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It does not come as a complete surprise that the FCO is ‘re-evaluating our elections monitoring strategy to see how we can maximise our impact’. That reads to me like saving money by not sending me on anymore Election Observation Missions – rats and double-rats.

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Categorised as Politics

A Big Cake

On 17 January 1855, Sir Humphrey de Trafford married Lady Annette Mary Talbot, eldest sister and co-heiress of Bertram Talbot, 17th Earl of Shrewsbury. The ceremony took place in Rugby, Worcestershire, and was performed by William Bernard Ullathorne, Bishop of Birmingham. It was reportedly the first Roman Catholic nuptial mass to be performed in England… Continue reading A Big Cake

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Categorised as Family

Keep Safe

A small squidgy parcel popped through the letter box yesterday. It contained four face masks adorned with the Bellew arms: sable, fretty or.

Not Just A Name

10th August, 1941. Church in the morning. In the evening Bertie Fisher came over to discuss future CO of 17th Lancers, to replace one that had just been killed in an aeroplane accident. (War Diaries, Field Marshal Lord Alanbrooke)

Top Secret

I haven’t read Samuel Pepys, The Unequalled Self, by Claire Tomalin since it was published eighteen years ago. It is very good. You will be aware that Pepys wrote his diary for only a decade, the 1660s, and wrote in shorthand to keep the contents secret from prying eyes. He had a point.

Temple Bar

Wouldn’t it be grand if Temple Bar is where lawyers go for a slurp but they frequent El Vino instead. May I digress?