Gorton and Denton By-election

That The Green Party might even win the Gorton and Denton by-election hardly crossed my mind. Mid term elections are not usually  won by the  party in government so that Labour lost even in a constituency in which that party had had an huge majority and and held for over 100 years, was not of itself so catastrophic. Rather, whereas in times past one might have expected the Lib Dem party to be the major winners of voters' discontent with the government, a party such as  The Greens might have expected to lose its deposit.

Far from losing its deposit The Greens won the vote pushing Labour into third place  with both Tories and Lib Dems securing under 2% of the vote and losing their deposits.

The positive points about The Green's success include the wake up calls to the other parties. A minor positive is of course the youthful nature of The Green's new member of parliament: 

 

Winter Olympics - 2

 

 

Originally I had thought that the Winter Olympics would not be worth watching (sadly for me only on TV) because such expensive and minority sports are involved. Yet upon reflection, nearly all Olympic sports both Summer and Winter are costly,

For financing, Team GB relies heavily on UK lottery money for funding both Summer and Winter Olympics. As an aside, only some  years ago there were considerable arguments against setting up a national lottery in the UK at all, on quasi moral grounds, though apparently long since forgotten.

One of my siblings queried whether curling should be in the Winter Olympics at all. His arguments included the minority and expensive  nature of the sport as well as its absence from African countries. In fact there are a couple of African countries (Nigeria and Kenya) promoting curling. Nonetheless, most Olympic sports are expensive requiring substantial funding.  Interestingly though, curling featured in the first   Winter Olympics (1926).

Fascinating as well is an analysis of the best material used for making the  curling rocks. The material from which they are made comes from and uninhabited Scottish Island called Ailsa Craig situate in the Firth of Clyde. Encyclopedia Britannica states:

Ailsa Craig is a 99-hectare, uninhabited island in Scotland’s Firth of Clyde, renowned as an extinct volcanic plug rising over 1,100 feet. Known as "Paddy’s Milestone" and the "Fairy Rock," this Ayrshire landmark is a major bird sanctuary hosting massive gannet colonies. It is famous for its unique blue hone granite, used to craft over 60% of the world's curling stones

Reverting to the Winter Olympic curling sport itself; Team GB's men somehow managed to secure a spot in the finals which will be held this evening. As a result they should   already  be at least silver medal winners - Gold if they can beat Canada in the final. 

Another Team GB medal hope this evening is Zoe Atkin in the Women's halfpipe final.though so far I have not watched her competing.

Bonne Chance! 

Winter Olympics 2026

The last time I watched any Winter Olympic sport was some years ago when Team GB's Scottish  women did brilliantly in curling - a sport of which I knew virtually nothing about..

Winter Olympics viewing is often not worthwhile from a timing point of view but the Italian venue this year is only one hour ahead of GMT so ideal watching on TV in this country.

This year having read in the media daily about how Team GB were coming 4th or  otherwise crashing out in their chosen sports, watching for myself seemed worthwhile so yesterday evening I looked at the  the men's skeleton events at Milan-Cortina on BBC TV. 

Pretty exciting stuff as the competitors in skeleton which I had not heard of let alone watched before, can race at speeds of up to ninety mph while lying prone only an inch or two from the racing circuit ice - terrifying.

Matt Weston  of Team GB broke records in all four of his heats and won gold  despite  his previous speculation about giving up his sport altogether, partly because of a back stress fracture as a teenager.

Congratulations to him and all concerned with his win.. 

British Politics and Prime Ministerial Responsibilities

 

As recently as December 2025 my  top prediction for 2026 was that:

The UK Prime Minister will be replaced

Sir Keir Starmer has not so far been replaced as  Prime Minister despite his appointing the disgraced Baron Mendelson as the UK's ambassador to the USA but seems likely imho to be ousted and or replaced this year, perhaps even by May..Mendelson was of course disgraced by his dreadful association with Jefferey Epstein, who committed suicide.

There is an interesting article in today's Times newspaper about scandals affecting UK Prime Ministers going back to C19. Many scandals have affected British Prime Ministers some of which  are detailed  in that newspaper.. 

One of the most interesting scandals to a C21 eye in my view, is that of Prime Minister HH Asquith see Asquith. Yet  neither that nor any  right through to  PM Boris Johnson's scandal of holding  an illegal tea party at  10 Downing Street during the Covid-19 pandemic when such parties were banned, seem as appalling as the current Prime Minister's appointment of Mendelson though more information is yet to emerge to public view. The scandals of course relate to the dreadful behaviour of Mendelson  with Jeffrey Epstein and  the association with  Epstein of many other political and/or wealthy people, including British Labour Party members..

When one looks at who could replace Starmer there does not appear to be any suitable candidate in his current cabinet..Wes Streeting is a possibility but its is reported that he too had an association with  the current scandal in some way so that surely needs to be clarified first.

Matthew Laza  a back bench Labour MP has no apparent Mendelson connections and has publicly stated that he would not wish to be the UK PM. 

SadaMagazine reports of Mr Laza:

Matthew Laza is a name that has gained significant recognition in both the political and media landscapes. Known for his strategic mind and dynamic career trajectory, Laza has worn many hats, including being a senior adviser, a media strategist, and a commentator on political issues. His work in both media and politics has placed him in the spotlight, particularly within the Labour Party and the broader political spectrum in the United Kingdom

 For all of that Mathew Laza would have my vote.

The Greatest Story Ever Told

 

As one who prefers a quiet,   low holy Mass to  a sung, high  holy Mass, the above book   by Bear Grylls is ideal though he unlike myself, must have read most if not all, of the biblical New Testament and fairly speedily, for writing his biblical accounts.

The book is  not lengthy being but 277 pages long. My oldest son's schooldays  reader's version of the New Testament part of the  Roman Catholic  The New Jerusalem Bible is even shorter at 269 pages. 

In the version by Bear Grylls  the biblical accounts are spoken by 5 different  characters from the time: Mary, Thomas, Simon and John. The accounts are straightforward  and contain the doubts and questions that we would probably have had as eye witnesses had we been present.

Unsurprisingly the book is a best seller and is likely to remain so for some while.

According to Wikipedia:

 Edward Michael "Bear" Grylls OBE is a British adventurer, television presenter and former SAS trooper. He holds several world records...

 

 

Climate Change

 

Certainly UK weather has changed over my lifetime so far. When at Beaumont College as a boy I recall the Thames being frozen solid in Old Windsor. Even upstream in Windsor where the river is wider people were able to walk and even cycle ride  on the ice:

 

 

Today there are reports in The Times that some UK farmers experimenting with rice growing and even with a tea plantation or two. Farming tea or rice in England would not really have been possible in the 1960s.

 

Further afield there are newspaper articles about atrociously cold snow storms hitting large sections of North America with CNN reporting today for example that:

 

• Widespread threat: Two-thirds of the US population is facing down a monster winter storm and extreme cold. The storm’s snow and ice will stretch over 2,000 miles from Texas to New England as it tracks east through the weekend.

• Catastrophic ice storm: Crippling ice accumulations will weigh down and drop power lines and trees in the most serious icing zones in the South. Hundreds of thousands could lose power, some for days. 

Of course global warming affects many other countries very severely. For example in Australia  there was a recent news report of a large number of wild camels which were roaming the outback in search of water. The camels would invade a nearby township raiding the water barrels of some  dwellers and causing many to remain indoors until the camels were seen off.

Camels the humps of which store  fat some of which is transformed into water when required, are usually self sufficient but not this time. 

 

In a Bleak and Dark Midwinter

The title to this blog post is of course that of the well known Christmas carol though photographing in the dark is not within my ken or camera capabilities. 

Here we are over three weeks from Christmas day yet early morning walks are still shrouded in dark. 'Bleak' is not how they appear though. The few people one meets or passes by at 6:30am tend to be more friendly than those at say 12:30pm. 

On Christmas morning well before dawn, maytrees max and his wife Gillian  who had just flown over for Christmas from Jersey in the Channel Islands, maytrees min and  her three week old baby 'atomic dot' well wrapped up and cosily asleep in her pram,  went for a walk over a dark Wimbledon Common to the Windmill with yours truly.

Gillian had not previously visited Wimbledon. Our powerful torch was lit for the beginning of the walk but by the half-way stage when we reached the windmill, dawn had broken and Gillian who is Scottish was pleased to see the  Scottish flag aloft at the golf club house.

We then walked around to the Cannizaro hotel where some had early morning breakfast.I just made it back through Wimbledon Village to the Sacred Heart church in time for early Christmas morning holy mass.