There's been quite an uproar in the press over the last several days about a manipulated photo of Princess Kate and her kids. Kensington Palace released the photo a week ago to combat rumors that the Princess of Wales, who's not been seen in public since abdominal surgery, is in ill health or even dead. The picture shows her happy and healthy with ( Read more... )

Do you struggle to find an appropriate souvenir when you travel? One that will remind you of the place and fit in your bag to travel and not take up too much space at home? How about... money?!

I kept a few bucks from the Cayman Islands on our trip two weeks ago.


( Read more... )

The best take on Charles III's coronation yesterday is this one-liner on Twitter:


( Read more... )

Have you ever played the game of responding to news headlines that pose a question by suggesting the simple, brief answer that could make up the whole article? I've been doing that with headlines about the coronation of Charles III, King of England.

For example, one headline in an American news source the other day was:

Everything You Need to ( Read more... )

One thing that struck me as I started watching Andor, the latest Star Wars spinoff streaming on Disney+, is, "OMG, the Irish have colonized the galaxy!" At least one-third of the characters speak with obvious Northern Ireland brogues. Most of the rest have other various British Isles accents, including a lot that sound to my ears like northern ( Read more... )

"King Charles: 'I'm a self-made millionaire'" was the title of an article I saw today on CNN.com (published 16 Sep 2022). Riiiiight. A man born into billions, the heir to the British throne since age 6, is "a self-made millionaire".

The king's obtuse boast, which dates back to 2004 when he was merely Prince Charles, is sadly not limited to those ( Read more... )

Queen Elizabeth II of England passed away today. At age 96 she reigned for a record setting 70 years. She will be succeeded by her son, Charles, who will take the title King Charles III ( Read more... )

Vaccines for the Coronavirus are starting to roll out. The UK's health regulator approved the Pfizer vaccine for general use last week Wednesday (see, e.g., BBC News article 2 Dec 2020). The first 800,000 doses have already been shipped with millions more on the way in coming weeks. Similar progress is playing out in other countries, or will be ( Read more... )

"This is how the world ends," T. S. Eliot wrote, "Not with a bang but a whimper." Those lines, ending his 1925 poem The Hollow Men, are among the most quoted of any literature of the past 100 years.

Tonight, 31 January at 23:00 GMT, the UK officially leaves the EU. After more than 3½ years of wrangling since "Brexit" won in a popular referendum ( Read more... )

Today certainly seems like a day when the wheels fell off the bus in Britain. PM Theresa May presented draft plan for the country's withdrawal from the European Union, and politicians on both sides of the aisle roundly condemned it ( Read more... )