Best Of

Pic for the day. Pinot Meunier after full veraison, quickly gathering sugars and, er, dropping acid.



At this time of year the red varietal parts of the vineyard look properly bacchanalian. The white grapes less so, for now.

Harvest in mid October.

Just been through the area around Reims and the harvest is almost over. Managed to grab a few bunches going past and they were the juiciest and sweetest grapes I’ve tasted.

Now on my way to Porto for a trip up the Douro valley just to check those too.

Also found this strange lighthouse in the middle of the fields there, hundreds of miles from the coast.

Here’s an even stranger one (image copied from Man in Seat 61 website) at the summit if the Glacier Express rail route:

It seems the one near Reims was a promotional folly for the owner of the local Champagne house.

There’s a more appropriate windmill on the next hill along. Mumms the word though

Reminds one of the phrase: "They told us to eff off, so we did".

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-15070229/Mallorcas-war-British-tourists-backfired.html

"'The English don't come any more...we miss their money': How Mallorca's war on British tourists backfired"

What exactly did they expect would happen?

I don't think the Mallorcans campaigning against (British) tourists are the same Mallorcans as the Mallorcans lamenting their disappearance.

It isn't a campaign against British tourists, it is a campaign against excessive drinking, and loud loutish behaviour, which just happens to be Brits on holiday.

Mallorca has decided to move more upmarket, and probably rightly so. It is a lovely island and I have enjoyed a number of holidays there myself over the years. Different resorts cater to different markets and often different nationalities. There is a definite market for cheap booze and all night partying, and while not my thing am happy that this goes on elsewhere. I understand why the local residents get tired of it.

Pic for the day. Pinot Meunier after full veraison, quickly gathering sugars and, er, dropping acid.



At this time of year the red varietal parts of the vineyard look properly bacchanalian. The white grapes less so, for now.

Harvest in mid October.

Just been through the area around Reims and the harvest is almost over. Managed to grab a few bunches going past and they were the juiciest and sweetest grapes I’ve tasted.

Now on my way to Porto for a trip up the Douro valley just to check those too.

Also found this strange lighthouse in the middle of the fields there, hundreds of miles from the coast.

Here’s an even stranger one (image copied from Man in Seat 61 website) at the summit if the Glacier Express rail route:

Pic for the day. Pinot Meunier after full veraison, quickly gathering sugars and, er, dropping acid.



At this time of year the red varietal parts of the vineyard look properly bacchanalian. The white grapes less so, for now.

Harvest in mid October.

Just been through the area around Reims and the harvest is almost over. Managed to grab a few bunches going past and they were the juiciest and sweetest grapes I’ve tasted.

Now on my way to Porto for a trip up the Douro valley just to check those too.

Also found this strange lighthouse in the middle of the fields there, hundreds of miles from the coast.

The harvest chez Flatlander was last week. Only two plants, though, so about 15 litres of each colour.

Makes a difference being on a patio...

Pic for the day. Pinot Meunier after full veraison, quickly gathering sugars and, er, dropping acid.



At this time of year the red varietal parts of the vineyard look properly bacchanalian. The white grapes less so, for now.

Harvest in mid October.

Just been through the area around Reims and the harvest is almost over. Managed to grab a few bunches going past and they were the juiciest and sweetest grapes I’ve tasted.

Now on my way to Porto for a trip up the Douro valley just to check those too.

Also found this strange lighthouse in the middle of the fields there, hundreds of miles from the coast.

Do take the train up the Douro if possible - it's one of the great routes.

I recommend the bar here for a quiet air conditioned drink if Pinhão is too punishingly hot:

https://www.vintagehousehotel.com/en/

In Porto (well, nova de Gaia) do go to the Taylors tasting room. No entry fee (unless you want to see the museum), vintage port by the glass, and they have a nice rose garden.

Populism often hoovers up a certain online contrarianism and we see that with the populist right in the US going antivax with the appointment of RFK Jr. Reform UK are now going down the same path, with noted antivaxxer Dr Aseem Malhotra, who believes mRNA vaccines have killed millions (they haven't), speaking at the Reform UK conference: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2025/09/05/rfk-adviser-to-claim-vaccines-cause-cancer-at-reform-confer/

That's after this, https://www.lbc.co.uk/article/george-finch-chickenpox-vaccine-5HjdBdt_2/ , Cllr George Finch, the party's teenage leader of Warwickshire County Council, criticising the new chickenpox vaccine.

This stuff will kill. The US is seeing record numbers of measles cases. Two children and an adult, all unvaccinated, have died already. That's just the start: this could go on to kill hundreds, possibly thousands. It is estimated that the COVID-19 vaccine has saved 14.5 million lives globally.

This shit actually makes Truss look comparatively sane. She would fit right in.

“It’s highly likely that the Covid vaccines have been a significant factor in the cancers of members of the royal family” says Dr Aseem Malhotra on the main stage at Reform’s party conference
https://x.com/harry_horton/status/1964326246726123713

Either a nutter or another deeply cynical grifter.

Not sure that was wise. There will be a sizeable number of pro-royal Reform supporters and attempting to weaponize Charles and Kate's respective cancers would be regarded as poor taste at best. Nigel needs to issue a statement.

"Wise" and "poor taste" doesn't come into it.
They are platforming nutter conspiracy theorists.

FPT to Turbotubbs.....

If I was the suspicious type I might have thought Starmer himself was the lawyer who gave Ange the advice! This has worked out perfectly for him. He's got a shiny new team none of whom eat peas with their knife. From a government POV this couldn't have worked out better. Angie was never up to the job and despite protestations Starmer's much more comfortable without that particular loose cannon swinging around Downing Street.....

....No the story is about Ange herself and the snobbery that brought her down. The Telegraph and Mail have been campaigning against her for months. Pure snobbery. Someone on here yesterday called her 'Gobby'. I'm afraid that's what females from her background who are climbing the ladder are having to put up with.It is so depressing.... Just another scalp for some double barrelled nobody at the Telegraph

If Labour and its supporters tell themselves that "snobbery that brought her down" then they're screwed. Rayner did something minorly wrong, but for a value that is eye-watering for many voters. She denied wrongdoing, and then tried to blame others. She was in denial. All MPs (of all parties, not just Labour) need to learn lessons from this. Many are too thick, or greedy, or self-important, to do so.

The government's media management, and management of its MPs, is awful. They need to fix this. They need to develop a few simple messages and deliver them effectively. Since Starmer is incapable of the messaging, they need someone else. Lammy isn't it.

I don't think Rayner did deny wrongdoing. She fessed up, and wanted to pay the £40k. And she promptly and quite graciously accepted the findings of the Independent Adviser, falling on her sword immediately and admitting she'd been negligent.

Yes but the narrative of those hostile to Rayner is to paint as negative a picture of her as possible to forestall any attempt at rehabilitation in a year or two.

The fact remains she breached the Ministerial Code and that made her position untenable. Whether said Code is fit for purpose is another question - we want to ensure Government is as free as possible from allegations of corruption or inappropriate influence such as from third party lobbying companies - but the notion complex non-Government related private financial transactions need to be held to such a high standard - well, I understand why many would wish our Ministers to be beyond any kind of reproach especially since the Expenses Scandal - doesn't sit well with me and some latitude for genuine errors should exist (as distinct from deliberate and planned tax evasion).

If as soon as this story broke she had got legal advice, found to have paid the incorrect amount, paid up, said sorry. I don't think she should have lost her job. Slap on the wrist, then she could have done the sit down interview with Rigby and explained her complex situation, end of story. I would also hope that it would have been a learning experience that not every thing a politician does is my team good / their team bad, as she (and Kemi) seem to play the game.

If she had taken and followed professional advice (following giving the pros. all the relevant data) and still ended up on the wrong side of HMRC, she wouldn’t have deserved a slap on the wrist.

She would have tried to do the right thing and been let down by the experts.