Happy Friday! So we’re going to have an election and Trump is interfering in them, anyone remember how outraged Nigel Farage was when Obama expressed his opinion during the referendum? Honestly, I’m so sick of Farage and Johnson and the ERG and the right generally, they are going to wreck this country and they don’t care.
Anyway onto this week’s links…
The Grenfell families have been vindicated. Now they need justice
While reports earlier this week may have given the impression that criticism was reserved solely for the London fire brigade (LFB), police and ambulance services were also criticised for failing to adhere to joint protocols. RBKC’s emergency plan depended on information provided by KCTMO, whose own emergency plan was 15 years out of date: neither plan reflected changes to the building after its 2015-16 refurbishment. There were no procedures for evacuating disabled residents, no floor plans of the building, and KCTMO’s chief executive, Robert Black, played “an essentially passive role and failed to display effective leadership”.
The housing crisis is at the heart of our national nervous breakdown
Canada: lights to go out on tiny remote island as locals agree to resettle
The hour you are most alone: how I got trapped by poverty and depression.
Rachel Roddy’s recipe for cottage pie. I don’t think much of the Roddy family recipe for cottage pie. The meat element is much better when made like my mum did it. Brown the mince, pour off the fat, add several crumbled up OXO cubes, sliced onions, a generous squirt of tomato puree and enough water to cover it. Simmer for at least two hours – basically the longer the better. I would also remind you that I grew up in the 70’s and 80’s, this mince multi tasked, we had it with spaghetti as ‘spag bol’ and occasionally in pies (pies were much larger part of my childhood eating than you’d think!)
Foster care saves lives. Our work deserves employment rights. I have known some excellent foster carers and some terrible ones. We need to treat it like the vocational career it is to keep the good ones and weed out the bad ones, but like everything in social care, people are outraged when it goes wrong but don’t want to pay for it.
A Cheesemonger’s History of the British Isles by Ned Palmer review – a miraculous resurgence. Ned is a friend of a friend and I met him once (at a wake, for which he provided the cheese), his knowledge and enthusiasm for cheese are boundless, I can imagine that this would be a good book for a foodie friend.
Sad mystery of elastic bands found on remote Cornish island solved
I can deal with that, but the other thing that isn’t really my issue but is having an interesting effect. And while I’m going to be circumspect about the actual thing, suffice to say that some close friends are dealing with a child and a leukaemia diagnosis. It’s not at all about me at all I know this, but apparently, my brain is dredging up trauma because I’m watching my friends go through something similar to Stef dying (I’m in no way equating a seriously ill child with a dying fiancé before anyone jumps on me, just pointing out that my brain doesn’t distinguish). I’m dreaming about Stef, which hasn’t happened for a while and yesterday while having a perfectly normal conversation started crying. I don’t have PMT, so here we are. I’m having a reaction and this folks, is why I’m so keen on therapy, yep I’m having more because I need not to emote all over my friends right now but I need to sort my brain out!
Last week was dominated by my feeling terrible with cold, it’s getting better but I’m mostly just really tired and want my bed! I did manage to accomplish things, I got a flu jab, I hoovered, I worked and I read three books!
Breakfasts
Food next week is likely to be a bit more scattered. I’m not working from home at all this week and I’m away over the weekend, so I have about 4 hours on Saturday to shop and food prep, we’ll see what I manage to get done!
Nic Dempsey 