I will never forget that America gave this problem to the world, then gave it again.

My mum just bought this in Ludlow. ‘Ooh, Anjna’s [@ShakespearesPa2] book!’, she said. It still blows my mind that @ShakespeareBT didn’t put her name on the cover where it belongs. It’s superb, anyway, and will continue to inspire children to love Shakespeare.

I quite like what has been unveiled on the fourth plinth in Trafalgar Square. If it was stylistically in keeping with its surroundings, what would be the point in a fourth plinth? The reaction is part of the work, as far as I am concerned, and it is quite interesting to watch.

The cats of Veliko Tarnovo. Essentially Epicurean gods, they saunter and sit with apparent purpose, but it is purpose at which we can only guess. Tracts have been written, and their authors claim to have channelled these gods, but cat minds and concerns are not ours. Temples have been erected. Synods have precipitated schisms, which have led to further schisms. The cats watch and are duly entertained. They accept offerings, but have no need for them. The chief deus otiosus is the one slurping from a bottle top.

I’m very much looking forward to my colleague and friend Eve Makis’s new novel. Her last, The Spice Box Letters, was superb and should have won prizes. The best things almost never do.

Animals

No explanation.

I didn’t mean to write this whole paragraph, only the first bit. But I’m going to pin it here because I don’t think I can distil my feelings further. And I have nothing else to say.

Quite. I think I’ll be off again.

theguardian.com/uk-news/2026… The most telling part of this article, I think: "After initially defending Arday as the victim of a smear campaign, as further questions arose about his academic career, the university began to temper its support." This is a tragedy with more layers than many people I've seen commenting on it would like to admit, presumably because they are of one political persuasion or the other. It is not incumbent on anyone to present a reductive analysis that either crassly and unfeelingly blames a dead man who should never have been put in the position he was in for his own death (I've seen that several times now and it makes me feel sick), or blames only a commentariat that in many cases responded gleefully to the smell of blood. Focusing on one or the other to the exclusion of everything else lets some very powerful people involved in academic headhunting, on hiring committees, etc, who should have known - and in fact must have known - better, off the hook they swam into. Those powerful people need to account for themselves. They have caused the most damage, and it is damage that will be felt far beyond this awful circumstance, and principally by people who already have unfair challenges. Excessively powerful people always do cause the most damage when they fear no repercussions: power corrupts, and must be held in check.

Malene Engelund in the Observer.

I write this as someone who cares passionately about fairness as I see it, and due process. I have made my case quite strongly in recent days - occasionally bluntly, because I have been angry. Anger can be unedifying. Not always, but often. I think it is high time to let things breathe. I’m sure there will be more to say in future; I do not think there is anything useful left to say now. Many (in this context) significant people have demanded positive changes in no uncertain terms. The results can’t be instantaneous.