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Sunday 17 July 2022

Pleasantly warm



It' a pleasantly warm day here in slightly cloudy Derbyshire so Mrs H and I whizzed off in the MX5 for breakfast at a local garden centre. The idea was to fill up early and cook as little as possible during the day. The only fly in the proverbial ointment has been the Mad People who seem to think we'll inadvertently go shopping in a padded walking jacket, heavy walking trousers and a woolly hat.

Fortunately we managed to think things through and wore light summer clothing.

As usual in these conditions.

Like everyone else.

Unfortunately this short but warm spell has arrived in time for the Mad People to shove Net Zero at our new Prime Minister. The usual suspects must be lining up already, which does make a chap wonder if there is an official instruction booklet for Prime Ministers. 

A booklet of things Prime Ministers can do and mostly cannot do. Things they should not expect to achieve, levers of power which don't actually exist, scripts they may find useful, scripts they must read, learn and inwardly digest. It certainly feels that way.

7 comments:

Sam Vega said...

Years ago I read an account by Jim Callaghan of the day he took over from Wilson to become PM. Lots of very quick meetings with officials, mostly about planning the working day and how Downing Street operates. At one point, he said, an official took him into a small office, locked the door behind him, and gave him unexpected information which was so shocking that his knees buckled slightly and the room swam around him . He quickly recovered and carried on.

I've often wondered what that could have been about. The real deficit? Wilson a Soviet spy? Contact with aliens? I've looked for that article, but it seems to have disappeared.

James Higham said...

Summer clothing? Enjoy it while you can.

dearieme said...

Hot here. I've been mooching about in a nightshirt (the Arabs are right about how to dress for the heat) but am now in shorts so the nightshirt can be washed. Tomorrow and Tuesday we are going to lie low.

Last week I had an out-patient appointment at the hospital. (i) How dare the NHS preach about the dangers of high temperatures while running its hospitals at oven temperatures? (ii) Why are almost all of their staff wearing bloody masks so that I can't make out a word they say? Do we really employ doctors and nurses who are so stupid and ignorant that they think masks work? Give me strength!

Ed P said...

Dearieme:
(i) It's an out of control bureaucracy
(ii) They don't want to admit the truth (about vax damage or anything else covid-related)
(iii) Yes

A K Haart said...

Sam - interesting. There is a Mail reference to someone telling him that they only had two days of ammunition to tackle the USSR, but the original of that seems to have disappeared.

James - cooler is more enjoyable for us - better for walking and just getting things done.

dearieme - I just wear shorts. Staff were wearing masks at my last out-patient hospital appointment back in March. They seem to value the authoritarian aspect of the NHS quite highly.

Ed - fourth vaccination round coming up apparently.

wiggiatlarge said...

This warm spell has its plusses, I have just had an on time delivery from the much maligned EVRI late Hermes, the young lady was on time again and very pleasant, the plusis she has wonderful bazookas and was wearing a very skimpy summery thingy dress or somat................
unlike the appaling sight in Sainsbury's this morning where the land whales and pelmet women with their puce access of flesh on display and the acres of cheap tatoos, there was even worse on display but I would get banned decribing what greeted me bending over in the cereals aisle.

A K Haart said...

Wiggia - we see lots of land whales and pelmet women round here. I don't know what they think they look like.