“Printers are like that,'I say. 'It's in their nature. They print when you don't need anything. And when you really need something printed out, the ink cartridge is empty or there's a sheet of paper jammed inside, the printer tells you it's lost its internet connection or that it doesn't recognise the computer you're trying to print from If you ask me, the whole idea of a digital, paperless future is down to the fact that printers have driven so many people to despair and insanity. Paper is a good thing; it's beautiful. There's nothing wrong with paper: it feels pleasant in your hand and it's the best way to read something. The only problem is getting those little black marks onto the surface of the paper in the first place. Even with all the modern technology at our disposal it's all but impossible. I suspect - no, I'm absolutely convinced - that the printer companies and the anti depressant manufacturers of this world are in cahoots.'

'All morning.' says Hari, now almost with tears in his eyes. 'It just won.'...

'I know,' I say, and we share a brief moment of silence. We look each other in the eye

Where did the quote about History Repeating come from?

"Variations on the repeating-history theme appear alongside debates about attribution.

Irish statesman Edmund Burke is often misquoted as having said, 
“Those who don’t know history are destined to repeat it.”

Spanish philosopher George Santayana is credited with the aphorism, 
“Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to  repeat it,”

while British statesman Winston Churchill wrote,
 “Those that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat  it.”

Lessons from the past may not always ward off doom, but they can provide insights into the present and even the future."

 

History Repeating | College of Liberal Arts and Human Sciences | Virginia Tech

“We have seen the best of our time. Machinations, hollowness, treachery, and all ruinous disorders, follow us disquietly to our graves." Anyway. Stage 19 of the Giro tomorrow, so there's always that.

"― Ned Boulting via King Lear; June 28, 2026 "

Xi only mentioned one war - and that was the conflict in the Middle East.

He told Putin that a complete end to the war in Iran was of "utmost urgency"

Xi and Putin both called out 

• treacherous military strikes against other
  countries, 
• the hypocritical use of negotiations as cover for preparing
  such strikes, 
• the assassination of leaders of sovereign states, 
• the
  destabilisation of the domestic political situation in these states and
  the provocation of regime change, 
• and the brazen kidnapping of national
  leaders for trial.

Sauce for the Goose: A primer on legal clichés
By Alexander Chandler KC
June 24, 2020

Headings:

• Stacking shelves at Tesco
• Sauce for goose is sauce for gander 
• Cutting one’s coat according to one’s cloth
• Meal ticket for life
• Copper bottomed assets and the plum duff
• Marital acquest

“Conclusion

No advocate, however eloquent, can avoid using clichés altogether. However, we would all do well by resisting the temptation to resort to such easy, hackneyed phrases as “sauce for the goose”, “cutting one’s coat/ cloth” or “meal ticket”.

In Politics and the English Language Orwell proposed six rules which, if anything, apply more forcefully now than they did 70 years ago:

Post Office scandal 'has taken 21 years of my life'

SCATTER SUNSHINE.

When a copy of Mr. Oscar Black-
ford’s Christmas Circular came into
my hands, I was much struck by the
appropriate words which headed the
long list of Christmas gifts—" Scatter
Sunshine with Xmas Cards."

St. Austell Gazette and Cornwall County News - Wednesday 28 November 1934

“Too many people thinking too much was the key problem with the modern world. Think about your garden, sure, think about what you're going to have for tea, think about some things you have some actual power over, but everybody spending all day thinking about things they couldn't influence, where did that lead?”

 

"― Richard Osman, The Impossible Fortune
"