Tree of the Day pics 1/2. Runner up the one just to the left of my big toe after doing the @mndassoc #icefoot92 challenge for Lenny Johnrose
For today’s Tree of the Day .... Going for something small, urban and so in tune with its surroundings you would hardly notice it unless you were on the lookout for something a bit different for TotD!
I did wonder about not bothering with the cold water swimming gloves today. After all it is MID-APRIL!!! By the time I got out of the water it was snowing! No post-swim pics available. Despite the excellent gloves (this is NOT a sponsored post!) my fingers were not functioning well by the end!! But there was something magical about swimming with snow flakes falling on the water and melting away ... and I kept up my winter challenge of 2 mins per degree (do not try without building up to it!)
Tree(s) of the Day. Two trees. Inseparable roots. Hampshire. Winner @djcollinsinsta but he is a bit lucky tbh. Went out for a long walk today, saw some amazing trees ... but forgot my phone!! This is a rare event. I cannot remember the last time I was anywhere without a phone. DJ my phonelessness and your joined up roots = 🥇 = a lifetime highlight I am sure !!!
Thanks for all the nice comments and questions yesterday when I read extracts from Irish Diaries. Published by Dublin based Lilliput Press. Link in Bio if you want to know more. Of my 17 books it is one of my faves!!
And here a clip on why the violence in N Ireland is something @borisjohnsonuk and Co have helped to cause and must act to address
Short clip from @bylinetimes TV interview on why Orwell statue outside the Beeb is so important to media and politics alike
I am going big and burly for Tree of the Day (pics 1/2) 🥈 to my old colleague @peterhyman21 who found something blossomy and beautiful close to @burnleyofficial colours. 🥉 @willdccarling who has been desperate to get a medal for ages. Pix 5/6 the one that would have got bronze but for Will being so keen!! Gnarled. I do like gnarled.
Please join me instagram live 1230. I am going to do a reading from my Irish Diaries (April 9/10 1998, the day the Good Friday Agreement came together - link in bio) - and take questions. It is not good for my blood pressure thinking about the damage being done by this wretched government and the crooks or hardliners who want to exploit what is happening. But perhaps venting while reminding people of some of the fundamental issues will do me some good, and hopefully others too.
A story in three pictures .... picture 1. Twenty three years ago today a diverse collection of politicians and community leaders signed what became known worldwide as the Good Friday Agreement. It was a key moment in a process which, despite many setbacks along the way, led to a generation growing up in relative peace. 23 years ago @borisjohnsonuk and @michael.gove.surreyheath were journalists. Their cuttings books bulge with articles critical of the process and those who led it. They were critical mainly from a Unionist perspective. As a result of their carelessness and indifference as politicians, and the many lies of Brexit, they have helped to resurrect fears for the future that the GFA had helped consign to the past. Picture 2. I read in @thetimes that Johnson is ‘pining’ to get away to Chequers for the weekend. ‘It’s his spiritual home,’ gushes one of his briefers. Shortly before the news of the Duke of Edinburgh’s death there was some talk that Johnson would go to N Ireland, as any real Prime Minister who genuinely cared about the place would already have done. Picture 3 The Times has five paragraphs on page 28 about N Ireland, headlined on bishops calling for the violence to end, with a big holiday ad below. As Johnson puts his feet up and gets served by the Wrens in the lovely Buckinghamshire countryside, doubtless he will toast the Duke, who has provided such an enormous story for the country and the world that it has taken the heat off our so-called PM for his role in reigniting the tensions and the riots, and off his scandalous avoidance of his role and responsibility in seeking to resolve it. Contempt does not come close to describing my regard for him, compared with the respect for those whose fading ink is upon that document from this day in 1998. Quite a few are no longer with us. None would believe that the Agreement was being undermined by a British PM, and leader of the Conservative and Unionist Party, showing such disregard for the situation his lies and ambition have created. I may need to vent further on insta live later in the day. But meanwhile I am going to check out some of the foreign media coverage of the Duke.
