PR Rant

It is not boring to rant about PR voting. First-Past-The-Posters (FPTPs) may deploy this as an argument, as well as saying that it produces weak government, is unsuited to a two-party system, seldom produces a single party majority and gives you halitosis (not really).

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Rod and Net Fishing

The principal difference between shooting and fishing is that the former is Hatch & Release and the latter Catch & Release. The final outcome for pheasant and fish is very different.

“Double, double, toil and trouble”

Do you like the SNP? I don’t but do not on any account imagine that they are going to disappear in a puff of smoke. Like MacBeth’s witches they are brewing trouble and it is sensible to assume that they will achieve their goal of an independent Scotland sooner than you ever imagined.

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Argiope Bruennichi

I hope it won’t be too boring if I tell you a bit more about my stroll along the Suffolk coast.

Royal Salute

Quite rightly the media have been generous in ladling out big helpings of praise for the Queen this week. An Italian friend and reader here expressed surprise that I had not added a dollop. The only reason was that – until now – I could not think of anything to add.

Woodlouse

There is a curved wall at Barmeath where the height of children is recorded and on the opposite wall of visitors thought to be of interest. Amongst the latter I remember Sir Denys Lowson, Lord Mayor of London in 1950/51 and rather a tall chap as his picture, above, shows.

Russian For Beginners

First, and only, visit to the Proms this week; the St Petersburg Philharmonic Orchestra playing under the baton of spritely, septuagenarian Yuri Temirkanov a programme of sophisticated Russian music. Or as I subsequently found, a programme described by the condescending BBC as “classical for starters”.

Croquet Special

Today dawns in East Anglia with expectation, even excitement, hanging in the air. My illustration is an inadequate attempt to capture the mood. It is the occasion of the annual Late Summer Luncheon for members of the Norfolk County Lawn Croquet Society.

A Grave Matter

On Sunday I went to check up on the family plot in Mortlake. It was last used in 1935 when Uncle G (my grandfather’s uncle, George Leopold Bryan, later Bellew), was buried there and again in 1940 by my great-grandfather’s second wife.