Risotto crisis: the fight to save Italy’s beloved dish from extinction | Rice | The Guardian
Also mine. The ultimate in comfort food. Also love cooking it, the slow ladleful of the stock water into the pan, the wine to flavour it, and then the final touch of butter and parmigiana.
That is what Climate Change is all about, the warming of the Earth, glaciers become smaller and there is less water to fill the rivers, and our crops wither away in the heat. It will happen to others first, in places like Africa, drought will strike, inevitable starvation. And someone, somewhere will argue that it is not true and we will go on in our gas guzzling way.
Well that was a miserable start to the day. But on hearing that George Galloway has won the Rochdale seat wasn't helpful. Like a wild card he pops up unexpectedly. He reminds me of 'Screaming Lord Sutch', who died in 1999, so cannot stand for parliament anyway.
There are faces I dislike intensely, Farage is one and Galloway comes in a close second. The bandwagon he has climbed on is the Gaza crisis, which goes from bad to worse but definitely does not need Galloway stirring up the country giving the Conservatives the wherewithal to promise restriction on movement by mostly peaceful protests.
This country, my country is not the Jerusalem of William Blake, it just seems that as we fall from one disaster to another with our idiotic government, there is no hand to stop us falling. A weak Labour side with a leader who doesn't seem quite clear where he stands.
Our town is quiet, there is a meeting at the Town Hall on Saturday to discuss where to put the temporary school buildings, while the proper school is refurbished. The temporary buildings would go in our park, which is an enormous space but a long walk for most mothers with their primary school children. We, as a town, have entered a 'Flowers in Bloom' competition, all that hard work by the many volunteers to garden the empty spaces and fill them with vegetables and flowers growing is slowly becoming permanent.
I am going to a talk on 'Packhorse Way Tales' at the Folklore Centre' on Saturday, but the best philosophical essay I read this week is by Paul Knight - Philosophy of Landscape: Narrative, Ethics, Welfare. Knight writes about the Calderdale landscape round Hebden Bridge. He also wrote an impassioned letter to the council about proposed wind turbines up on the moors. There are quite a few wind turbines around but this will be quite a few built in the same area
And if you have a strong stomach John Crace in his most ironic mood.
Oh my goodness Thelma, real life is just too depressing so thank you for the link at the end to Paul Knight’s blog which is much more my cup of tea. I remember when my daughter was at university studying English she walked from Deal to Dover, about 12 miles, recording in writing her thoughts about place, landscape, natural history and how it made her feel. It was a beautiful piece of writing. Now she is researching and writing policy for the Scottish government about end of life. Luckily she has an existential, philosophical mind, a trait or skill I think we all need to adopt. I went bell ringing last night. I cannot tell you how good it was to stand in the ringing chamber at the foot of our 1200 bell tower (the oldest extant part of our church) and be part of a team creating the most glorious sound. It was my first experience and I took to it like a duck to water. It reminded me of when I first stepped into a rowing eight with the rhythm, the counting, the physical agility, the playing close attention to those around you, the complete mindfulness required, and finally producing something much greater than the sum of its parts, in our case a peal of six bells. It was uplifting in every way. Wishing you a happy St David’s Day. May your day contain leeks and daffodils. Sarah in Sussex
ReplyDeleteThank you Sarah for your ebullient reply. I miss listening to the bells at the church in Normanby. Jo who was one of the ringers would always politely ask if it bothered us, as we lived right next door to the church. I am also interested in landscape and have tried to understand though through a different set of rules what is the pull of it. Spirit of place, or perhaps Genius Loci but it has been through prehistory and the placement of the barrows that sometimes gives part of the answer.
DeleteThank you, as ever, for highlighting my blog, Thelma. I do appreciate the kind remarks you have made about it over the past few years. I have a number of pieces planned for this year, and it is down to the encouragement I receive from appreciative comments such as yours that I continue. And I find your own blog very thoughtful and always interesting, and the extent to which you have a lively and engaged relationship with your readers is an inspiration.
ReplyDeleteAs for my thoughts on the proposed wind farm, I have yet to express them to the council, or indeed anywhere in writing. I think you must be referring to Horatio Clare's letter, published on Hebweb and on the Stop Calderdale Wind Farm website.
Best wishes,
Paul Knights.
Hello Paul, apologies about getting you mixed up with Horatio Clare. I can see how people will react to these turbines and the erosion of the moors but change is part of human history, sadly. I have found it difficult to understand the landscape round here, I know Pembrokeshire and its prehistoric monuments well and also parts of the Wiltshire and North Yorkshire countryside as well. But your essays are remarkable and capture the past in those ruined farms you have highlighted. It was sad when you finished your year of observance of this particular landscape.
DeleteI read the John Crace article. I am not at all sure that he got to the nub of what has been going on. After all, ironic fantasies are quite easy to churn out and may raise a chortle or two. However, it is depressing to see Galloway back in The Commons. The Who once recorded a song titled "We Won't Get Fooled Again" but in the case of Galloway it seems that urban Muslim communities never heard it.
ReplyDeleteI don't think any of us can get to the 'nub' of what is going on Neil, it changes every five minutes or so. Political ignorance is just part of it, and the cause though justified does not want egos like that man telling us what to do. Politics are at a low ebb, in fact they are floundering in the mud.
DeleteHi Thelma
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with you on George Gag-a-way.
He's such a nasty populist. What awful news. We'll have to see him now regularly on our news screens.
And I make a cracking salmon risotto =]
Hi Liam, perhaps you can draw up a plan in which the voters of this country can vote fairly and with commonsense.
ReplyDeleteAs a supporter of free speech, I don't object to Galloway having a point of view and expressing it, however I find it truly depressing that he found enough voters to get elected in preference to the second placed candidate who genuinely seemed to want to do positive things for Rochdale. Let's face it - they could do with someone standing up for the victims of past (and I expect, still ongoing) sexual abuse from elements of the community that Galloway appears to court.
ReplyDeleteThe sexual abuse of young females by certain men in the Muslim community was shocking and they have now been brought to justice, as has people in our own communities, such as the police. They do not represent the great majority of Muslims.I am quite happy for Galloway to take to the soap box in Hyde Park less so in the House of Parliament though. But as we all know the by-elections throw up a mixed bag of would be politicians. Did you hear Rishi Sunak's speech just now Will, it was good on rhetoric, lets hope it works.
DeleteGalloway was a thorn in Blair's side back in Iraq days, and I suspect that he will now be a thorn in both Starmer and Sunak sides for the next few months. Hopefully he will not survive re-election come general election time. As for Sunak, I have not yet caught up with his speech, but my past impressions of him are aptly summarised by that Northern expression - all mouth and no trousers. Sufficiently nondescript that none of his party wanted him as leader when given the choice.
DeleteCome the next election and it will be quite an overturning of safe seats, probably on all sides ;)
ReplyDelete