Toast

Sorry, no idea how that happened as drink has not been taken.

Sat 11 May 54 Lady Gaga & Beyoncé — Telephone 52 Rihanna ft. Calvin Harris — We Found Love 50 Adele — Someone Like You 40 Katy Perry ft. Snoop Dogg — California Gurls 32 Tinie Tempah — Pass Out 30 Owl City — Fireflies 29 Professor Green ft. Emeli Sande — Read All About It 28 Yolanda Be Cool Vs D Cup — We No Speak Americano +4 28 Scouting For Girls — This Ain't A Love Song 28 Cee Lo Green — Forget You 28 Jessie J ft. B.O.B — Price Tag 27 Rihanna — Only Girl (In The World) 26 Tinie Tempah — Written In The Stars 25 B.O.B ft. Hayley Williams — Airplanes 24 Iyaz — Replay 24 Bruno Mars — Grenade 24 B.O.B ft. Bruno Mars — Nothin' On You 23 Olly Murs ft. Rizzle Kicks — Heart Skips A Beat 23 Kesha — We R Who We R 23 DJ Fresh ft. Sian Evans — Louder 23 The Black Eyed Peas — The Time (Dirty Bit) 22 Olly Murs — Dance With Me Tonight 22 David Guetta ft. Chris Willis — Gettin' Over You 22 Taio Cruz — Dynamite 22 Bruno Mars — Just The Way You Are 22 Flo Rida ft. David Guetta — Club Can't Handle Me 21 Nicole Scherzinger — Don't Hold Your Breath 21 Roll Deep — Green Light 21 Example — Changed The Way You Kiss Me 21 The Wanted — Glad You Came 21 Nero — Promises 20 Usher ft. Will.I.Am — OMG 20 Roll Deep — Good Times 20 Alexandra Burke ft. Laza Morgan — Start Without You 20 Jason Derulo — Don't Wanna Go Home 20 Wretch 32 ft. Josh Kumra — Don't Go 20 Example — Stay Awake 20 Pixie Lott — All About Tonight 19 Little Mix — Cannonball 19 Rihanna ft. Drake — What's My Name 18 One Direction — What Makes You Beautiful 16 Jason Derulo — In My Head 14 The Wanted — All Time Low 13 Pitbull ft. Ne-Yo, Afrojack & Nayer — Give Me Everything 10 Olly Murs — Please Don't Let Me Go 07 JLS ft. Dev — She Makes Me Wanna -2 00 Dizzee Rascal — Dirtee Disco -4

Sat 11 May 40 Edwin Starr -- War +4 33 Lynn Anderson - Rose Garden 29 Bobby Bloom - Montego Bay 28 Creedence Clearwater Revival - Up Around The Bend 25 The Four Tops - A Simple Game 22 Ashton, Gardner and Dyke - Resurrection Shuffle 21 Andy Williams — Can’t Help Falling In Love 15 The Supremes - Stoned Love 14 Three Dog Night - Mama Told Me (Not To Come) 08 Neil Diamond - Cracklin’ Rosie 01 Don Fardon - Indian Reservation -6

Sadly the current rules make it difficult to bring dogs into the UK from Afghanistan, because of rabies which is very common there. It's not impossible, but it's time-consuming and expensive. Dogs must be vaccinated against rabies, then have a blood sample taken at least 30 days after the rabies vaccination. The blood sample must be sent to an EU-approved blood testing laboratory. The results of the blood test must show that the vaccination was successful (rabies antibody level of at least 0.5 IU/ml). You must wait 3 months from the date the blood sample was taken before you travel. So in practice you need to find somewhere to board or foster the dog for about 4 months in a listed country.

This is a difficult one, as there's nothing here that I really love and equally nothing that I hate.

Fri 10 May 56 Lady Gaga & Beyoncé — Telephone 46 Rihanna ft. Calvin Harris — We Found Love 45 Adele — Someone Like You 35 Katy Perry ft. Snoop Dogg — California Gurls 30 Tinie Tempah — Pass Out 28 Scouting For Girls — This Ain't A Love Song +4 28 Cee Lo Green — Forget You 25 Rihanna — Only Girl (In The World) 24 One Direction — What Makes You Beautiful 24 B.O.B ft. Hayley Williams — Airplanes 24 Iyaz — Replay 24 Bruno Mars — Grenade 24 Jessie J ft. B.O.B — Price Tag 24 Professor Green ft. Emeli Sande — Read All About It 24 B.O.B ft. Bruno Mars — Nothin' On You 24 Tinie Tempah — Written In The Stars 23 Yolanda Be Cool Vs D Cup — We No Speak Americano 23 Olly Murs ft. Rizzle Kicks — Heart Skips A Beat 23 Kesha — We R Who We R 22 David Guetta ft. Chris Willis — Gettin' Over You 22 Taio Cruz — Dynamite 22 The Black Eyed Peas — The Time (Dirty Bit) 22 Bruno Mars — Just The Way You Are 21 Roll Deep — Green Light 21 Example — Changed The Way You Kiss Me 21 DJ Fresh ft. Sian Evans — Louder 21 The Wanted — Glad You Came 21 Flo Rida ft. David Guetta — Club Can't Handle Me 21 Olly Murs — Dance With Me Tonight 21 Pitbull ft. Ne-Yo, Afrojack & Nayer — Give Me Everything 21 Owl City — Fireflies 20 Usher ft. Will.I.Am — OMG 20 Roll Deep — Good Times 20 Little Mix — Cannonball 20 The Wanted — All Time Low 20 Alexandra Burke ft. Laza Morgan — Start Without You 20 Nicole Scherzinger — Don't Hold Your Breath 20 Jason Derulo — Don't Wanna Go Home 20 Nero — Promises 20 Wretch 32 ft. Josh Kumra — Don't Go 20 Example — Stay Awake 20 Pixie Lott — All About Tonight 19 Rihanna ft. Drake — What's My Name 17 Jason Derulo — In My Head 16 Dizzee Rascal — Dirtee Disco 15 Olly Murs — Please Don't Let Me Go 15 JLS ft. Dev — She Makes Me Wanna 15 LMFAO ft. Lauren Bennett & GoonRock — Party Rock Anthem 14 Bruno Mars — The Lazy Song 07 Diana Vickers — Once -4 00 Ne-Yo — Beautiful Monster -2

Fri 10 May 32 Edwin Starr — War 31 Bobby Bloom - Montego Bay 30 Lynn Anderson - Rose Garden 29 Andy Williams — Can’t Help Falling In Love +4 27 Three Dog Night - Mama Told Me (Not To Come) 27 Ashton, Gardner and Dyke - Resurrection Shuffle 26 Creedence Clearwater Revival - Up Around The Bend 26 The Four Tops - A Simple Game 19 The Supremes - Stoned Love 18 Neil Diamond - Cracklin’ Rosie  09 Don Fardon - Indian Reservation -6

https://themovementforward.com/letter/?utm_campaign=homepage Sign at the link. Dear Prime Minister, We, the British public, hereby write to express our collective vote of no confidence in your government. After 14 years of Tory chaos, enough is enough. Poll after poll shows there is no confidence in you or this government. We, therefore, demand a General Election NOW. It’s crucial to let us take back control and determine the future of our nation. Yours sincerely, The People of The UK P.S. We’d also like our democracy upgraded so our votes actually count, and we can vote with our values in future.

So .... is she now a Labour MP? Shouldn't she be an Independent for the rest of her tenure? It doesn't seem right to me that an MP elected presumably on the basis of their party manifesto is just allowed to change sides. There should be a by-election in such cases.

Shirley Conran is a hit for me, thanks to Jasper's newsflash a couple of hours before the deadline!

I tried one of Mick Herron's Oxford series but gave up about a third of the way in. It was a very different style, way too slow and I didn't like the main character. To be fair, it was his first novel so the others might be better, but it was nothing like the Slough House ones. I've got a collection of his short stories from the library so will try those next.

I'm not sure about this Gollum one, but there are quite a few separate stories that could be done, eg Beren and Luthien

I need to give this another go, as I've read all the books now and they're a very good read. Some nice atmospheric descriptive passages, but otherwise easy narratives with plenty of humour. I've had a 3 month Apple free trial, but looks like I can get another via Vodafone, but it will only be 2 months. I've started watching Shardlake on Disney (only 4 episodes) but it hasn't really pulled me in. Partly because the title character is nothing like my mental image from the books, he looks too young. I know Shardlake is only meant to be in his 30s at the start of the books, but people aged earlier in Tudor times. The other thing that riled me is a bit of woke casting. The Abbot is black. Come on! While there might well have been some black Africans around in 1537, they wouldn't have been in such exalted positions. This is particularly irksome because one of the other characters, who recurs through the series, is a Spanish Moor turned Christian monk and apothecary. He meets quite a bit of racial prejudice. The inappropriate casting of the Abbot undermines this.

And me please. "Hi Steve, are they letting dogs in?"