Shostakovich: a programme marking 50 years since his death. There is, for understandable reasons, a small group with Ukrainian flags outside the hall.

Episode 4, which I think will air this Friday -- we watched all episodes on streaming.

Always a satisfying feeling. Incidentally, the new Mitchell and Webb series on Channel 4, though very, very hit and miss, contains one gem of a sketch in which E. M. Forster discusses writing Howards End with members of a writers' workshop, who attempt to offer him advice on how to make it better.

Yes, indeed: with that horror McGregor somehow being presented as an acceptable choice for the presidency. (Telling that *he* got to see the Orange Mussolini on actual St Patrick's day, but the government reps were shunted to another day.)

It is shocking how retrograde opinions have become mainstream in recent years. This country has changed so much in the 18 years since I moved here. The poisonous debates that began with the Brexit referendum have just grown worse.

*Notre 🤦