Trump’s words have consequences, and he can no longer deny it

Is gratitude the secret of happiness? I spent a month finding out. This was interesting, I do this largely because it helps me focus. Especially in winter, keeping my brain from being too negative is helpful. It doesn’t mean that I’m happy all the time, or things are easy but it does help me focus on the things I can do. I do agree that if you are in really dire straits then this is tricky, but gratitude is helpful for me because I do have things to be thankful for, even when my life generally is difficult.

At 63, I Threw Away My Prized Portrait of Robert E. Lee. This is worth reading, because how does one person deal with the conflicting narratives of the history of his country?

World’s oldest intact shipwreck discovered in Black Sea

David Cameron led us to this calamity. Yet he stays quiet and hides in his hut

A politician who bumped into Cameron said he thinks the referendum result must be respected, but that Britain should protect living standards by going for the softest Brexit imaginable and staying in the single market. This is a compromise well to the “left” of Theresa May and Corbyn’s plans and is worth discussing. Whatever his critics say, David Cameron is a former PM. He not only has the right to offer his solution but a duty. If he is to earn the right to a hearing, however, he must first find not only self-knowledge and courage, but an un-English seriousness of purpose he has evaded all his life.

Can’t sleep? Perhaps you’re overtired

Rising Early Is Clearly a Good Idea. But Stop Pretending We Need to Do It Perfectly or Only for Productivity. Monday to Fridays, I’m currently rocking a 6am wake up time, which means after the 6am news, so about 6.10am and I’m out of the house around 7am. (I can make this go faster though, last week, I got up at 5.44am and was out of the house at 6.15am to get the train to Southampton) I’m generally at my desk about 8.25am. I like getting in early, we hotdesk and this way I get a desk. I like the time to look at my day and work out what my ‘people’ are doing and make sure that they have everything they need. I started this back in August because I knew that I’d have to bed the habit in before it got dark. It is habit. Left to myself, I would get up about 30 minutes to an hour past sunrise, which is 7:38 at the moment. In the summer, I have the occasional 5.30am get out of bed but mostly, before 6am is a step too far! There is no virtue in this, I do it because it makes my day go better but I don’t enjoy it. Recently, it’s been easier, I think it’s middle-age..