Russell and Carol - hayle and hearty

Thought the Guardian called it right again

• Legal aid reform: poor law

  Editorial: change is never painless, but it needs tackling with a surgeon's scalpel, not the scythe that Ken Clarke has armed himself with

I particularly liked

I was struck by some of the numbers in the recent Guardian article on plans to lift radioactive contamination controls on UK sheep farms

Been a run of lovely weather here, most unexpected.  A cold night Monday night - down to 2.5C, but much warmer since so no need for any heating yet, and, astonishingly, the allotment is keeping going. 

Went day before yesterday and picked another courgette - with more flowers coming! The beetroot continue to do well, along with the carrots and onions. Think the beans have really had it now - though the French beans are trying to flower.

Went to the beach with Astra yesterday and had a brilliant time.

There was an item in the paper about "All-hallown summer" which was very interesting

Have you heard of a blackthorn winter, or an All-hallown summer? The English language has a rich vocabulary, concerning weather. We excel with descriptive words.

Great news.  Godolphin House works are nearly complete - see

On a slightly 'Cornish' day, enjoyed adventuring to Godolphin Hill and, after braving some intensifying mizzle we were rewarded with a break in the weather lasting almost long enough for us to circumnavigate the hill, enjoy the views and collect some blackberries for the first of the season's Apple and Blackberry crumbles!

Lovely ;)

There was a lot of pretty heather too

So, in his testimony to the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee Rupert Murdoch says:

So, in his testimony to the Culture, Media and Sport Select Committee Rupert Murdoch says:

Q224 Jim Sheridan: Mr Blair visited you halfway round the world, before the 1997 election. Anyway, that does not matter.

Rupert Murdoch: That was something that Mr Cameron arranged—Campbell.

Meanwhile in Letters Guardian

The News International #notw story has probably been done to death - though I remain concerned that the big issues are being lost in the 'hacking' of phones (which of course wasn't hacking at all).

Seems to me that the real issue is privacy and ownership of data and we're reaching a tipping point where hopefully we might get some proper rights for once!

In the meantime - I loved Hugh Grant's comments in the Guardian which to me hit the nail firmly on the head

I've long been interested in the connections between BSE and nutrient deficiencies/excess so I was interested to see the following article in today's Western Morning News

Watching the Tour de France coverage reminded me about my French exchange and having forgotten the name of the town.  Much Googling later, I think we may have stayed near the Chateau de Maintenon

The view of the front of the Chateau,