WHAT ATTRACTED YOUR ATTENTION TODAY?

[Tizer]

Oh no! Gen Z have just discovered dietary fibre and are excited to tell us what they think we are missing and to guide us into healthy eating.
`Is fibre the new protein? The surprising health benefits of the latest wellness trend' LINK

It seems like no-one on the BBC News editorial team realises that most of the population know about dietary fibre already. I've written on OG before about people such as Surgeon Captain Peter Cleave solving the constipation among sailors on HMS King George V in WW2 by adding bran to their diets. After him Denis Burkitt was responsible for the `dietary fibre hypothesis' in the 1960s. The following article is long but an interesting history of those who contributed to dietary fibre studies and changed our diets.
`Denis Burkitt and the origins of the dietary fibre hypothesis' Nutrition Research Reviews

[Stanley]

It's a bit like sex Peter. Every generation likes to think they are the ones who invented it....

THIS article by Laura Kuenssberg caught my attention this morning.....
There is fresh paint in Reform HQ - and a fresh face in its line-up. Before Thursday, the last time Robert Jenrick walked into Millbank Tower, a fabled address in Westminster where lots of political campaigns have been run, was decades ago as an eager Conservative activist. Now, he's Reform UK's biggest prize so far - the best-known Tory to defect, and a favourite of Conservative party members. Like or loathe Jenrick's tactics he has campaigning guile, a knack for grabbing headlines, experience of government, knowledge of Parliament and, of course, insider knowledge of what Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch and her team are up to. So how will this big political character adapt to a new political tribe? And could his huge move be swallowed up by a big fight on the right, at a time when Reform UK are busy trying to appeal to the whole country?
From speaking to Jenrick yesterday, he is plainly deadly serious about his political future, hitching his wagon to the biggest party in the polls right now. But any defection brings with it deep questions about whether that person can be trusted. Some Conservatives are accusing him of lying and treachery. They say he sat in meetings with colleagues in the last seven days discussing party strategy normally. He even, one source claimed to me, told the chief whip when challenged on the morning of his defection that it was "nonsense" and that he was "gobsmacked".
I was further struck by a quote I heard on R4 during the day. Someone had been asked to describe Jenrick and he responded 99% Jenrick suppoiter and 1% slime.... Make of that what you will.

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC report of yet another Tory defection to Reform....
Andrew Rosindell has resigned from the Conservative Party and defected to Reform UK. The former shadow minister and MP for Romford said the Tories were "irreparably bound to the mistakes of previous governments" and not willing to take "meaningful accountability" for poor decisions. He said he had spoken to Nigel Farage on Sunday evening before agreeing to join his party. The Reform UK leader called him "a great patriot" who "will be a great addition to our team". A Conservative source said Rosindell's departure was a prime example of Farage doing Badenoch's "spring cleaning" and that Reform was "welcome" to him.
Is the Tory Party in terminal meltdown?

[Tizer]

This link is to a condensed version of a feature article in issue 48 of Current Archaeology magazine...
`The people of St Peter’s: Encountering a community from 19th-century Blackburn' LINK

[Tripps]

Very interesting article Tiz. Thanks. Reaching the time where archaeology comes close to family history.

[Stanley]

Dolly Parton is 80 years old.....
My abiding memory of Dolly is hearing a man commenting on the news that she had been cast as Juliet in a production of the play. He said "I don't know about her acting but she sure can hang over a balcony!"

[Stanley]

See THIS BBC report of another Spanish train crash.....
Updated 1 minute ago
A train driver has been killed and at least 37 people injured, five seriously, after a commuter train derailed and crashed near Barcelona just days on from a deadly two-train collision in southern Spain on Sunday. According to local officials, on Tuesday evening the Rodalies train collided with a retaining wall which fell onto the track between Gelida and Sant Sadurní. Catalonia regional fire Inspector Claudi Gallardo said all passengers had been removed from the train. The incident occurred as heavy storms battered north-eastern Spain, as coastal areas in the east and north-west of Spain are on high alert because of the weather. Eleven ambulances were on the scene in Gelida, Catalonia - around 35km (21.7 miles) west of Barcelona - treating those injured, emergency services said. The local fire service said 35 crews had been sent to the area and one passenger trapped inside the train had been rescued. In a later update it said that no-one remained inside and that its crews were conducting a sweep of the area to rule out any further victims. Emergency services said they had evacuated some of the injured to nearby Moisès Broggi, Bellvitge, and Vila Franca hospitals. As well as the five seriously injured people, six were in a less serious condition and 26 were in a "mild" condition, emergency medical services said.

[Tizer]

We sat on one of those benches in Seaton, Devon, to eat our sandwiches in July last year!...
`Shingle returned to beach after Storm Goretti' LINK
Work is under way to return shingle moved by storms on to a promenade back to a beach in Devon. Seaton Beach, owned by East Devon District Council, was impacted by Storm Goretti on 8 January, when pebbles and stones accumulated against a seawall and on the promenade back towards the foreshore, officials said. The council said the volume of material displaced by the storm was "beyond the capacity of local teams to address"....