English place names have a special place in my heart. To some of them we owe a debt that never can be repaid.

Yesterday, we said goodbye to Bentley Priory. And this piece of art is remarkable:

To

observe, to trade (on our terms) and occasionally fight the French & Germans.

The House of Lords has a weblog. How perfectly wonderful.

Sometimes, it’s all you can say. 

In many ways, this is an artworking job like any other. But you’ll have the satisfaction of knowing that the ultimate purpose of everything you do is to protect the UK 

Rather gratifyingly, a post I made over at Nature Network (yes, that Nature) garnered more than a few comments from the editorial staff (among others) and made it onto Maxine Clarke’s ‘official’ Nature weblog.

Even more ego-strokingly, I appear, directly or indirectly, three times in that one post.

Fame! We’re going to live forever!

Um, nearly got carried away, there. Sorry.

Being born into a military family, this hoo-haa about the public wearing of uniforms by the Services is close to my heart.

I am proud of my dad, my sister and my brother-in-law.  They have served their country at home and abroad, in places such as Basra and Pristina.  And they should be able to walk down the street — any street — with their heads high, saying “I served you”.   

Because if they can’t, what they have done and still do, and what our parents and their parents did all over the world in the last hundred years, is meaningless. We, the people they protect and serve, are duty-bound to honour and respect them. 

So I say, wear your uniforms with pride, and if any bastard has it in for you, you have a sidearm for a reason.  And I’ll gladly be your witness.

I saw this when in NZ back in January, and it still cracks me up:

 Google for “hullo chaps” and you find that really, some people would whinge if their arses were on fire. 

See http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/01/04/2131519.htm

If you’re feeling warm hearted, you might like to contact a Suzann Badango, from Liberia in west Africa presently residing in Dakar senegal, who sounds rather lonely, and I think is seeking a soul mate to impress her.

Send email to suzannbadango4@yahoo.com or suzannbadango119@hotmail.com, if you like.

Haven’t we done this one already?