Midsummer gardening. Manchester history. And a cartoon.

 Today is the summer solstice - the longest day of the year. Here’s a photo of sunrise at Stonehenge in celebration. 

Midsummer’s day here has been suitably warm and sunny. Our daughter dropped Grandson Number Two at our house in the late morning. His older sister was visiting a friend. His own friends were not available so he opted to play with Grandma. We trimmed overhanging bushes in the garden, carefully using secateurs and shears. The six year old assured me he could use such dangerous implements. “I’ve even used a chain saw,” he told me proudly. Goodness knows where he did that! We managed to do our gardening without anyone losing even a part of a finger.

We moved on to making bug houses. A satisfactory afternoon’s work.

A couple of weeks ago Phil and I listened to a podcast about the history of Manchester, how it survived the bombs of the Second World War and the bomb planted by the IRA, how the city changed and grew. Quite fascinating but there was no mention of one of my favourite monuments in the city centre: Saint Ann’s Church  in Saint Ann’s Square, one of the nicest pedestrian places in the city centre. So here’s something that popped up on my social media this morning:

“For most of history, Manchester was a small market town which didn't even cover the area of the present-day city centre. To modern eyes it would have looked like an extended village, with narrow, winding streets and lanes, small open-front shops, workshops and timber-framed houses with vegetable gardens and open fields right behind.  The little town had only one church, St. Mary's, which was where the Cathedral is now. 

Just a stone's throw from the town's main market place, there was a field known as “Acres Field”. Every year, for about 500 years, the townspeople held their local fair on the field.  And it was on Acres Field that a second Manchester church was built: St. Ann’s Church.

Lady Ann Bland, a wealthy local lady, paid for most of the building, which made use of the local red Collyhurst sandstone (though much of the original stone has since been replaced over the years). St. Ann’s Church was consecrated on 17th June, 1712. 

Lady Ann supported more simple churches and ceremonies and the style of St. Ann’s Church still reflects this today.

Surveyors once used the church tower as a platform to measure distances from Manchester to other local areas, making the church, in effect, an unofficial centre point of the growing city. Their benchmark remains visible at the tower door.

The interior of the church was remodelled in the 1880s by Alfred Waterhouse, the same architect who'd designed the Town Hall. The original Communion Table, a gift from Lady Ann Bland, was put into the new Lady Chapel. The organ dates from 1730, though has been modified.

In the 2nd World War, St Ann’s Church narrowly escaped damage during the Manchester Blitz and still has a burnt-out incendiary bomb which fell on the roof. The 1996 IRA bomb caused the upper church windows to be blown in on one side and out on the other. Luckily, the organ had been removed for renovation and so was preserved.

After more than 300 years, St Ann’s is still a place of worship, prayer and quiet reflection in the heart of Manchester.”

Here’s a cartoon I’ve been saving, commenting on banning social media. 

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone.

Sunny summer morning activities. Crazy politicians. A summer holiday cartoon.

 Almost the first thing I did this morning was put some bedding in the washing machine. By the time I had run round the village, come home and showered, it was ready to hang out in the garden. Another load went in the machine as we had breakfast. A third went in later. This is what happens when the weather turns warm and sunny. By mid afternoon it was almost all bone dry.

It’s very still and calm out therein the garden.  ‘England’s green and pleasant land” weather.i need to sit out there in a big sunhat with my sketchbook and capture the moment for posterity!

Over breakfast I heard a strange news report about US ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee. Later I looked it up on the internet to confirm that I had not dreamt it. I found this:

“U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee countered President Donald Trump's Monday statement that there would be no Israel without the actions he's taken to protect the country.

Huckabee, a former Baptist preacher, disagreed.

Speaking at the International Conference on Israeli Heritage in Judea and Samaria Tuesday, Huckabee said, "It is your heritage, without a doubt, but it is also the heritage of the United States. Without Israel, without the Jewish foundation, there would not be America. We owe our very existence to what happened in this land," according to The Jerusalem Post.

On Monday, Trump said during a bilateral meeting with the Qatari Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in France, "Without me, there would be no Israel -- because no other president was willing to do what I did."

The president's comments came in the context of voicing his frustration with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for launching retaliatory strikes against Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon while Trump seeks to sign a peace treaty with Iran.”

I believe that Mr Huckabee’s degree is in religion. Maybe it included no history at all, but surely even he knows that the USA existed before the state of Israel. 

And Mr Trump gives himself a lot of importance too!

Maybe politicians need to be crazy one way or another.

Here are some photos of people standing for election wearing fancy dress - a rather longstanding British tradition. It used to be just the Monster Raving Loony but nowadays lots of would be politicians dress up.

Some of the candidates are not in fancy dress, by the way.

As we seem to having summer weather, here’s a cartoon by Christopher Harry on the dangers of seaside holidays.

I’m going to sit in the garden now.

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!

By-election. Deals. Trees.

 Andy Burnham has won the Makerfield by-election. Some people are speculating on how soon he will be prime minister. Kier Starmer says he will not back down. Wes Streeting lurks on the edges. Any more for a leadership contest? And we need a new mayor for Greater Manchester. Interesting times!

Elsewhere Donald Trump has signed a peace agreement between Iran and the US but further talks seem to have broken down because Lebanon is still being targeted.:

“At least 16 killed in Israeli strikes, says Lebanese media

Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency has said at least 16 people have been killed in the Israeli airstrikes in southern Lebanon, which Israel’s military said were ongoing, while Hezbollah said there was intense fighting in the area.

The fighting poses a threat to the new US-Iran agreement on ending the war, which calls for an immediate halt of military operations “on all fronts, including in Lebanon”.

The deal also calls for ensuring the “territorial integrity and sovereignty” of Lebanon, where Israel has been battling the Iran-backed Hezbollah.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ruled out any immediate withdrawal from southern Lebanon, saying Israeli forces will stay there “for as long as necessary”.

As just mentioned, Donald Trump said on Thursday the US expected “a ⁠complete ceasefire on all fronts, including ⁠Lebanon, Hezbollah and Israel”, also encouraging “everyone ‌in the ‌Middle East region to maintain their commitment to allowing our negotiations ‌to beautifully unfold”.

 Here’s a cartoon about the deal:

And Mr Trump claims wider responsibility also:

“Trump: 'If it weren’t for me, Israel would not exist today'

Donald Trump has repeated his view that if it weren’t for him “Israel would not exist today”.

He made the remarks to American news outlet Axios, which has released snippets of a 45-minute interview with the US president that has yet to be broadcast.

“If it weren’t for me, Israel would not exist today,” Trump said, adding that his relationship with Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is “good, but we have to keep him a little bit sane”.”

There you go.

Here’s a piece of sentimental, sad news:

“The Major oak, one of Europe’s oldest, largest and most celebrated ancient trees, has died.

The huge tree, which has grown in Sherwood Forest in Nottinghamshire, England, for at least 1,000 years, failed to produce any leaves this year, after becoming stressed by a series of hot, dry summers.

Thousands of visitors admire the oak each year, with its great age, enormous 11-metre girth and 28-metre canopy inspiring a forest of folklore. Although the oak would not have been hollow in Robin Hood’s day, it was said to have provided a sanctuary for the outlaw and his gang when fleeing the tyrannical Sheriff of Nottingham.”

We get very sentimental about trees.

We have a similar dead tree not far from our house. Not an oak tree, just a tree that failed to grow new leaf last year. I labeled it “the tree that nature forgot”.

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!

Remembering what day it is. Collecting a book and being told it’s not really for me. Selling property in the West Bank. And naming dead children.

 So this morning I got up relatively early to catch a bus into Oldham. I had an appointment at the ophthalmology clinic at 10 but before then I wanted to collect a book that Granddaughter Number Two had ordered from Waterstone’s bookshop. And I wanted to pop into the health-food shop for a couple of items. 

In the bookshop the assistant and I had a laugh about the book. I assured him it was for my granddaughter. He said he did not think a Japanese fantasy book was really for me. i reminded him not to be judgemental. After all, I might be an eccentric old dear who read such literature! He made sure I had an extra half point on my loyalty card so that the next time I shop there I can have £10 off! 

At the eye clinic they could not find my appointment. Did I have a text message? Yes, I did. I checked it. 19th June at 10.00. Unfortunately today is the 18th. All week I have been a date ahead! So tomorrow I shall have to get up early again but not quite sp early as today!

Back home, earlier than expected, I checked the news online. 

I read again about a real estate event in London that ‘advertised sale of land in illegal Israeli settlements’

Pamphlets from the event featured projects in West Bank and East Jerusalem despite previous denials by organisers

And here’s a photo:

Israeli settlers raise the Israeli flag during an inauguration ceremony for a new settlement on Mount Tarousa in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday. 

The London event was apparently the final stop in a series of international roadshows – after Toronto and New York – which had appeared to advertise the sale of land in Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, and invited individuals to “explore the best Anglo neighbourhoods” and find their “dream home”.

In yesterday’s blog I mentioned Harry Kane’s American Deam: “anyone can achieve success if they want it badly enough, if they pursue it with all their heart. It is known as the American dream.”

The American dream is transferred to Israel.

In contrast here’s a story from the National Catholic Reporter: 

“Seven hours. One name at a time. Until every child had been spoken for.

 

That was the vigil led by Cardinal Matteo Zuppi, one of the most respected figures in the Catholic Church and a peace envoy who once helped reunite children separated by war.

 

He read the names and ages of every child who has died in the war between Israel and Gaza: the 16 Israeli children killed in the October 7 attack, and the more than 12,000 Palestinian children counted since. The names filled 469 pages.

 

He did it, he said, so the children would not be reduced to a number. "It is an insistent prayer so that the war may cease, so that humanity may prevail."

 

The reading ended late at night. Not one name was skipped.”

 

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!

Catching up with the news: Andy Burnham, university entrance qualifIcations, Harry Kane, football.

 This morning I stayed in bed to catch up with my sleep. 

Later I skimmed the news on line. Here are some results.

Headline:

“Keir Starmer says he wants to offer Burnham ‘big role’ in government to avoid leadership contest – UK politics live”

Good grief! The guy’s not won his election yet!

Another headline:

“Students could be required to pass GCSE English to access university loans”

Goodness! Back when I was sixth form tutor it was understood that you needed GCSE English and Maths as standard requirements when applying to university. We regularly insisted students without those qualifications resit them, sometimes alongside the advanced courses they were embarking on. 

However, I read this: 

“Under one proposal being discussed by ministers, a pass in GCSE English would become the national threshold for students to access government-backed tuition and maintenance loans through the Student Loans Company. 

The change would affect more than 30,000 students each year who enrol on full-time first degree courses without formal qualifications such as GCSEs, as well as being a potential financial disaster for universities that teach large numbers of such students, often through franchise arrangements with external partners.”

So there you go. The push to get more and more people into university, and universities agreeing to franchise arrangements to teach large numbers of such students has led to this situation. 

But there is also perhaps a hidden racist agenda here. It’s an insistence on GCSE English, not Maths, the other basic for almost all degree subjects, that is being stressed here. Good English speakers required!! Or am I becoming a little paranoid? 

And then there is this article about footballer Harry Kane, who apparently has a dream:

Harry Kane’s American dream begins: ‘I’m coming into this in the best way possible’

He admires the mentality of US sports stars, the belief that “anyone can achieve success if they want it badly enough, if they pursue it with all their heart. It is known as the American dream.”

With so much negative stuff coming out of the US at present, I personally have no dream of going there but good for Harry Kane. I hope he has a successful World Cup season.

A friend of mine was getting agitated about the whole World Cup thing the other day. A lover of football, he was distressed at the amount of corruption in the organisation of the competition, never mind the arrant racism regarding certain teams and referees and such. Mind you, he’s still watching the games.

It’s a funny business team sport. Fans say they support their local team - or the team of another city that they have selected - but the members of the team usually have little or nothing to do with the city they play for. Like commodities, they are bought and sold  for the skills they possess. Surely trading people, even if the people concerned do rather well out of the deal, is morally suspect! 

That’s all.

Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!