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Thanks all. She was also practically blind and an insulin dependent diabetic but she soldiered on and was a pretty happy dog until the last two or three weeks when she lost weight and appetite and I had some late night trips to the emergency vet with her. It became clear yesterday that to keep her any longer was not the right thing to do. Nevertheless it was very hard to pick up the phone and make the appointment. She was well known at the local vet clinic and the staff there were as sad as I was when I brought her in. She was always with me and got me out of the house to take her for a walk a couple of times a day. I'd promised my wife I'd look after her, and know that I did that as well as I could for as long as I could, but I really miss not having her around to keep me company.

Had to have my dog put down this afternoon. Strictly speaking she was my wife's dog but she became mine when my wife died ten months ago. She was just over 15 so had a good run, but had a number of health issues and it got to the point where I had to make a call today. She was only little but she leaves a big void. It hasn't been a good day.

The Catholic nuns were pretty fearsome in primary school. Discipline was maintained with leather straps and the cane end of a feather duster. Some were fairly reasonable but none of them took any nonsense from us kids. Still, we learned a lot.

A lot depends on what kind of education you get and what level you reach. I’m not surprised he didn’t know much. Nor did I when I got my first home loan. I still don’t know that much really and most of what I’ve learned over the years about banks, finance and investments has come through sometimes bitter experience. Fortunately nothing too disastrous. At the other end of the scale, my primary school teacher daughter is concerned that many of her young pupils don’t have the basic fine motor skills needed to hold and write with a pencil but they are fine with an iPad.

Only because Netanyahu and Iran upset his cease fire deal and made him look bad. Still the NATO members in the Hague are heaping plenty of flattery on him in their own interests, so that will make him feel better.

HHG Dacre Stoker was the commander of the Australian submarine AE2 that was eventually sunk in the Sea of Mamara in WW1. Bram Stoker was his cousin.

I can’t imagine the Iranians wouldn’t have moved their enriched uranium to safer locations long ago. They have had plenty of warning that attacks were coming on their main sites sooner or later.

But he's stupid enough to believe he's a genius.

From Channel 9 news: "Pakistan has formally recommended US President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize, citing his "decisive diplomatic intervention" following a spike in violence between India and Pakistan earlier this year. The government praised Trump for leveraging his "pivotal leadership" in May, when several days of cross-border strikes marked the worst regional fighting between the two nuclear-armed nations since 1971, killing dozens and stoking fears of a wider war. Islamabad and New Delhi agreed to a US-brokered truce on May 8, as one final burst of strikes ripped through parts of the long-disputed Kashmir region – to which both countries claim full sovereignty." However, Modi has previously stated that the deal was worked out directly between India and Pakistan and that Trump had nothing to do with it. The Pakistani announcement also came before Trump bombed Iran, so maybe they will need to reconsider their recommendation. That Nobel peace prize seems to be some way off now.

This extract from an article in the AFR probably explains what got Trump over the line so soon after announcing a two week delay: "US media reported that Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth spoke with Israel’s prime minister, along with Defence Minister Israel Katz and military chief Eyal Zamir. Israel was incensed that Trump could waste the opportunity to move against Iran’s crown jewel nuclear sites by giving it more time." Netanyahu probably told him he was weak on Iran, and that would have been enough of an insult to get him to send the bombers in.

Well he's done the easy bit but the question is, what now? I'll bet the next step in his strategic plan is `We'll see what happens".

Teflon Don has a problem he can't easily pin on Biden or Obama anymore.

Plus bigger subs also means more crew, and probably more training facilities. Where are they going to get the extra personnel from? That Aukus sub is a monster even compared to the Virginias. Still, it's a pretty safe bet that we'll never see one. The Brits will never be able to get it designed, built, debugged and operational to meet the program, and it will cost three times more than expected.

A war is not a wsr when it’s a Special Military Operation which is when one country attacks another.

More corruption: President Trump’s family business announced Monday that it was launching a mobile phone and cellular service in the first family’s latest attempt to capitalize on Mr. Trump’s political base.

Nothing would have come out of a brief meeting with Trump anyway, so it's almost irrelevant whether they met or not. It would just be a photo op for home consumption.

Got sick of Microsoft's reminders about Win11 so finally gave in and installed it. Seemed pretty seamless. I disabled as much of the spyware as I could find hoping to stop Microsoft looking over my shoulder, but who knows what it's really doing. The interface is a bit different to Wind10 but not enough to worry about.

Here's an interesting perspective on the current unrest in Los Angeles that doesn't suit Trump's MAGA agenda given the inconvenient fact that Los Angeles was once part of Mexico. I was there as protesters flooded the streets of downtown Los Angeles, their chants rising over sirens and the buzz of low-flying helicopters. The air was thick with smoke, and the sharp, acrid sting of chemicals burned the throat and made eyes water. Loud bangs echoed off concrete buildings, followed by the thud of rubber bullets hitting pavement and bodies. A wall of L.A. police officers stood unmoving at the edge of the crowd. And above it all, in the chaos and confrontation, was a sea of raised fists and Mexican flags. Not tucked in a pocket or painted on a cheek, but unfurled and waving high, as if daring the city, the country, to see them. We know what came next. The outrage. The backlash. Not discomfort, but anger. Real, visceral anger. For many, seeing the Mexican flag waved during a protest against Immigration and Customs Enforcement doesn’t just raise eyebrows; it feels like an affront. They ask: If you’re demanding rights in this country, why wave the flag of another? But that flag, at that moment, is not about rejecting the United States. It’s about refusing to be erased. It’s layered with history, memory and defiance. It calls into question who we are as a country and, more important, who we’re willing to include. It forces a reckoning with a national identity far more complicated than many are ready to admit. At a time when immigration is no longer merely debated but wielded as a tool to stoke fear, consolidate power and dehumanize an essential part of our society, and when the political cost of empathy has grown prohibitively high, moments like this don’t just spark controversy; they become crucibles. They force us to confront questions without easy answers: Who truly belongs in this country? And at what cost? Can American identity contain this kind of complexity, or is belonging still tethered to silence, assimilation and the quiet erasure of everything that doesn’t conform? Los Angeles is the perfect place to ask these questions because Mexican identity isn’t foreign there. It’s foundational. This was Mexico once and remains part of the memory, culture, street names, food and families who never crossed a border because the border crossed them. In that context, the Mexican flag isn’t necessarily a symbol of separation or rejection. Sometimes, it’s a claim: We are both. We are Mexican and American, not divided but layered. This is what our identity looks like. But American pluralism has never been as open-armed as we pretend. It often tolerates presence but punishes visibility. Mexican Americans are deemed essential when the country needs labor — in the fields, in hospitals during the covid pandemic, in our homes, in our schools and in the armed forces — but suspicious when they demand dignity, political voice or the freedom to show pride in where they come from. The message has always been: Contribute, but don’t complicate.

Try living in the US and see if you still think it’s so bad over here. You could start with the criminal in the White House and his corrupt Justice Department.

The illegals are harmless, needed to support the economy, and should be granted citizenship and the only law and order that has to be restored is the chaos that Trump is responsible for.

Yes, it's pretty ugly.

America First! Trump will probably claim it was his idea to start with and that he talked his mate, Scotty, into going along with it to stop that French guy, Macron from getting all that money we were giving away.

Newsome has just called Trump a `stone cold liar' and said `you can't work with him, you can only work for him'. He's warned other States that what's happening in California will happen to them too.

Frederick Forsyth died 9 June 2025 aged 86. As well as being an author and journalist, he flew Vampires in the RAF.

But isn't that why the Americans want bases here?