'I had long wished to go there...' ( journey to the valley of the assassins)

'I had long wished to go there. but there were obstacles. one of them was that I could not find it on my map...' - freya stark, a journey to the valley of the assassins. 1930. 

yesterday's purchases? 3 pairs of socks from  oxfam, and, at £2.99, freya stark's the valleys of the assassins. 

'an imaginative aunt who, for my ninth birthday, sent a copy of the arabian nights, was, I suppose, the original cause of the problem.' 

horsemouth is doing some reading on section 20ies - the ability of the building owner to force a leaseholder to pay for repairs. sadly this may prove useful to him in the coming year. 

it looks like there may be a bit of a revolt within tory ranks over their new gas and oil drilling rights bill (leave it in the ground (or under the sea) says horsemouth). 

'conservatives are facing almost certain defeat at the election and so now is not the time for colleagues to be slavishly obedient to a leadership that simply will not be there in a matter of months...'  - zac goldsmith.

it is interesting to observe how well the tories are doing at getting out ahead of the postmasters/ post-mistresses scandal (it's a rare outbreak of competence).  

footage of nadhim zadawi 'doing right(!)' by the post-mistresses and post-masters (or at least saying the right thing) has emerged. horsemouth thought it was curious that in the tv drama actual footage of zadawi was used (where as just about everyone else was played by an actor). andrew bridgen and such like tories were prominent in the campaign - the backbenchers have covered themselves with glory, whether the ministers will get their share of the shame remains to be seen. at the moment the government and media are chucking it heavily at the IT system designers. 

the procurement and operation of this system has a long history, the post office handling its own prosecutions has a long history, the requirement on postmasters to make good their losses has a long history - surely all these factors were contributory to the crisis. 

the tories can of course easily get on the right side of this (twenty years later after the courts have sorted out their mess). 

and in other news paula vennells (formerly a candidate for bishop of london and non-executive member of the cabinet office.) will be handing back her CBE. but is vennells any more egregious than her predecessors in this case?  

and meanwhile there is the grenfell inquiry and the covid inquiry... 

freya stark's account of her journey to the valley of the assassins is excellent. horsemouth will read more today.