Friday was cancelled because of a migraine and Saturday has been quite busy. So this is a bit late!

1) Giles Fraser on Thomas More and the human capacity for love and cruelty.

2) Dresden, bombing and the rise of Pegida. I’ve always had an ambivalent attitude to the Allied bombing on Dresden because I know that the Allies shouldn’t have done it but at the same time, I grew up in city scarred by the Blitz and I know about the bombing of other British cities. So I don’t condone it but I can understand why the Allies did it. I think it’s fascinating the way consequences play out over generations.

3) Obama says something perfectly reasonable about religion, Fox News and it’s friends go nuts. It was ever thus.

4) Why grown ups shouldn’t drink milk. Milk is the devil’s work but cheese, that’s a completely different thing..

5) Valentines Day blues or not as the case may be.

6) This is a rubbish list. I can think of 4 better ruins in Northumberland alone, and what about Middleham?