2/2 Gesina ter Borch, dressed as a farm-woman & looking as if paper she holds brought disquieting news. Painted in the 1650s by her brother Gerard.

Sorry, are you saying we have to thank Tony Blair for not-very-bitey midges and mosquitoes? Blimey, that is going to give some people cognitive dissonance!

* mosquitoes, I guess. Where were you when I needed you, Spellchecker?

Of course, we do have both mosquitoes and midges in the south of England. But somehow the spirit just doesn’t seem to be in them. Very halfhearted in their appetites.

‘You will never be one of us’ is an instinct that runs very deep with a section of humanity — in all sorts of situations; refugees may be only the most stark.

You can’t change the human animal but you can change society and surely social democracy is about encouraging our better selves.

Albertus at top, various animalia at the bottom. Poor bunny!

There’s more to this than just pasties and scones.

But wait, the pterabytes had wings!? This is so confusing.

No! The Dorsets are all knobs! We’re not integrating with them 😠

Oh, I thought a terabyte was one that lived on the ground? A flightless byte?

Side point: fascinating how enthusiastic the anti-maskers have become for masks.

These are the advocates of cultural cohesion. These are culture warriors who are antagonistic to anything even slightly unlike themselves.

I share nothing with these people but skin colour. I have no intention of becoming cohesive with them.

During the Brexit years there was a narrative that people on our side of things had no-one to vote for that represented them. But at present if you are left of centre you can choose between Labour, Green and Liberal and if one isn’t hacking it the smaller parties feel more viable than previously.

Who knows, perhaps in a century or so Musk’s descendants will have evolved into a society of fun people who make nice wine and some enjoyable sitcoms.

Nowadays we often think of Transportation, the 19th century judicial punishment of transporting criminals to faraway Australia, as a harsh thing. But I must admit I quite like the idea of sending society’s most awful people on an arduous journey to somewhere very distant and just leaving them there.

When I was a nipper we lived in W. London and used to go for walks along the Thames towpath. Above Mortlake there was a sewage works and the river along that stretch had a fascinating aroma. There was also a marvellous crop of tomato plants along the river bank. I doubt we’d have eaten the tomatoes.

Oh the inner conflict your post has created.