The Lady of Heaven...

Muslim activists are protesting about a new film - The Lady of Heaven - featuring Fatima, the daughter of the prophet Muhammad; it is, they say, “blasphemous”. The Cineworld cinema chain has capitulated to their demands, with barely a whimper, by pulling the film from all its cinemas, even though it has already been accredited - and rated - by the BBFC (the independent British Board of Film Classification). England, Wales and Scotland no longer have blasphemy laws, and Muslims are free to register their displeasure in the usual way: by not going to see the film (it’s not very good, I understand, with the Guardian giving it just two stars). The rest of us, placing greater value on free speech, should be able to make up our own minds whether to venture out to the multiplex or not.

Licenced today: a learner driver enjoying the freedom of the open road near Asselby... 

Blood money...

They say that every man has his price, and we can now be more precise about the sums involved. Golfers who have already made millions of dollars from the PGA tour are having their heads turned, and bank accounts enriched - to the tune of $25m - by the Saudi Arabia-backed LIV Golf Invitational Series, with the inaugural event due to start on Thursday. If anyone wants to know what ‘blood money’ looks like, look no further.

Licenced today: the bee shelter in the churchyard of the parish church, Hartpury, Gloucestershire…

Pay gap...

Sainsbury’s has revealed today that its chief executive, Simon Roberts, received pay worth £3.8m in the latest financial year - that’s 183 times larger than the average wage of workers at the supermarket - even as the company rejected calls for it to pay all workers a living wage. As Boris Johnson awaits the result of the no-confidence ballot, I would happily vote for anyone who could tackle these huge disparities in pay.

Licenced today: a sign welcoming drivers to the town of Whaley Bridge in Derbyshire...

Head of state...

While creeping towards the throne, our monarch-in-waiting said this. “What is wrong with everyone nowadays? Why do they all seem to think they are qualified to do things far beyond their technical capabilities? People seem to think they can all be pop stars, high court judges, brilliant TV personalities or infinitely more competent heads of state without ever putting in the necessary work or having natural ability. This is the result of social utopianism which believes humanity can be genetically and socially engineered to contradict the lessons of history.”

Prince Charles has had no need of “natural ability” - or any other qualification - in his assumption of sovereignty (without the accident of birth, of being his mother’s son, the heir to the throne might be selling shoes or manning a desk in some local government office). At the moment of his coronation he will also become head of state, head of the armed forces and head of the Church of England. And a hereditary head of state, as Thomas Paine once wrote, is as absurd a proposition as a hereditary physician or a hereditary astronomer.

Instead of waving a union jack, or attending a street party, I've been watching baby avocets at North Cave Wetlands. Pic by Alnus (Creative Commons)...

Congratulations, ma'am...

On the occasion of the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, I’m trying to think of something nice to say about her… beyond the obvious observation that she looks very well for a woman who, four years hence, will be sending herself a telegram. Everyone has an opinion these days, about everything, and, thanks to social media, they have an online soapbox for expressing it. So congratulations to our reigning monarch for abiding by the unofficial royal motto - “never complain, never explain” - and for keeping her opinions to herself.

House for sale pic licenced today (presumably not Bleak House)...

Nipple count...

Saw one of my pix in today's Guardian: the BT van, of course, not the breasts...

Strathmore House...

Licenced today: Strathmore House, complete with royal crest, is one of the carbuncle-free buildings in Poundbury, our future king’s vanity project near Dorchester in Dorset…