June 22nd – All my words come back to me, in shades of mediocrity.

I have always thought that our manager, Gareth Southgate, so long lauded by our media now, was palpably unfit for the job. I have held this view since, day 1, match 1. His main attribute seems to be deference.

17th Jun – You must realize, smoke gets in your eyes.

Or, if you don’t like that as a final line, you can use, Pod lives on the mountain, and skips to Mace, to buy a present for his friend, Kristina. Whichever you prefer really; it’s entirely up to you.

14th June – I heard there was a secret chord, that David played, and it pleased the Lord. But you don’t really care for music, do you?

And don’t they make a welcome contrast to the other national event that is taking place in the UK at the moment; where so many people are suddenly talking about their love of their nation, and the greater good for all of us, and do it all without the slightest notion of how utterly transparently vulgar and disingenuous they seem to the rest of us?

8th June – Let’s start at the very beginning, a very good place to start.

I’m starting at the Tudors, leaving everything that happened before 1500 to the English department, since the version we all believe was made up by Shakespeare.