'Hampstead Heath'

Finally, a promise by a previous Government has come home to roost. 'Stop the Boats'. As I have written often, statements like these are made by politicians when they know that the promise is unachievable but it looks good at the time, and subsequently when the promise fails there is the excuse that progress is being made ('at pace' is often thrown in because that also looks good), but that the failure was beyond the Government's control and anyway no one should have taken the promise literally.

I went to a party. Not unusual; the unusual part was that, as I needed a clear head for the following morning, over two plus hours my drinking comprised three 330ml. glasses of zero alcohol beer.

It felt good. It also looked ok, as no one was going to interrogate me as might have been so in my having eg a lime and soda. It also gave me a perspective on people slowly getting 'merry'. 

I should mention the taste of these beers. It's not that they taste like beer - they are beer, just with no alcohol. 

It's fun researching the area where you live. Am slightly late with publishing July's effort, due to preparing a talk for the Camden Local Studies and Archives centre at Holborn Library. 'From Fields to Focaccia' looks at Kentish Town, an underappreciated part of North London. I've been asked to repeat the talk at Kentish Town Library in the Autumn. 

That's the nearest I've got to a commercial in writing this stuff.

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There is word that Oxford University is considering phasing out imperial measurements as part of its efforts to decolonise its maths, physics and life sciences faculties. So should I respond by decolonising my underpants drawer? A quick recce shows measurements in both inches and centimetres. Is that acceptable? Possibly not  - every time I put on a pair of pants I might feel drawn to observe the inches measurements and lapse into a regression that would count as minor thought crime.

There are so many topics of thinking in life where I struggle to reach a settled view. Amongst my dilemmas is what judgement to make on the law firm that did the salads for women offer on International Women's Day 2017 - see March Late Life Crisis. However, though what follows has not generated a Eureka moment, the Overton window may help as a thinking tool.

Beginning of the month. I am missing Trump. I am missing that there was always something to write about him. With the new incumbent, there is just not the same buzz in speculating on whether the President enjoyed a refreshing afternoon nap.

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