Luton Hoo: The Grand Opening

Many of us know and love Luton Hoo - from visits and stays, if we are lucky, or from films and television (darker image above is from THE AVENGERS). A potted article on its history is here
and this link will take you to information about Randlord Julius Wernher's fabulous art collection.
The Times offers two short videos on Luton Hoo's refurbishing and reopening as a very splendid hotel here.

The Times Rich List Welcomes...

Dame Margaret Barbour.

Cup of Brown Joy

For your inner Young Fogey - or Steam Punk. This is surprisingly catchy - join me for a cup of tea and watch! Will you take Earl Grey, and do you prefer Wedgwood from 1920 or Meakin Indian Tree from 1937?

And I would be remiss if I did not offer you this compilation of links to Steam Punk/Neo-Victorian sites. Down the rabbit hole!

The Great Migration Crisis

Many of the birds that migrate to Britain and Europe from Africa every spring, from the willow warbler to the cuckoo, are undergoing alarming declines, new research shows.

The falls in numbers are so sharp and widespread that ornithologists are waking up to a major new environmental problem – the possibility that the whole system of bird migration between Africa and Europe is running into trouble.

It is estimated that, each spring, 16 million birds of nearly 50 species pour into Britain to breed from their African winter quarters, and as many as five billion into Europe as a whole, before returning south in the autumn. Many are songbirds weighing next to nothing, and their journeys of thousands of miles, including crossing the Sahara desert each way, have long been recognised as one of the world's most magnificent natural phenomena on the scale of the Gulf Stream or the Indian monsoon. But now their numbers are tumbling precipitately.

Well-loved migrants such as the spotted flycatcher, the garden warbler and the turtle dove are increasingly failing to reappear in the spring in places where they have long been familiar. Across Britain, many people who used to look forward each year to hearing the first cuckoo – just about now, in the third week of April – no longer have the chance to do so. If fewer and fewer birds are returning to their breeding grounds, the inevitable consequence is that their populations will shrink ever more rapidly, ultimately, towards extinction. That may still be a long way off for the global populations of many migrants, but in Britain, several species are heading towards disappearance.
Article and downloadable report are here.

The World According to Monsanto

bande annonce film Monsanto
Uploaded by rue89

Watching this video, you will wonder where the foxes, mice, birds, butterflies and pretty herbs will live in the fields we know.
It isn't nice to fool Mother Nature, and this is very nasty indeed.


This wonderful nature image is from
the Cornwall Wildlife Trust.

Vanity Fair: Two Ladies, Two Yachts, and a Billionaire

Image: Hon. Diana Spencer and her sister, in Paris, as jeunes filles.

Did you believe that the Princess of Wales was in love with Dodi al Fayed? Read this excerpt from Dominick Dunne's VANITY FAIR article:
"The more I hear and read and think about Diana’s and Dodi’s deaths in the Pont d’Alma tunnel, in Paris, on August 31, 1997, in what is possibly the world’s most famous car crash, the more I doubt the truth of their great romance. If it was anything at all, it was a flirt, a fling, “just one of those things,” as Cole Porter once wrote. Like the conspiracy theory surrounding their deaths, their romance, too, was orchestrated by Mohamed Al Fayed. The shrine to the eternal love of Dodi and Diana, in Harrods, the most famous of English department stores, owned by Al Fayed, is a popular tourist attraction. People line up to look at it. They speak in whispers, as if they were in church, instead of next to the Egyptian escalator in the basement of the store. The shrine, which is tacky but curiously touching, consists of a fountain, two large portraits—one of Dodi and one of Diana—and floor-lamp-size candles, the scent of lilies in the air. Under a glass pyramid is a crystal glass from which one of them had drunk champagne in the Imperial Suite of the Ritz Hotel just before they died, and the so-called engagement ring, which Dodi had bought that afternoon at the jewelry shop down the street from the Ritz. Diana never wore it. They had been romantically involved with each other for less than a month."
Read the rest of Dominick Dunne's article here.

The Joy of Colour: Kaffe Fassett

Simply gorgeous. This site will lift your spirits and give you wonderful ideas for your own environment.

Moby Busks at Sloane Square Tube Stop

This charming portrait of Moby seems to have been made centuries ago.

Not long ago, music god MOBY tried busking in the tube at Sloane Square. How did he do? Read about it here.

The White Horse Pub - Sloaney Pony - Reviewed

A review of one of England's most famous - and arguably best - pubs.
Read it here

Nick Cohen: Austerity and Greenery

"Cooler, faster, more expensive" just isn't sustainable.
It's not Green.
And it's not Sloane.

The Sloane Strangers

Once upon a time, anyone in London who considered themselves well-to-do lived in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea – preferably SW3, or SW10 at a push. The King’s Road was the place to hang out and the locals wore a kind of uniform: coloured cords and a blazer for the men, twinset and pearls for the ladies.

Over the past few years, however, other areas have risen up the cool charts. Chelsea, with its pretty little townhouses and staid mansion blocks, has been left behind as wealthy buyers – Arabs, Russians and Kazakhs, in particular – have headed to Mayfair and Belgravia. Yes, there are famous faces living in Chelsea, but they tend to be less bling – think Jemima Khan, Ben Goldsmith and Heidi Klum and Seal.

Could that be about to change? The heartland of the Sloane is receiving a makeover, thanks to a series of new developments that will bring lateral living to the royal borough.

Read the article here

Lords of the Blog

This interesting new project in a nutshell...

"Lords of the Blog is an experimental project to encourage direct dialogue between web users across the world and Members of the House of Lords. Commissioned by the House of Lords, the pilot project is conducted by the Hansard Society who are working directly with Members of the Lords to bring their blogs to the wider online audience.

Views expressed by the authors or ‘bloggers’ are their own and do not represent the views of the House of Lords, its authorities or its other Members (including parties and other groups of Members) or the Hansard Society.

Evaluation
We would like your feedback on this blog.

Complete the Newcomers Survey to tell us a bit about you.
Sponsored by the Hansard Society."

Duke of Edinburgh hospitalized

Prince Philip is a God in the South Sea Islands, and he is very important to us, too.
Wishing you a speedy recovery, Sir!
Fifty facts about the Duke of Edinburgh

Update: Diana inquest is over. Thank God. That tiresome man accused so many people, I am surprised he did not include me.