Charles Beckett
@charlesbeckett
'These musings are as inadequately supported as they are gratuitous.' (borrowed from: Sotomayor, Kagan, and Jackson, JJ.: Concurrence in Trump vs. Anderson, SCOTUS 23-719. March 4th, 2024.) Londoner in Catalonia
Common fire salamander (Salamandra salamandra) spotted this morning near Víllec -
Think HMRC might want to take a better look at that 12%'s returns
Refugi Cortals de l’Ingla, Vall de l’Ingla. Near Bellver, Catalunya. Watercolour sketch.
Toki bird (Nippon Nipponia) in flight. Sado Island, Japan. Pastel pencil, graphite and acrylic paint.
Here is the Kiel Insitut's tracker of aid to Ukraine, both military and humanitarian. Biggest contributors by far are the EU27. This is not a war started by the EU, started out of stupidity, unlike the US war with Iran. Nevertheless, the EU has been the largest funder of Ukraine's defence by far.
Saito family summer villa, Niigata. Built in 1918 by Kijuro Saito (IV). The villa contains many beautiful details, including a ceiling made from Yakusugi (1000 year old cedar from Yakushima island in Kyushu).
These include the 'Garden of the Cross' in which stones in the rock-garden style are laid out in a pattern forming the shape of the cross.
A beautiful spring day and I am out painting ‘en plein air’ - a joy and a privilege.
Work in progress - a bend in the river near Víllec, Catalonia. Watercolour on paper. * since Apple’s photo algorithm doesn’t properly capture greens and warm earth tones I’ve had to enhance them slightly in the app to give a more accurate impression
Listening to Chaffinches, Blackcaps, Great tits and Cuckoos in Querforadat, in front of the Serra del Cadí.
Study of a mass of cumulonimbus clouds near Meranges. La Cerdanya. Watercolour.
Before the heat of the day, Venice - Minna Bolingbroke (née Watson). Watercolour on paper. 1900. Norwich Castle art gallery. Supreme.
I was arguing with people recently about this and their perception was that pulic sector earnings had risen more rapidly than in the private sector more or less since the Blair era, a development they regarded as unfair. Here's the ONS AWE chart from March 26: