Driving this morning on the back roads of Co Durham, through Catchgate, Annfield Plain, Burnhope. The union flags flutter, reminding me of being driven through Belfast in the late 80s, where the flags and daubs marked the territory, making their chilling tribal claims.

I have tried to move to Instagram, but it seems to be interested only in photos. I simply cannot fathom how to post the sort of inanity which twitter positively encourages.

You would need to be a particularly virulent anti-monarchist to deny that Their Majesties and Their Royal Highnesses have more than earned their keep in the past 24 hours.

I do adore Her Majesty. She always looks as if she'd be equally thrilled to be off to the opera, or to ride across three countries with the Quorn and Pytchley.

These celebs and wannabees gathering round Epstein's billions like flies round a cliché. Today's gospel tells us to avoid 'the Mammon of Wickedness'. That's where they went wrong; where most of us would've gone wrong, given a chance: contaminated by the corroding power of money.

WTAF? "Durham University boasts the highest rate of inter-student marriages: a remarkable 72 per cent of students will marry a fellow Durham alumnus, a third of couples starting a relationship after graduation. For comparison, the national average is 20 per cent."

Here's the policy we were waiting for ... BBC News - Lib Dems consider ditching opposition to ID cards bbc.com/news/articles/…

Putting wheels on this cross to bear is the best possible metaphor for American Evangelicalism

I had snuff the other night, first time in a long time. This time I didn't have to preach beforehand, and it was in Oxford rather than Cambridge. I had forgotten how pleasurable it is, largely for its oddness. Sadly, it didn't make me sneeze.

It's really not going well for male chauvinists. BBC News - bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-un… England 33-13 Canada LIVE: Women's Rugby World Cup final 2025 result, scores & updates as England win - BBC Sport

Anyway, the Oblate is safely deposited in Durham. The house is predictably quiet without him ...

Arlie Coles Obviously

Visit to Wooton made unbearably exciting by a driveway full of timber off-cuts just crying out for a car-ride to Appleton and a hot sojourn in our fireplace one chilly night soon. The old skip-raiding training never leaves you.

Tice has a hauntingly familiar look. I realise he's the most unfortunate spit of Iain Glen as Downton's Sir Richard Carlisle, a wrong'un if ever there was.

I fear that the Primary School children may not be universally delighted to be singing 'We've got tomatoes (We love tomatoes)' as their second harvest song next week.

It is marvellous to see how very much better Sir James is at governing the nation now that he doesn't have it to do.

It's likely that, after Friday, things are going to look very different in the Church of England. Whatever your theological convictions, I suspect most are agreed on the necessity of that even if the outworking is more complex. It's likely that Traditional Catholics... 1/

When I was a little boy, I was keen on the idea of being the Archbishop of Canterbury. As it eludes me for the last time, I am largely relieved; though, like Cardinal Grey commenting on his chances of election to the papacy, I do think 'they could have done a lot worse.'

Delighted to hear from someone who describes her job as 'Head of Scholars; Arts Coordinator; Creator of High Performance Lunchtimes.' All must have titles, and be legends in their own high-performance lunchtimes.