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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.
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telephone for months on end has been hastily withdrawn and, instead, HMRC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:
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.
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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?
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.
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.
A retired RAF Officer asked this
morning, with just a little irony, where Grant Shapps sat compared to a notorious
predecessor as Secretary of State for Defence, Gavin Williamson. Shapps is often described as having, a “safe
pair of hands,” or, translated, unlikely to embarrass No 10. After all, his appointment has received a
resounding endorsement from Boris Johnson.
Mushroom humbly sees the logic: so
long as he does not cause trouble over money, he will be howling success in
cabinet and will be able to continue managing the scandalous decline of our
military capability as well as the next (yes) man. But, as I have said before: Rishi and those
helping him lead the Conservative Party to oblivion may think that they can sweep defence and security under the carpet for
now but they will regret it at the next election. Nobody has a clear
idea of how the war in Ukraine will ever end and what state the belligerent
parties and their helpers will be in afterwards. The possibility of
Trump returning to Commander in Chief and insisting that Europeans actually pay
for their defence against a potentially triumphant Putin could concentrate
minds, even in Germany, let alone Whitehall.
