Russia has withdrawn her ambassador to the United Kingdom.
This is serious shit. It is not a total catastrophe - ambassadorial staff remain and diplomatic affairs are now being handled by the chargé d'affaires, Vasily A Tsyganov. But it is pretty bad.
I liked Andrey Kelin - he looked like a cross between a teddy bear and a benign grandad and generally kept his temper when being goaded by Laura Kuenssberg. He very quietly left London last month after seven years as ambassador, and will not be replaced. Kelin worked hard to preserve channels of communication with Britain to little avail, eventually accusing the government of choosing a “path of confrontation” with Russia. A calm and sensible senior diplomat, he will be a loss. An embassy spokesman said that: “He left Britain in the hope that a more constructive and respectful dialogue could eventually be restored, should the UK reconsider its policies towards our country.”
Russia has named Britain as a nation unfriendly to Russia and last week warned of “consequences” after it emerged that Britain is supplying attack drones to Kyiv. The embassy spokesperson added that the Kremlin had concluded Kelin’s diplomatic mission on 21 July. “As for the state of Russia-UK relations across all areas, they have deteriorated to an unprecedentedly low level entirely on London’s initiative,” they added.
You can blame the T-Shirt Wankers for this deplorable business.
Frickin' amateurs.
When the Dwarf Zelensky popped over to Portsmouth on the 27th July for a chat with Prime Minister Burn'em, he was assured that the UK could be counted on “for as long as it takes. Volodymyr, you are the first leader I have welcomed in person since taking office, and that is no accident. It is intended to send a very clear message: we are with Ukraine 100 per cent, I am personally with you 100 per cent, and I will honour every commitment this country has made to Ukraine in full.”
Jesus. That's us stuffed, then.
Burn'em told his new chum that Britain would hand over the intellectual property behind its new “Stone Cloak” electronic warfare system, which blocks Russian detection of the drones to which it is fitted. The Ministry of Defence has already given thousands of the jammers to Ukrainian forces to bolster their drone operations, and now they can make their own.
And we see where this recklessness has led us - right onto Putin's hit list. I have always failed to understand the government's partisanship of Ukrainian interests. Apparently Churchill did not say "Why should I care if one bunch of wops kills another bunch of wops?". But Boris Johnson should have. And Starmer. And Burnham. A little realpolitik would be useful here - instead of all the cock waving.
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Like the band playing aboard the sinking Titanic, music keeps the spirits up and the Proms 2026 season has some good stuff. I generally forget to watch TV, so it was just my luck that when I did decide to catch something of this year's Proms, this is what greeted me:
Really.
Marvin Gaye in the flesh was bad enough, but this tribute nonsense - in the Royal Albert Hall, where mr ishmael and I once sang the Messiah in a massed choir event - well, it really took the biscuit. What would Victoria have said?
Here's the Beeb's spiel: "The world’s greatest classical music festival pays tribute to soul icon Marvin Gaye with a night of hits including I Heard It Through the Grapevine, What’s Going On and Sexual Healing. The BBC Concert Orchestra lead the celebrations under the baton of Edwin Outwater, featuring the silky vocals of American singer Luke James alongside other special guests. Presented by Andi Oliver from the Royal Albert Hall."
Just to remind you that the Soul Icon was shot and killed by his dad with the gun that Marvin had bought him, in a Suicide-by-Dad goading event.
Quite ignoring Noel Coward's encomium: “Extraordinary how potent cheap music is,” I went off to bed in a huff.
I was listening to Radio 3 in the kitchen when the chap who had come to replace my meters with smart meters asked: "Do you like this music?" Radio 3 was playing a particularly vile, unpleasant and bombastic modern piece at the time, so I asked for more clues: "What, this piece?" The meter guy had one of those comedy Yorkshire accents, but I worked out that he meant classical music in general, so I assured him that I do. Emboldened, he then asked if I liked Andrew Roo, because he really liked him and had gone to see him live in Leeds. A little confusion ensued, before realisation dawned that Andrew Roo is this gentleman:
Taking this as enthusiastic approbation, my new chum told me all about his Leeds experience, how he'd been transported with delight, how he and the wife had tears in their eyes, how I should certainly go if I had the opportunity, and when he goes on tours, Andrew Roo has more trucks than the Rolling Stones. Well, I should think so. He has a full orchestra, then there's all the costumes, singers, dancers and wigs.
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Hiding in plain sight: Anagram Corner, courtesy of editor mr. verge.
Have you come across the work of BF Skinner, behaviourist?
His core findings on operant conditioning remain foundational in psychology, education, behavioural therapy, and animal training.
Skinner’s work on reinforcement, schedules of reward, and operant conditioning is still accepted as valid. He developed his theories through experimentation on rats and pigeons, which he placed in what he called Operant Conditioning Chambers (“Skinner boxes”), where the animal or bird pressed levers or pecked keys to receive food or water and taught them to avoid certain behaviours by delivering electric shocks. Such experimentation would be considered deeply unethical today.
Anyway, Skinner's full name was Burrhus Frederic Skinner. Which anagrams to: "re: bird-fucker's inner rush"
Nominative determinism, or what?
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Courtesy of editor mr verge, the house filthster, four splendid anthologies of the writings of stanislav and mr ishmael may be purchased for mere money. You can buy them from Amazon or Lulu. Here's how:
Honest Not Invent, Vent Stack, Ishmael’s Blues, and the latest, Flush Test (with a nice picture of the late, much lamented, Mr Harris of Lanarkshire taking a piss on a totem pole) are available from Lulu and Amazon. If you buy from Amazon, it would be nice if you could give a review on their website.
Ishmaelites wishing to buy a copy from lulu should follow these steps
please register an account first, at lulu.com. This is advisable because otherwise paypal seems to think it's ok to charge in dollars, and they then apply their own conversion rate, which might put the price up slightly for a UK buyer. Once the new account is set up, follow one of the links below (to either paperback or hardback) or type "Ishmael’s Blues" into the Lulu Bookstore search box. Click on the “show explicit content” tab, give the age verification box a date of birth such as 1 January 1960, and proceed.
Link for Hardcover : https://tinyurl.com/je7nddfr
Link for Paperback : https://tinyurl.com/3jurrzux
https://www.lulu.com/shop/ishmael-smith/flush-test/paperback/product-9yjvn7.html?q=Flush+Test&page=1&pageSize=4
At checkout, try WELCOME15 in the coupon box, which (for the moment) takes 15% off the price before postage. If this code has expired by the time you reach this point, try a google search for "Lulu.com voucher code" and see what comes up.
With the 15% voucher, PB (including delivery to a UK address) should be £16.84; HB £27.04.
..............................................Given the state of international relations, you are unlikely to see the Red Army Choir and Ensemble in real life - but Youtube yields more than Andrew Roo - here's Kalinka.
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