I just woke up in the ideological 1800s with a govt minister (Badenoch) on about the 'Glorious Revolution'. (The Dutch force of 500 ships - 4x William the Conqueror's fleet - and 21,000 soldiers which invaded England, imposed martial law, toppled the king, and seized power.)

The US Army is different to the British Army. Some crossover, but a fresh foundation, different leaders, rules, language, traditions, uniforms. The slightly curious thing is that the CofE - which executed Catholics - now wants to associate itself with the Catholic Church.

The best opening line ever, in so many ways. Are there any others you can think of that set the mood so perfectly, and with such promise?

“You boy! Get me £5000, I’ve been locked up by bad people.”

Some rannsaka and slátr of this government's majority would be timely.

I thought Truss then Farage/Braverman had coaxed out the best of Twitter this week. But this CofE/RC pile-on is gold! Based on this, we should revist the English Reformation at least once a year.

Huginn and Muninn out on patrol in Midgard. Happy Thor's Day!

In the early 80s, I bought bootleg tapes from fanzines of an obscure US band called Metallica. It is fair to say that, as a headbanger, people my age (or any age) thought me antisocial. Now even their tattoos make @TheTimes headlines. Really not sure I am okay with this.

However much Sunak et al froth at this outcome, we are watching our carefully crafted democracy working. The directly elected chamber is only one element in lawmaking, not the whole story.
theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/a…

By Hans Holbein, from the recent Royal Collection Trust exhibition. Dazzling.

Suddenly Braverman and Farage et al are concerned about freedom of assembly and speech. Wait, aren't those enshrined in the ECHR that they want to ... leave? Asking for a friend.

bbc.co.uk/news/world-eur…

'I issued a mayoral order to ban the 'National Conservatism Conference' event to guarantee public safety ... the far-right is not welcome.'
Suella Braverman was a speaker there, Attorney General and Home Secretary 2020-23.
How did Britain let the far-right into the Cabinet?

Please do the utterly brutal suppression of the 1549 Devon-Conrnwall risings next!

Think we all know who could make a genuine contribution to our politics by disappearing ...

Nominations for Early Modern bayards? I'd start with Matthew Hopkins (self-proclaimed Witch-Finder General).

Can we have dictation software for the humanities, please? Although weeding out errors is a joy. Top prize this morning goes to 'Unix' in place of 'Eunuchs'.