Seems like a long time since I felt able to enjoy a morning walk. Almost three months to the day since I had my last COPD exacerbation.

A small, partially submerged concrete structure overgrown with trees and foliage is situated by a calm waterway under a cloudy sky.

Well, we didn’t get a million, but £150,000 is still a very substantial grant!

On the work front, which I haven’t forgotten about, before my recent illness, I developed a £1m+ funding application for a cross-borough youth project that will transform young people’s lives in two of the most-deprived areas in west London - and, we hope, support them to become our community leaders of the future. All very exciting, and not a little stressful - a lot depends on it being accepted and successful. I hope we find out soon if we get the grant.

Shaken Not Stirred now available on Bandcamp, if you’re that way inclined.*

*We promise not to spend any of the profits funding arms dealers or weapons manufacturers.

This is not a ceasefire.

Here’s Israel's strategy to continue the war on Gaza: find a pretext, no matter how baseless, use it to kill dozens of civilians and fighters, stop fire and claim you’re honoring the ceasefire. Then do it again. mondoweiss.net/2025/10/israels

For balance and transparency: I ate lamb biryani at my little Black African heritage kid’s friend’s Halloween party last week. I don’t know where or how the middle-eastern heritage parents sourced the meat, but their south-east Asia heritage neighbours happily attended the party with their son, too. The lamb was sooo tender. As Bournemouth heritage Ed Morgan might say, “I’m a terrible person.”

I’d never heard of this guy before, and wish I hadn’t. Apparently he was deputy leader of the Green Party ten years ago. His illiberal rantings then forced his leader to quit, before he was given the boot. I don’t think he’s joined Reform yet, but I’m sure he will be very welcome there (until they deport him). And yes, someone did point out to him he’d missed out a number of white murderers with no foreign heritage.

A social media post lists several examples of violent incidents involving British individuals, with a focus on the ethnicity and background of those involved.

“Masked Israeli Settlers Torture Lambs in West Bank Livestock Raid”

Time to eat humble pie and admit I was wrong about Amorim. After winning three games on the bounce it’s clear his system is finally now working and understood by his players, who are fully committed to it and to him.

This a is a really impressive review of my resurrected old band’s debut album.

“The way Shaken Not Stirred seamlessly merges the essence of the 60s all the way through the decades to today with contemporary sounds is nothing short of magical, this is a fusion of genres that feels entirely new, yet familiar. “Crazy Over You” is an absolute winner in every sense, a perfect opener that hooks you right from the first beat.”

Ah, now it all starts to make sense.