July 11-17, 2026
SATURDAY 11 Larry Elliott has a plan to reindustrialise Britain and he thinks Andy Burnham should pay attention and study it. Good job the plan is actually detailed in Larry’s new book (hardback, £50).
📌 England again pulled off a robust performance against Norway to reach the World Cup semi-finals. By the end of the game, my wife’s least favourite Norwegian, Erling Haaland, was sat sulking on the team bench, his face a picture of Neanderthal misery in defeat.
SUNDAY 12 My theory that Keir Starmer is digging holes for Andy Burnham to fall into gains momentum. His pledge to NATO on defence spending is misleading bordering on bogus. Burnham will need to pull off some deft spin to make it look real.
📌 England manager Thomas Tuchel gave a refreshingly honest assessment of his team’s victory against Norway: “We made life very very difficult for ourselves in the way we played, how we played: sloppy, a lot of technical mistakes, not fast enough, not repetitive enough. We were lucky.” Meanwhile, there is some suggestion that Jude Bellingham’s first goal was “assisted” by the overhead wire that carries remote cameras. The controversy has been dubbed “Cablegate”.
MONDAY 13 My wife’s cousin Mike (aka “The Teenager”) is back staying with us while he appears in a Russian play at the Donmar Warehouse. This means adjustments and compromises. The teenager’s first meal last night was two cans of Guinness and four bags of Hula Hoops.
📌 Finland has more saunas than cars.
📌 In readiness for the arrival of the Bayeux Tapestry at the British Museum in September I have started stitching some simplified scenes.
TUESDAY 14 The new Rolling Stones album, Foreign Tongues, is really quite good, deeply bluesy with a jamming vibe that makes it sound like they all just arrived in one room and the old chemistry came bouncing back totally unprovoked. The album honestly does sound that effortless.
📌 There’s an article in the Conversation in which the academic authors argue that Botticelli’s Venus, aka Simonetta Vespucci, possibly died not of tuberculosis as widely believed, but from a brain injury that caused a radical hormone imbalance. Botticelli painted Vespucci on a number of occasions and by studying changes in her appearance, the boffins concluded that tuberculosis was a misdiagnosis (hey, what a rhyme!)
📌 It was nice to hear that Rachael is back in EastEnders, playing a character call Ruth. Not sure if it’s a one-off or a regular gig but I’m pleased nevertheless. TV soaps pay well and Rachael has three children. An actor’s life is precarious.
📌 Meanwhile, The Teenager’s evening meals have moved up a notch, from bags of Hula Hoops and cans of Guinness to cans of Guinness and a microwave lasagne.
📌 A film location scout knocked on our door and asked to see our apartment as a possible location for an upcoming drama starring the singer Raye.
WEDNESDAY 15 On the 15th floor of University College Hospital (UCLH) I had my heart scanned to see if the “sticky valve” detected earlier needs further attention. I will find out in due course. Meanwhile, I got a nice shot of London.
📌 Spain’s defeat of France in the World Cup last night was frighteningly good.
📌 The Conversation has a fascinating piece about the bulging veins in Jude Bellingham’s legs.
📌 The film people came back to have a closer look at the apartment as a possible location. There were six of them this time, including the director, the designer and the photographer. I think they liked the view out of the window.
📌 In the Conversation a sports academic applauds England coach Thomas Tuchel’s managerial methodology and its use of “differential learning”. Depending on tonight’s result against Argentina we will know whether his players have also grasped this complex theory.
📌 The Teenager says he has forgotten to bring his “movement trousers” in which to rehearse the action scenes in the play he is appearing in at the Donmar Warehouse. My wife told him that Primark opens at 8am.
📌 England are out. Must have forgotten their movement trousers.
THURSDAY 16 At the Headway writing group I read out the beginning of my story in which a house mouse plots to kill Charles Dickens…
Everyone said that gaining access to the Dickens kitchen was impossible. Any mouse with the thought of sneaking in was quickly told of a big ginger cat that patrolled every nook and cranny. But I did get in, and quickly found myself a safe space near the fire grate. The ginger cat wasn’t half as sharp as its reputation. In fact it was really quite dozy. So before long I became an invisible fixture in the Dickens kitchen, nipping out of my hidey hole when crumbs were within easy reach and slipping back to feast, then poo, then sleep. I slept mostly during the day, because at night I needed to tour the rest of the house looking for the best opportunity to kill that bastard Dickens.
To be continued…
Then Stuart told us he had a “family” of mice in his kitchenette. Further investigation revealed that there could actually be just one mouse, seen on multiple occasions and somehow able to pass itself off as a crowd.
📌 To St Giles with Marge for one of Father Jack’s musical salons, this time featuring the World Music Big Band, whose guitarist Jasper doubles up as a rock and roll mandolin player (inc Iron Maiden).
FRIDAY 17 Jonty Bloom reports that Kemi Badenoch is insisting that any new Conservative Party candidate says global warming is a hoax. They must also believe passionately that Britain should exit the European Court of Human Rights.
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