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If you’re anything like me, you’ll be looking forward to overindulging in food and drink throughout the coming Christmas period. Living, as we are, in the post-Victorian period, our notion of Christmas is inevitably informed by Charles Dickens and his peers, who solidified the modern version of Christmas as a time of generous gift-giving, charity, and copious food and drink. But, as the presence of ghosts in many of Dickens’s Christmas stories…

The greatness of the American myth is that it is mostly real. Enough of the faux-conservatives, these woke rightists, judging America as not worth saving and smearing our heroes as tyrants or war criminals. · On December 3, 2024, James Lindsay, rightish provocateur, revealed that he had “very lightly edited” “several thousand words straight out of” the Communist Manifesto and submitted it to the on-line journal American Reformer. He considered…

Christmas Baked Salmon · Have you ever seen a Baked Salmon that looks so festive? What's more, it's DEAD EASY! Featuring a honey butter-glazed side of salmon baked in foil, slathered with creamy dill sauce and finally topped with a glittering Holiday "Tapenade", this Salmon Tarator inspired dish pays extremely high dividends for very little work. · Christmas Salmon: · - 1.2 - 1.5 kg / 2.4 - 3lb salmon bones and with the skin on. - 2 1/4 tsp…

At Wharehunga Bay, Queen Charlotte Sound, 10 men serving under Tobias Furneaux on the sister vessel to James Cook’s Resolution died at the hands of Ngāti Kuia and Rangitāne led by the chief Kahura on December 17th 1773. · Cook and the Resolution had left the Sounds six days before the Adventure arrived. (The two ships had become separated several weeks earlier during a fierce storm; Ship Cove was the prearranged rendezvous in such an event.) On…

The skin — once thought to be a mainly passive barrier — can produce its own antibodies that fight off infections, a pair of studies reports in Nature this week1,2. The findings could pave the way for the development of needle-free vaccines that can be applied to the skin. · Although scientists have previously seen immune responses in the skin during infections, finding similar reactions in healthy skin is “a surprise”, says Daniel Kaplan, a…

England is no longer a free society. The old country is descending into authoritarianism. · Following the brutal murder of three young girls in Southport this summer, people were sent to prison for what they wrote online. · Some are now serving long sentences not because there was any causal link between what they wrote and any public disorder, but because they wrote it. · Last month, Allison Pearson, a Telegraph journalist, was harassed by her…

Recent polls suggest a significant portion of New Zealanders favour direct input via referendum over decisions made by Parliament, the courts, or other institutions. · This is despite divided opinions on the Treaty Principles Bill itself. · An ACT-commissioned Curia poll found 39% supported the bill, 36% opposed, and 25% were unsure. The poll asked respondents whether they supported “Parliament passing the Treaty Principles Bill that would…

Whether a medication is taken orally or intravenously, it ends up traveling throughout the body instead of going solely to the one place where it's needed. Such could soon no longer be the case, however, thanks to a newly developed microparticle that looks like a flower. · Over the past several years we've seen multiple types of particles designed for targeted drug delivery. · In pretty much all cases, the microscopic objects are designed to…

Christmas Entertaining doesn’t always have to be about lots of fuss and bother. This easy to put together, delicious Cheese board looks amazing as a table centrepiece and can be adapted for all your favourites! You can use anything you like really, add in Cocktail onions, cocktail pickles, nuts, dried fruits, salami, deli ham, pate, fresh fruit, berries, whatever takes your fancy. · Ingredients · - 4 ounces Red Hard Cheese , I use Red …

On 16 December a great rugby rivalry was born when a try by All Black Bob Deans was disallowed, resulting in the only loss of the ‘Originals’ tour (see 16 September). The incident is still debated. · The only score in the match played before a crowd of 47,000 at Cardiff Arms Park was a try scored by Welsh wing Teddy Morgan 10 minutes before halftime. · When the All Blacks counter-attacked late in the second half, Deans was sure he grounded the…