Bad news

I had a twinge of guilt about our occasional pig-outs on meat this morning, prompted by a piece by Monbiot in yesterday's depressing 'Journal' section of the Guardian. To the effect that, despite the generally bucolic images used to promote the consumption of meat, cattle - that is to say bulls, cows, bullocks and calves - account for maybe 10-20% of greenhouse gases, and that it would be a very good thing if this number were brought down. From which point of view, it may well be that all the cheddar I eat is as bad as all the meat. At least this morning, breakfast consisted of bread, butter and an orange, not zero cow but at least low cow.

I also read, for example, that some survey says that 60% of 18-34 year olds in this country think that having a strong leader who did not have to bother too much about elections or Parliament would be a good thing. It would be worrying enough if the figure were 30%. Maybe I will attempt to track this survey down. 100 young people plucked off the streets of Notting Hill Gate?

That Egypt has been in the grip of one such string leader for ten years. With the usual corollary of same of mistreatment of those who disagree.

That now is not a good time to be a young person with mental health issues - not unless, that is, you have parents rich enough to buy decent care & support on the private. It seems likely that the number of such is increasing.

On a lighter note, a letter responding to a piece about regional accents, telling us of a lad from Yorkshire playing I-Spy down south, thought that cooker qualified as a 'T', as in t'oven. I didn't read the piece in question, but I offer two thoughts on the subject. First, I rather like regional accents in the flesh. Second, contrariwise, I am rather irritated by the number of talking faces with them on television these days. To the point where having such an accent sometimes seems to be a mandatory requirement for career progression. Not so much of a problem with ITV3 drama - although I may be a little out of date there, having progressed to Smart Television, which in our case has meant abandoning ITV3.

PS: some time ago, probably in the course of a trip to London, possibly prompted by the events noticed at reference 3, I bought BH a bottle (not a tin) of Nanny State from the BrewDog brewery in the suburbs of Aberdeen (AB41), a place where regional accents are no doubt to be heard. Described as very tasty and completely alcohol free. I can report this morning that it is on its way into our Christmas pudding, along with an impressive number & amount of other ingredients. A proper Christmas pudding that is, not at all like the curious confections now sold by the likes of Waitrose and M&S.

References

Reference 1: https://www.beefmagazine.com/commentary/census-says-more-beef-cattle-operations. The source of the snap above.

Reference 2: https://lincolnshirepoachercheese.com/.

Reference 3: https://psmv4.blogspot.com/2020/06/memorial.html.