Morning music
Peter Hitchens
“Liberty fought tyranny in the High Court in London last week, in what I believe is one of the most important court cases of our time. The issues were simple. Is it permissible to disagree publicly with the British Government‘s foreign policy?
If not, how much do you have to disagree with it to be in trouble? And can you then be severely punished without a proper trial?
I have a strong personal interest in this, since I often (in fact, almost always) disagree with British foreign policy. This frequently seems to have been made by bomb-happy teenagers who have never looked at a map, opened a history book or done any proper travel.
These are surely huge issues for any country. Apart from anything else, if foreign policy cannot be criticised, how long before domestic policy is protected in the same way?“
[Mail on Sunday/Daily Mail]
Well worth reading.
[cf. my own trial, just now finished (at least at first instance)].
Tweets seen
From over a year ago but nothing has changed since then.
Anyone who thinks that misnamed “Labour” will be somehow better than the equally-misnamed “Conservatives” is self-deluding. Having said that, the “Con Party” does deserve to be stamped on and reduced to a tiny caucus at the 2024 General Election.
Stop the migration-invasion. Remove those not wanted in this country. Eliminate rogue landlords and buy-to-let parasites. Build decent homes for British people.
Bob Stewart was at least well-known. Any replacement will probably attract fewer votes even before the slide in Con Party fortunes is taken into account.
Beckenham has been a fairly safe Conservative seat since its creation in 1950. The Conservatives won easily even at the General Election of 1997, and the scandals around Piers Merchant [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piers_Merchant] did not prevent his successor from winning the seat at the by-election (also in 1997): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beckenham_(UK_Parliament_constituency)#Elections_in_the_1990s.
That it looks as if Beckenham will go Labour in 2024 is of wider significance, and underlines the almost existential crisis of the Conservative Party.
Another fact of straw-in-the-wind significance is that the likely new MP for Beckenham is one Marina Ahmad, a Bangladeshi who moved to the UK when 6 months old. The Great Replacement?…
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marina_Ahmad; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Stewart_(politician)[.
[Update, 13 October 2024: in the end, Marina Ahmad was shoved aside (I think after being labelled “antisemitic”) in favour of one Liam Conlon, the 20-something son of Keir Starmer’s collaborator, former civil servant and would-be queen bee, Sue Gray, who held the position of Chief of Staff at 10, Downing Street from July 2024 until (it seems) her interference and politicking made Starmer demote her and chuck her out of the first circle of power in October 2024. Conlon won the new Beckenham and Penge seat with 49.3% of the vote. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beckenham_and_Penge_(UK_Parliament_constituency)#Elections_in_the_2020s; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beckenham_(UK_Parliament_constituency)#Elections_in_the_2010s].
Mint julep
A word about a favourite drink, though one not had by me for some 20 years.
“I must descant a little upon the mint julep, as it is… one of the most delightful and insinuating potations that was ever invented, and may be drunk with satisfaction when the thermometer is as low as 70 degrees.
There are many varieties, such as those composed of claret, Madeira, &c., but the ingredients of the real Mint Julep are as follows. I learned how to make them and succeeded pretty well. Put into a tumbler about a dozen sprigs of the tender shoots of mint, upon them put a spoonful of white sugar, and equal proportions of peach and common brandy, so as to fill it up one-third, or perhaps a little less.
Then take rasped or pounded ice, and fill up the tumbler. Epicures rub the lip of the tumbler with a piece of fresh pineapple, and the tumbler itself is very often incrusted outside with stalactites of ice.
As the ice melts, you drink.
I once overheard two ladies talking in the room next to me, and one of them said, “Well, if I have a weakness for any one thing, it is for a mint julep!”–a very amiable weakness, and proving her good sense and good taste. They are, in fact, like the American ladies–irresistible!“
[Captain Marryatt— https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frederick_Marryat].
The typical mint julep of today, however, uses quality Bourbon more often than peach brandy and cognac.
Dickens also enjoyed the odd mint julep: https://www.foodhistory.com/foodnotes/leftovers/bev/julep/01/.
Reminds me of happy times in Charleston, South Carolina, which I visited a few times in 2001 and 2002.
Late music
Ian Robert Millard 