The Way We Live Now

 

Fogo not Forgetting

 

In a corner of this foreign field someone has ensured that the young men who died whilst serving at Charterhall are not forgotten.  The several graves of mostly Commonwealth aircrew have been meticulously maintained, ensuring that their death in war was neither anonymous nor unsung. Thank you, parishioners of Fogo, from an RAF veteran.

Taxes Made Easy

  

HMRC appears to be in small spot of difficulty with its customers.  The threat to deny access by telephone for months on end has been hastily withdrawn and, instead, HMRC assures us:

 “We continue to encourage people to use our highly-rated online services wherever possible, so they can get their queries resolved quickly and easily. This allows our expert advisers to focus on helping those who need one-to-one support, including the digitally excluded and the vulnerable.”

Public exasperation with the tax authorities does not appear to be a recent phenomenon.  Back in 1865, Punch published an exchange between disgruntled tax payer Mildmay Diddleton (Late of the Army) and the Chancellor of the Exchequer, WE Gladstone.

I came across the particular edition of Punch whilst relaxing in the superb visitor centre at Howick Hall in Northumberland (£9 admission for old folks is an absolute snip, by the way). 

Here is the full exchange of letters. 

Readers, particularly those frustrated by their failure to contact HMRC,  may admire Mildmay Diddleton’s sense if purpose and may, even, be tempted to follow his example?

 

 

Defence Chickens Roosting

 

In the past, Mushroom has lamented the incessant cutting of defence expenditure and derided the clichéd excuses such as punching above our weight and pivoting towards cyber warfare. He has sat, with former colleagues, and listened to senior serving officers emphasising the importance equality and diversity at, apparently, the expense of fighting effectiveness and esprit de corps.  He has become exasperated with the naïve party line that if only we should spend 2% of GDP on our armed forces, all will be well with our defence posture.  A stupidity that appears to afflict almost the entire political establishment.

Well, this week, the cosy complacency has been punctured as several respected authorities warn of the deteriorating security situation and our lack of preparedness for major conflict. 

The historian, Robert Tombs, weighed in, in the Sunday telegraph today:

“History shows that we have blundered into disaster by not seeing it coming. In the 1930s, public opinion moved faster than the politicians in realising the threat from the Nazis, but it was still desperately late in doing so. War is so terrible – modern war unimaginably so – that we cannot neglect any way of making it less likely. Retreating into neutrality does not seem an option in the modern world, as Sweden, long a proud neutral, has realised. We need politicians who are able to look without flinching at the dangers facing us, and explain to the country what needs to be done and what it will cost.”

To which our Government spokesman, apparently, “looking without flinching,” reassures us that “these kinds of hypothetical scenarios, talking about a conflict, are not helpful and I don’t think it’s right to engage with them,” adding that the Government had invested “significant sums into our Armed Forces”. Quite so and, as an old colleague in Northumberland reflects on a quote from Sir John Harvey-Jones on planning:

“Planning is an unnatural process; it is much more fun to do something.  And the nicest thing about not planning is that failure comes as a complete surprise rather than being preceded by a period of worry and depression."

Just the political ticket?

 

Cook Whole Chicken in Air Fryer

I listened to a Radio Five report on the plight of children in Gaza as I drove home from another memorable Newcastle United victory.  It was heart rending and, I am sure, had the desired effect on the audience.  Only terrible people could do this to innocent children therefore Israelis are terrible people.  In the binary discussion that passes for political debate these days, that makes Israelis the oppressors and Palestinians the victims.  Slam dunk - argument closed.  Just like the BBC reporting on the riots in Dublin - far right extremists responsible for rioting - nothing to see here - move on please.

Such is the state of news media these days - only victims and oppressors and no shades between.  I despair so I shall tell you about my adventures in air frying instead.

I have owned a small Tefal air fryer for about a year and found it a very useful addition to the kitchen.  But it failed recently and was repaired under warranty.  Meantime, convinced by their many advantages, we decided to invest in a more sophisticated model.  We chose the Ninja Foodi Dual Zone AF300UK which seemed big enough and flexible enough for our needs.

Our first major operation was roast chicken for Sunday lunch.  Each of the two drawers is large enough to hold a small chicken.  I prepared the chicken simply by brushing lightly with olive oil and seasoning and stuffing the body cavity with a handful of fresh herbs from the garden.  I then placed the chicken upside down in Zone 1 so:

To cook, I set Zone 1 to "Roast" and 180 degrees for 55 minutes.  After 40 minutes I turned the chicken right side up, intending to give it the last 15 minutes to brown the breast.  However, it was already looking pretty well cooked, confirmed by the meat thermometer (essential), so I only let it stay in for another 10 minutes before removing:

The meat temperature was 83 plus so it was well done (for chicken) but, for appearance, I think I should have let it have slightly longer right side up to brown the breast.  The chicken then rested for 20 minutes before carving.

Meantime, in Zone 2, I prepared the roast potatoes.  I decided to boil the potatoes for 10 minutes to soften then drained in a colander, giving them a vigorous shake to damage the edges.  I then melted a teaspoon of beef dripping in the Zone 2 drawer with the non-stick crisper tray removed.  When the fat was hot I added the par-boiled potatoes and swirled round until the potatoes were coated in the fat.  I then removed the potatoes for a moment, re-inserted the crisper tray and placed the potatoes on top.  I then cooked the potatoes on "Air Fry" at 180 degrees for about 25 minutes.  You could time this operation to complete after the chicken had rested and was ready for carving.

The resting time for the chicken gave ample time to air fry the pigs in blankets and veal forcemeat stuffing balls ("Air Fry" at 180 for 15 minutes) and the whole meal came together at once (sprouts and red cabbage and apple done on the stove):

I do hope this is more useful than my opinions on politics, politicians and the BBC?

PS, if you try this at home, please do not take my timings as read and check your own cooking times to taste.

59 Years Ago Today

Fifty Nine years ago today, I saved my life ejecting from Jet Provost XR 664 in a Martin-Baker seat and descended to earth on an Irvin parachute, relatively, unscathed.  By remarkable coincidence I became 664th successful user of the Martin-Baker seat. 

Constant Companions at the Stephen Joseph Theatre

 

Mark Brown, who appears to be an occasional theatre critic for the Daily Telegraph, didn’t think much of Sir Alan Ayckbourn's new play, Constant Companions, at the Stephen Joseph Theatre Scarborough. Brown complains that the play adopts the comic tone of a Carry On film and that the humour is “old hat.” I took a different and much more favourable view. OK there was the usual helping of slapstick but this, particularly in the case of sex-starved Don, eager to assemble his mail order sex robot, was pure pathos. More often the triple plot was uncomfortably funny with some very good acting. The ending, typical of Ayckbourn, was a little rushed for me but still provoking. My advice: judge for yourself. We had a most enjoyable afternoon and, judging by the buzz from the audience as we left the theatre, Mark Brown seems to be somewhat out of step with the paying customers.