I followed my own advice yesterday and went blackberrying, returning home with a large box of berries, which soon became blackberry pie and blackberry, apple and almond cake.
We’ve not yet had the promised rain. Well, truth to tell, there was evidence of it having rained during the night but when I went out first thing it was fine and dry, with even a bit of sunshine from time to time. I say I went out ‘first thing’ but that is a bit of an exaggeration. We sat up late last night watching ‘The Godfather’ and as a result I got out of bed rather later than usual.
We’ve also recently watched several seasons of the American series ‘Yellowstone’ and after rewatching ‘The Godfather’ I found myself wondering to what extent ‘Yellowstone’ was based on or at least echoed ‘The Godfather’. John Dutton is something of a Don Corleone figure, having things done his way. Tom Hagen, the Godfather’s consigliere, is a kind of adopted son who has become a lawyer, just as Jamie Dutton is an adopted son who becomes the Dutton family’s lawyer. There’s even in each case a younger son who despite his best efforts is pulled back into the family business: Michael Corleone and Kayce Dutton. Just a thought!
There’s been a lot of flag-waving over the last week or so at anti-immigration demonstrations. Mr Farage is not helping matters, egging people on to protest. I’m fairly sure that many of those who gathered outside various hotels used to house immigrants did not live near those hotels. I’m not sure how I would react if the pub next door, which does have rooms where walkers and other holidaymakers stay, suddenly filled with refugee families. I hope I would be as welcoming as the families in the film ‘Il Treno dei Bambini’, which tells of hungry children sent from 1946 post war, struggling Naples to spend some time in the more prosperous north of Italy being cared for and fed by left-wing families there.
Much of the problem, of course, is that the would-be immigrants are not processed fast enough. There is little chance of any level of integration while whole families spend months in crowded hotel rooms, unable to work and unable to resume a normal family life or to get to know the community where they are housed.
Here is a link to an article about an overcrowded asylum centre in Kent, where people are meant to spend days and end up spending months in dire conditions.
Meanwhile journalists are being killed in Gaza. I didn’t think there were any hospitals left to bomb but the IDF struck Khan Younis' Nasser Hospital, the last functioning hospital in southern Gaza, not once but twice, killing medical aid teams and reporters who rushed in to help the victims of the first run.
“The IDF stated that ground forces fired a tank shell at the hospital because they thought a camera on site was being operated by Hamas to observe Israeli troops. The forces then fired another shell to ensure the camera was hit, which the IDF estimated hit the medical personnel who tried to treat those wounded from the first shelling. IDF Chief of Staff Zamir has ordered an initial inquiry "as soon as possible."
The IDF said it "regrets any harm to uninvolved individuals and does not target journalists as such," and added that it acts to "mitigate harm to uninvolved individuals as much as possible while maintaining the safety of IDF troops."
This is Mariam Abu Dagga, a photo-journalist, who, like most journalists working there, prepared her will despite being just 33 years old. She left behind two sets of instructions: to her colleagues, do not cry at her funeral; to her 13-year-old son, Ghaith, make her proud.
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And here’s a cartoon comment on the situation.
And finally, here’s something from Michael Rosen:
Thank you Netanyahu,
we'll remember the word 'mishap'.
A word useful for such things
as a matter of a lost key,
or a trip over a doorstep
but you've now used to wrap up
blood, murder, loss and horror.
If this is a mishap
the mishap is you.
Life goes on. Stay safe and well, everyone!
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