Carol of the Bells

A festive e-single for your delectation!

open.spotify.com/track/7C771O...

Happy Eurovision to all who celebrate.

A horn with a sign saying Don’t

Thought for the day.

Terry Etherton Former master of the rolls dies at 73

Lord Etherton GBE, a distinguished appeal judge and master of the rolls from 2016 until his retirement at the beginning of 2021, died last night. He was 73.

rozenberg.substack.com/p/terry-ethe...

Accueil Canoé Kayak - Kayak Vert Canoë Vaucluse Location de Canoë descente de la Sorgue à Fontaine de Vaucluse au départ de l'Aqueduc site historique dans le Vaucluse.

Even better, if you are feeling active, is the kayak trip from the nearby underground source of the Sorgue. Beautiful river, crystal clear waters and a couple of wooden chutes en route. Then lunch afterwards in L’Isle!

canoevaucluse.com

The Forgotten Square of Bloomsbury Tragedy and oddity in Regent Square.

Some cracking stuff here, which really illustrates the density of historical associations a place accumulates: I worked near here for 20+ years, walked that way relatively often, and still there's lots here I had no idea about.

The Forgotten Square of Bloomsbury open.substack.com/pub/londonis...

cover page for Howells vs Newport City Council

So... Remember that guy who took Newport Council to court for £600m because he accidentally threw out the hard drive with his bitcoin private key on it?

Judge just summarily dismissed his case.

And even if you're not a lawyer, the judgement is a pretty fun read... /1

That mixture of triumph and relief when the Christmas bins are successfully collected…

If anyone has nothing better to do on the Saturday before Christmas at 7.30pm (!), then our final sell-out London Oriana carol concert is being streamed live from St James’s Piccadilly. Do join for a mix of new and familiar festive tunes.

www.youtube.com/live/Wagt-y_...

Pedents   Foot soldiers in the War on Error, They’re here to save us from ourselves, With Fowler’s Modern English Usage (first edition, nineteen twelve).   They scrutinise each word we write For typos, gaffes, et cetera, Correcting all our dumb mistakes To make our grammar betterer.   They sigh and tut and tell us off For the rules we have forsaken And chart this nation’s steep decline By the care we should of taken.   Custodians of the King’s English, They merely serve to keep it pure And restrict, they hope, the ignorant To three mistakes or less.   In doing so, they hold no fear they will deprive a thing of life: for it’s not important what is said, what matters is that its right. Brian Bilston

Today’s poem is dedicated to all those who have taken it upon themselves to correct the grammar or spelling in my poems over the last few weeks.

It’s called ‘Pedents’.

Fabulous stuff:

Choir members, as we approach concert season, here are some great and important questions to ask your conductor during rehearsal:

- is this the performance tempo?
- are you conducting this in 2 or 4?
- are there any spare copies?
- when is the concert?

First londonoriana.com concert of the season on Friday evening at St Paul’s Covent Garden. Tickets still available!

First londonoriana.com concert of the season on Friday evening at St Paul’s Covent Garden. Tickets still available!

All change on the Overground So how do you re-name and re-brand an entire operational urban rail network?

ALL CHANGE: so how do you re-name and re-brand an entire operational urban rail network?

My bit on the creation of a new London Overground, finally (FINALLY) out from behind the paywall

London Oriana Choir Details of London Oriana Choir's concert programme for its 24/25 season

Drum roll… Here is the beautifully created London Oriana Choir 2024-25 Season Brochure. Some cracking events to come during the year. Do come and listen to us, or even better, sing with us!

issuu.com/londonoriana...

Yes I can see that. I suppose it emphasises the difference between president and legislature. Our monarch doesn’t come to the legislature much either, but serious difference in powers!

For once, Easygroup do not get their own way. Case brought by them against Easyfundraising is dismissed.

caselaw.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ewhc/ch/2024...

Oooh… just updated Bluesky app to v1.91 on the Apple App Store and I can now see posts with video 😍👌

What the Grenfell Tower Inquiry report said about the key players in the disaster The final Grenfell Tower Inquiry report did not hold back in delivering criticism. Peter Apps and James Riding run through the comments on the key players

Very good overview of key players in the Grenfell Tower Inquiry report. Strongly recommend reading Pete Apps' Show Me The Bodies, though this is a useful cheat sheet.

www.insidehousing.co.uk/insight/what...

Fab start of the year with this lot last night. Any London singers would be very welcome to try us out at the open rehearsal next week.

Return to the office: How London compares to other global cities, and why this matters - Centre for Cities This report presents the latest data documenting how the central London return to the office has continued in 2024 and where it might go in the future, compared to the city centres of five of its inte...

NEW REPORT | Return to the office: How London compares to other global cities, and why this matters

London office workers have continued to return to the office but not as quickly as other big cities around the world.
Explore our findings - www.centreforcities.org/publication/...

Navigating Past Titles Past titles are a tricky thing indeed

I recently received an excellent question from one of my erudite followers on navigating past titles (so QC becomes KC) in citation. Happily, I have a whole blogpost about that! Free to read, as ever.

Anyone fancy joining a London choir this autumn? Singing is such a good hobby, especially with this bunch. Details here: www.instagram.com/londonoriana...

Now You Have to Run the Museum... Keir Starmer carried the Ming vase successfully to its plinth. Now he should be less cautious.

🏺 Ming vase analogy warning🏺

New Substack post on the limits of Labour's Ming vase electoral strategy now they are actually in government and the importance of just letting people feel good about themselves. We'll eat our greens but there better be dessert.

benansell.substack.com/p/now-you-ha...

So here we are, back in Paris, for another Olympics opening ceremony, and further ill-treatment of grand pianos, this time mass abuse of a dozen or so

Really thorough monkey pox thread from @gnomeicide.bsky.social which he is updating as new cases in more countries are identified.

We’d better pay attention.

French’s, though Plattens also good!

Spot on - Wells next the Sea quay!