Wetwang...

Licenced today: a road sign to the village of Wetwang, East Yorkshire…

Broad Leys...

Licenced today: Broad Leys, the lakeside HQ of the Windermere Motor Boat Racing Club…

Great Dun Fell...

"Are you an individual? You have a different body, a different name, a bank account, maybe a disease – but are you an individual? You are conditioned like everybody else, and within that limited area that you call the individual, everything arises: your miseries, despairs, jealousies, fears. Everything comes from that limited, narrow, fragmentary existence that we are so proud of, with our individual souls and individual wills. With this messy, little stuff, we want to proceed to uncover God, truth, love and all the rest of it. You cannot. All you can do, if you are attentive, is to be aware of your fragment and the struggles of the fragment. The fragment can never become the whole. Do what you will, the spoke can never become the wheel. So one has to find out, inquire into this whole problem of the separative, narrow, little existence we call the individual" (Krishnamurti, from a public talk in 1964).

Another licencing infringement for this pic of the RADAR station of top of Great Dun Fell, near Cross Fell, North Pennines...

"Respect"...

In just over three weeks the football World Cup will start in Qatar: a country with lots of brand-new stadia, but no tradition of football. God only knows how many manilla envelopes had to change hands for this tiny oil-rich country in the Persian Gulf to have won so many votes. Qatar is run under sharia law, which means that both apostasy (leaving Islam) and homosexuality are capital crimes. Other crimes, such as adultery or the consumption of alcohol, are punishable by public flogging.

The migrant workers who constructed the football stadia worked long hours, for low wages, in searing heat, often in conditions of involuntary servitude. In short, being more interested in their repressive religion than in human rights, Qatar should never have been awarded a major sporting competition in the first place.

There have been “reassurances”, by the Quatari government, that gay fans will be welcome. Not all gay fans are convinced, of course, and Quatari jails are full of people who have drunk alcohol, worn skirts considered too short, or showed any public display of affection. Our foreign secretary, James Cleverley, suggested that fans should “respect” the cultural and religious norms of the host nation. What would this “respect” look like, exactly?

I hope this vastly expensive exercise in “sportswashing” backfires spectacularly, by revealing this repressive regime in its true colours…

Black-tailed godwit...

A juvenile black-tailed godwit has set a world record for marathon bird flights by flying 8,435 miles (13,560 kilometres) non-stop from Alaska to the Australian state of Tasmania. The migratory flight took 11 days. These beautiful birds are regular visitors to the Humber wetlands; I saw a pair yesterday.

Pic by Charles J Sharp (Creative Commons)…

Hark to Bounty...

Licenced today: the Hark to Bounty pub in Slaidburn, Lancashire…

Bittern spotting...

Had a couple of peaceful hours at North Cave Wetlands: like a motorway service station, with skeins of geese arriving to feed, then flying off in formation. The highlight was spotting a bittern in the reedbeds. It was so well camouflaged!

Pic by Imran Shah, Creative Commons...

New homes...

Licenced today: an estate of new Barratt homes near Doncaster…

Weary angel...

Angel shagged out after a long shift at the Cornerhouse pub in Beverley...

Testing negative...

Convinced that I had finally succumbed to Covid, I took a test this morning. But no. One red line: unambiguously negative. It must be flu, I suppose. Anyway I’ve got enough medication - and bland, microwave meals - to last a couple of days, by which time I hope I’ll be feeling human again…

The Lickle Valley...

Licenced today: a farm - Lumbholme - with Great Stickle in the background, Lickle Valley near Broughton Mills, South Lakeland…

Piel Castle...

The bottle of Jack Daniels is half-empty, and the pearl-handled revolver has been discharged. Downing Street cleaners prised the bullet out of the wall, while other staff dragged the lifeless body of Liz Truss out of the building, by the back door, and into a waiting van. The leadership contest lasted longer than her premiership. If she is remembered at all it will only be as a pub quiz question.

Licenced today: Piel Castle on Piel Island, near Barrow-in-Furness, Cumbria…

Liz Truss...

Politics, in 2022, is looking increasingly like a blood sport, and the Tories can be brutal when things are not going their way. However ill-suited she may be to the business of running the country, Liz Truss now looks so miserable that I can hardly bear to watch. The only pictures used in the media show her, literally, downcast, staring down at her shoes. Perhaps she should be left alone in her office at no 10, with a bottle of Jack Daniels and a pearl-handled revolver.

Licenced today: the bar of the Seymour Arms, Witham Friary, Somerset…

Bretton Hall...

Cabinet members are coming - and going - even before I’ve found out who they are. Suella Braverman was home secretary, apparently, with just 43 days on her governmental CV. She is replaced as home secretary by Grant Shapps, who I do know. Under various aliases - including Michael Green, Corinne Stockheath and Sebastian Fox - he ran a distinctly dodgy online business (which a cynical person, or someone appraised of the facts, might have called a 'pyramid scheme'). We are being governed by shysters.

A sculpture - Promenade by Anthony Caro - and Bretton Hall, at the Wakefield Sculpture Park, near Wakefield…

Wakefield Sculpture Park...

Hamed Sabouri, a gay man living in Afghanistan, has been abducted, tortured and murdered by the Taliban. As if that wasn’t punishment enough, a video of his execution was then sent to his family.

Elnaz Rekabi, an Iranian climber who competed in an international tournament without wearing a hijab, has disappeared. The BBC reports that her passport and mobile phone were confiscated before she boarded a plane back to Tehran today.

Another schoolgirl, 16-year-old Asra Panahi, has reportedly been killed by the Iranian security services after she was beaten in her classroom for refusing to sing a pro-regime song.

If we want to know what life might be like in an Islamic theocracy, under sharia law, unmediated by western norms, incidents such as these offer broad hints.

Love artwork, by Robert Indiana, at Wakefield Sculpture Park…

Voting intentions...

A 32-point lead has opened up for Labour, according to a poll published today. I don't think there'll be a bidding war amongst publishers for a Liz Truss autobiography...

David Hartley...

Another healthy fee - in the form of ‘infringement revenue’ - has arrived for this pic, which someone has obviously tried to use, or pass on, without paying to licence it. Ironically, this is the gravestone of David Hartley, 'king' of the Cragg Vale Coiners in the old churchyard, Heptonstall, West Yorkshire. Hartley and his gang clipped the edges of coins, to melt down and create counterfeit coins. Hartley didn’t pay an infringement fee; he was hanged on the Knavesmire in York…

Powerstock...

Licenced today: St Mary's Church in the village of Powerstock, Dorset… 

Cartmel...

I’ve just received a fee from Alamy - for ‘copyright infringement’ on this pic of Cartmel village - which represents my best ‘sale’ of the month…

Calke Abbey...

Licenced today: a bedroom in Calke Abbey, Derbyshire… 

Sign of the times...

Licenced today: a sign for a rural food bank in East Yorkshire…

Voting intentions...

The current state of play in UK politics...

Women's rugby...

I’m not a fan of all women’s sport. The Rugby World Cup, currently taking place in the antipodes, will carry on without any input from me. I don’t care who is playing rugby - men, women, children, dolphins - it’s still a boring game. Boring and dangerous: a bad combination. Too many ex-players are having to deal with early-onset dementia or other consequences of taking too many concussive hits during their career.

Licenced today: the Albert Memorial Clock Tower in Barnstaple, Devon…

Jack Snipe...

Had my winter Covid jab this morning. I was expecting to wait in line, so took my Kindle along. In fact I was in and out of Howden Medical Centre in two minutes flat: back on the street even before I’d put my fleece back on. I decided to have a wander round North Cave Wetlands. The blustery weather kept most of the waders away. But not all…

Some guys in the turret hide were looking for a jack snipe, which they’d heard was “about”. It's an uncommon winter visitor to these islands, mostly near the coast. Five and a half pair of eyes scoured the reedbeds and water margins, and then there it was. A bit like a regular snipe (and equally beautifully marked), but crouched, with a ‘no neck’ appearance. The most obvious difference was that it bounced up and down, about once every second, as though it was on a spring. Pic: Creative Commons...

Bank closures...

Licenced today: another bank branch closes. There is now no branch of Barclays Bank in Goole, and a visit to Selby last week coincided with the closure of the Barclays branch in the Market Square. A couple of guys were stripping the building of fixtures and fixtures, and loading them into a lorry. What’s needed, in every town, is a ‘bank hub’, where simple transaction for all the various banks can take place, for as long as there are older folk who don’t feel comfortable with online banking… 

Wigan by night...

Licenced today: the Leeds & Liverpool Canal in Wigan, Greater Manchester…

Bread-making...

After a few false starts I think I’m getting the hang of making, ahem, ‘artisan’ bread. It tastes as good as it looks. I plan to bake two loaves each day: one for me and one for a lucky neighbour…

Kinder Scout...

Licenced today: two walkers on a newly flagged section of the Pennine Way path on Kinder Scout, near Edale, in Derbyshire…

Orford Castle...

When I was a Samaritan, mobile phones were giving people the opportunity to phone us in private, without being overheard on a home phone, or being stuck in a draughty phonebox. So we’d typically be called by victims of domestic violence from car parks and lay-bys. If they were running out of credit, we would phone them back.

Today I learned something new. Anyone who feels in immediate danger, but is afraid to talk on the phone, can call the police on 999. If the call is silent, the call-taker will ask the caller to press 55, when prompted, which will let the police know, wordlessly, that they need urgent help.

Licenced today: Orford Castle, in Suffolk… 

Erling Haaland...

My interest in football has waned to the point where it’s mostly a matter of schadenfreude: a resentful “anyone but United” mindset. When I watched the Manchester derby yesterday, in a cosy little boozer in Snaith, it was mostly to see how many goals Man City would score against a hapless United. It surprised nobody that Erling Haaland got another hat-trick. The man’s a machine, with a scoring rate for his new club better than a goal per game. His goal-scoring doesn’t rely on silky footballing skills, but just from letting nothing, and no one, get in his way when he’s in sight of goal. His headers don’t go wide; his volleys don’t end up in the top tier of the stands. His commitment is total, every time…

Licenced today: Oundle Mill, near Oundle, Northamptonshire…