I made the exact same joke on the UK Bird Lovers group on FB just a few weeks ago!

Low tar con, mainly!

A pack of 20 Marlboro cost about 53p when I started smoking in 1978. I think it was over a quid when I finally gave up ten years later (by which time I had switched to Silk Cut).

The NZ Government got similar legislation enacted in 2022 making it illegal to sell tobacco products to those born on or after 01/01/2009. However, following the GE there the following year, the new NZ government has stated its intention to repeal said legislation.

We art historians turned lawyers/law academics must be a very rare breed. While I did not know Giles personally, from everything I have seen and heard of him, I get the distinct impression that we have lost one of the very best of us.

Were they parked up on the pavement or in the process of trying to drive down it? Either way, that's utterly ridiculous!

Should be in the Roman Empire with a name like that (it used to be, of course). 'Pons fracta' = broken bridge.

Very sad news. Adding my condolences to his nearest and dearest.

I feel like I'm missing something here. How has Trump got access to Venezuelan oil? He lobbed a couple of missiles at Caracas, sent in a snatch squad who kidnapped the president, then left, leaving the Venezuelan regime unchanged. Maduro's former deputy is now the acting president.

I fail to understand the economics of this. Most footie fans I know wouldn't go to Trump's World Cup even if FIFA paid them thousands to fill seats at the stadiums, so how on earth they can reasonably expect even a single fan to be prepared to pay thousands to attend is completely beyond me.

I concur with other responses. Merlin is generally great. A bit hard of hearing sometimes. It can't hear fairly distant birds and not so good with raucous birds, i.e. gulls. Occasional misidentifications (e. g. an alleged bittern, probably in fact the mooing of a cow).

Ditto. I've always been on the left, but definitely further left in my 60s than I was in my 40s.

Brings back vivid childhood memories of my grandparents' (later my mum's and my aunts' 'maison de campagne' about 50 km from Psrixs, and particularly of a favourite evening walk through the Bois des Marmots. There were always nightjars in the Bois des Marmots. A magical, otherworldly sound.

Très intéressante exposition, au @museecarnavalet.bsky.social, consacrée à la vie de la marquise de Sévigné, à l'occasion des 400 ans de sa naissance. Les visiteurs peuvent y redécouvrir le Paris du Grand Siècle sur lequel la grande épistolière portait un regard acéré. À voir jusqu'au 23 août.

I'm all for UK ditching the pound for the Euro, but several member states seem to have said 'no thanks' to the Euro and are not, AFAIK, under any pressure to adopt it.

It was quite useful when we couldn't do F2F teaching during the lock-downs. I did large group sessions via Teams, and the break-out rooms feature worked quite well. Even after lockdowns, I offered personal tutees the option of meetings F2F or visa Teams and the Teams options remained popular.

Admittedly this is small scale, but plug-in solar, the sale of which in the UK has only recently been approved has been available in France for years. While the UK may be ahead with off-shore wind-farms, you can't move for wind turbines in rural France, and France has a massive tidal power-station.

Bit greyer here in N France (rapidly approaching Paris, courtesy of Eurostar).

That's a French word that I'd heard but not been entirely sure of its meaning up till now, so thanks for clearing that up. I guess it comes from alea, the Latin word for a dice (or a die, to be pedantic and slightly archaic about it) as in 'alea iacta est' - the die is cast.

More likely that the rise of RefUK is a Washington + Moscow-led plot.

Sounds like we enjoy the same local walks.

There’s a breed of small cattle called Dexter, I believe.

Are you sure Goodwin isn't one of the drunks asleep in the park?

Duly noted. Haven't strolled in that direction in a while, but next time I do, I shall ensure Merlin is recording. Always lots of hedgerow birds along the path that links Teasel Ave to Rowheath Playing Fields too.

In general, (re)orienting education wholly or chiefly to specific perceived market needs is always going to produce disaster once the near term passes. It also eviscerates institutions that might otherwise help people weather change, intellectually and in other ways

Gotye - Somebody That I Used To Know (feat. Kimbra) [Official Music Video] YouTube video by Gotye

Nasty Nige’s theme song for the current state of his relationship with the Orange Felon: youtu.be/8UVNT4wvIGY?...

That was walking through Cotteridge Park from the car park heading back home to Stirchley.

Many years ago, I worked weekends in Whitechapel. Walking from there into the City on a Sunday was weird. While Whitechapel (Brick Lane etc) was bustling, as soon as you crossed the border from Tower Hamlets into the City it was suddenly completely dead, like someone had flipped a switch.

The UK is years behind the rest of Europe on this. Better late than never, I guess!

There are recipes for something similar online though (though the precise mixture of spices in the original version was, inevitably, a closely guarded secret). I might give one of those a go.