If you are interested in the fate of Turkey

Here is an article about the historical background to the current unrest in Turkey, together with a wartsandall portrait of its current PM.

One's Parent who copula in Heaven

Girl Guides will no longer pledge their devotion to God when they join the organisation, it has been announced.

The phrase "to love my God" has been dropped from the Promise after a consultation suggested different words are needed to include the non-religious.

Instead, girls joining the organisation will now be asked to "be true to myself and develop my beliefs".

This kind of dumbing down, this increasing taste for statements that are inoffensive to the point of being meaningless, is beyond satire. You'd think that by now organisations would have learned the lesson from the Anglican Church that by trying to be 'all things to all men', you end up being nothing to anyone.

Our Father who..

Well, when I say “Our”, I don't mean to exclude people of other faiths or none, and when I say “Father” I mean no offence to the millions of wonderful Mothers in the world, though I am not suggesting that to be fulfilled, a woman has to be a mother. OK, let's try again:

One's Parent, who art in Heaven...

Not wishing to be prescriptive about grammatical forms – let's face it, it's communication not correctness that matters – we need to do something about that 'art', by choosing from such popular alternatives as 'am' 'is' and 'are'. So, let's try again:

One's parent who am is or are in Heaven....

This 'Heaven' concept could be too narrow for the many people who just believe there “must be something....” How about:

One's Parent, who am is or are in a Nicer Place, hallowed be thy name...

Oh dear, how many people know what 'hallowed' means (I don't LOL!!) - and that word 'thy' has to go in case it implies we are all from Lancashire. Oh dear, it's too difficult. I think we need to revamp the whole prayer. Something simple like:

Thank you, whoever you are for whatever it is, amen.

I reckon the Girl Guides would like that one.

No caption needed

Abuse of power

Cirl Bunting spot, Aegean

We call it the “Cirl Bunting” spot because we saw one there last year and because we don't know the local name for it. It's about ten minutes' drive from the cottage, and is a wonderful place, alive with birds in a magical coastal setting. Shrikes and buntings galore, Turtle Doves and tantalising scrub warblers. 
A highlight for me were the Rufous Bushchats (or Bush Robins if you prefer), tail-flickingly active and full of character.

On Gökceada

In 1923, under the terms of the Treaty of Lausanne, two Aegean islands were ceded to Turkey: Bozceada and Gökceada. Last month I was lucky enough to spend some time on the latter. Many of the original Greek inhabitants left the island, but a few village communities remain, of which the mountain village of Zeytinliköy is probably the prettiest.

Despite appearances, I was not in a grump, merely pensive, as I sat outside one of the coffeehouses in the village, tasting the local Dibek coffee (local produce, ground in stone pestle and mortar and flavoured with mastica).

I also attended the Sunday morning service in the local Greek Orthodox church, quite a marathon. Everyone was very kind, if slightly bemused, and I got quite a long way with a καλημέρα and an ευχαριστώ or two.

Gallipoli and Woolwich

Well, I went there and came back, spending most of the month of May on the Turkish Aegean coast just south of Canakkale. Highlight of the trip was undoubtedly a day visit to Gallipoli. It is ineffably beautiful and has monuments and cemeteries everywhere commemorating the Gallipoli campaign in 1915 when thousands of soldiers on both sides lost their lives.
Particularly poignant are the memorials to the ANZAC troops. The Turks simply could not understand why men from Australia and New Zealand would want to come half way across the world to fight in someone else's war (as they saw it).
And now I come home to the news that a British soldier was stabbed to death in Woolwich (London) by two Islamist fanatics, which has provoked a lot of anti-Muslim rhetoric and acts of vandalism and a surge in support for nationalistic movements like the English Defence League. Will we never learn?