When we present our new year wishes this year, we are tempted to add: may 2021 be better than 2020.

Well, maybe not if you have any friends or relatives in Indonesia. Consider this, in less than three weeks:

• Earthquake on Sulawesi island
  
• Landslides set off by the earthquake
  
• Jetliner crash after takeoff from Djakarta
  
• Two(!) volcanoes erupting on Java island

And we are just a little over two weeks into January...

Independent

The coastal town of Margate in east Kent is the place where the fast-spreading variant of Covid-19 first mutated before it swept through the rest of Britain. Scientists identified Kent last month as the county where the mutant virus developed, but a source with knowledge of research into its origins tells me that the earliest case of a person being infected with it was in Margate on the Isle of Thanet.

Seems appropriate given the English inability to do contact tracing. "On Margate Sands/I can connect/Nothing with nothing."

Soviet Union, 1920s

Herding cats more difficult than expected
TransTeam Biden: Where are the missing 20M doses?
Bones: They expired, Jim.
TransTeam Biden: C'mon, man. They must be spread out across arms in the states.
Bones: They expired, Jim.
TransTeam Biden: OK. Let's boost the manufacturing pace!
Bones: Dammit, Jim, I'm a doctor not an operations manager.

Austrian MP allowed to call beer shop owner `asshole,' court rules

An Austrian court ruled Thursday that Sigrid Maurer, who leads the Greens' parliamentary group in the Austrian parliament, had the right to insult a man who had sent her obscene messages.

In May 2018, the owner of a craft beer shop sent Maurer sexually explicit messages. She fired back in a private chat, calling him an "asshole."

As a result, the man, who has not been named, filed a case against Maurer, alleging that her words amounted to slander.

According to local media, a district court in Vienna argued that the way the plaintiff had "verbally raped" Maurer justified her becoming angry and calling him an "asshole."

"Given the perversity of the plaintiff's remarks, the defendant's indignation, which continued for two days afterward, is legitimate," the court said.

UK Cladding on High Rise Apartments

UK ministers to announce billions in extra support for cladding removal [_link]

— The Guardian (@guardian) February 9, 2021

A costly cost-cutting decision to not abide by EU Building Safety Rules ...

Grenfell Tower Fire - from the diaries

Devastating Fire Engulfs West London Tower - 120 Flats

Grenfell Disaster: Criminal Neglect Is Manslaughter

We hope you spotted BGS and @ProfJaneEvans on BBC2's Stonehenge: The Lost Circle Revealed.

If not, catch up here to learn how we were part of the story to uncover the story behind Stonehenge's stones. [_link]

— British Geological Survey (@BritGeoSurvey) February 16, 2021

I used a search engine for BGS, British Geological Survey as their expertise was needed for research of a grave of 81 skeletons of British soldiers near Utrecht in the Netherlands. A mystery yet to be solved ...

In de laatste 2 weken van de opgraving van het massagraf in Vianen zijn sterke aanwijzingen gevonden dat dat het massagraf gekoppeld kan worden aan de Eerste Coalitieoorlog en dat sprake is van omgekomen Britse soldaten. Lees er meer over op onze website: [_link] pic.twitter.com/XoxuxlkxGZ

— Gemeente Vijfheerenlanden (@5heerenlanden) February 16, 2021

History First Coalition War in Holland 1792-1797

The First Coalition And The Jacobin Regime

Confronted by such policies, Great Britain, already allied with the Dutch from 1788, was inevitably drawn into the war. In addition to their alarm at the course of French conquests, the British became suspicious of French intentions toward the United Provinces of the Netherlands.

William Wyndham Grenville, Baron Grenville, the British foreign secretary, protested to the French ambassador, Bernard-François, marquis de Chauvelin, against decrees of November 6 and 19 and finally, on January 24, 1793, gave him his passports. A week later the Convention declared war.

Communism is Soviet Power + Electrification of the Whole Country - Seventeen Moments in Soviet History

Communism is Soviet power plus the electrification of the whole country.

and there's no place for communism in Texas.

Twitter

Pitching a show today called Yallah dig! about a group of Egyptian Englandologists who were able to buy an excavation permit for Westminster Abby after England finds itself in dire financial need 20 years after Brexit. Wish me luck.