11 out of 14

I rarely read the Times2 section in the Times but today I did, triggered by the headline "14 foods you should eat every week (including chocolate)".

I'd be the first to admit my nutrition diet is erratic at best. Superfoods, low carbs, fresh fish, ready meals, pizza, classic pub meals, all have their places. Overall I think (optimistically) a balance of duty and pleasure.

I thought I would try reading the detail of the two page article and was soon into "our gut microbiome plays a key role in metabolising flavonoids to enhance their cardioprotective effects", "rich in oxidant-rich flavonoids, naturally occurring polyphenol plant compounds that are a force for health improvements such as reducing cell damage........". Enough! Just tell me what I should eat!

So here's how I scored on the 14 "essential" foods.

1. Bananas. I'm ambivalent about bananas. On the one hand they give me energy, taste good and are an essential ingredient of my favourite smoothie, on the other they are high in carbohydrates and hence potentially fattening. I give myself half a point because I'm off them at the moment.
2. Oats. I use oat milk in my (pretty much daily) smoothies. I definitely don't like porridge but my daily granola is oat-based. Does the milk count? I say yes - one point.
3. Beetroot. I really like the taste of cooked beetroot but it's too much bother to do. I use pickled beetroot in vinegar (out of the jar) in salads. I'm giving myself a (possibly controversial) point.
4. Black tea. One every morning with breakfast, decaff and with milk. Tick.
5. Nuts. I eat so many (mixed) nuts I'm tempted to give myself a bonus point. But I'll just score the one.
6. Oranges. Satsumas, often replaced by "easy peelers", are my favourite and eaten with my granola cereal nearly every day. Tick. If they are in the fruit bowl too many days they become "difficult peelers".
7. Apples. I'm a bit fussy about apples. The tarter the better, hence there are always Granny Smiths in my fruit bowl. Score one.
8. White button mushrooms. I don't dislike mushrooms but I don't eat them regularly. Nul point.
9. Yoghurt. Yep, always in the fridge.
10. Olive oil. Extra virgin used for cooking. Tick.
11. Eggs. I'm ambivalent about eggs. Occasionally I'll think about them, buy some and make an omelette. But I eat them as part of a Tesco breakfast twice a week. Health benefits possibly counteracted by hash browns but I think this merits a point.
12. Beans, peas and lentils. Don't like lentils. Not sure whether baked beans as part of the above-mentioned cooked breakfasts counts. I'll say probably not.
13. Berries. Like nuts, lots of these, particularly raspberries and blueberries. A definite point.
14. Dark chocolate. Yep, daily. Big tick.

No mention of Classic Magnums, sadly, But a healthy eleven and a half points. And this has made me hungry, so time for lunch. Off to get my flavonoids.

New day, new word

We all know where Kaliningrad is.

It's a Russian enclave on the Baltic Sea, surrounded by Lithuania and Poland.

No it's not. Apparently - and this is news to me - it's an exclave not an enclave.

An exclave is a part of a country that is separated from the main part and surrounded by foreign territory. An enclave is a territory that is completely surrounded by another (single) territory. Example: Lesotho:

It's possible for a territory to be both an enclave and an exclave. Check this out:

Llivia is a Spanish town separated from Spain (and hence an exclave from Spain's point of view) and an enclave within - and surrounded by - French territory.

Who knew?

The Romans did; it's their fault. I think. Anyway, you'd think someone (Donald?) would sort it out.

17th beat 16th

Further to my recent post

https://usedtobecroquetman.blogspot.com/2025/05/theyve-given-up.html

the big match took place last night. The 17th place team in the Premier League beat the one placed 16th, won a big trophy and gained entry to the Champions League next season.

I can see this being a new way to play in the League. Crystal Palace gained entry to next season's Europa League by winning the FA Cup last weekend. Get ready for them sending out their reserves to play next season's Premier League, focus all their efforts on winning the Europa League and being in the Champions League the following season.

Why do it that way? This season the team in 17th, currently with 38 points, got into next season's Champions League. The team likely to finish 2nd, currently with 71 points, got into next season's Champions League. Why bother?

I suppose the answer is that there is considerable jeopardy in that approach. 38 points might get you relegated, for a start. Or you could lose the Final to a flukey goal, as happened last night. I'll let you know if it catches on.

For the record, for those readers who know little about football, a flukey goal is worth exactly the same as a beautiful goal.

Cornish democracy

There was recently an election for the local council in Cornwall. These were the results:

Party	Councillors	% councillors	Votes	% votes
Reform UK	28	32.2	47846	29.1
Liberal Democrats	26	29.9	40259	24.5
Independents	16	18.4	22564	13.7
Conservative	7	8.0	25881	15.7
Labour	4	4.6	15100	9.2
Greens	3	3.4	6524	4.0
Mebyon Kernow	3	3.4	6408	3.9

So, who should run the council? A governing group would need 44 councillors for an overall majority. The exact number of Reform + Independents. Or maybe Reform + Conservatives + a few Independents.

As it turned out, no-one was willing to work with Reform. The Independents proposed a Liberal Democrat as leader and he won the support of 53 councillors with 23 abstentions. The remainder registered as Not Voted. Which I would have thought is the same as abstaining but maybe they couldn't get out of bed.

A cabinet was elected, comprising 4 LibDems and 4 Independents.

Is this how democracy is supposed to work? A party that has the largest number of councillors and was voted for by nearly a third of those who voted gets zero say in council policy for the next however many years?

It's a stitch-up, not democracy. Does anyone care?

Youth mobility

The proposed youth mobility scheme (which the Government calls a Youth Experience Scheme) between the UK and the EU excites the Brexiteers into a frenzy. "Free movement via the back door" and the like.

Let's study a bit of context here. Do you know how many countries that the UK has youth mobility agreements with already? It's 13, ranging from Australia where the annual quota is 40,000 to Andorra, where it's 100. (Surely Andorra is part of the EU? Apparently not; maybe they had an Andoxit). I imagine you might guess Canada and New Zealand as Commonwealth partners in such schemes but Uruguay? Where has that come from?

You'd have imagined that these deals would have been concluded by previous Labour governments. Not so, the Australia deal was negotiated by Prime Minister Boris Johnson, as part of the rush to get credit for post-Brexit trade deals. As were those with New Zealand, Japan and many others, mostly I think as rollovers from previous EU deals with those countries. So none of this is new.

The details in these schemes show that they are typically for 18 to 35 year olds and limited to two years, although the Australia, New Zealand and Canada deals from January 2024 (Conservative government) allowed an extension of the two year visa by a further year. There is a requirement to have £2,350 in savings, pay a £776 healthcare surcharge - which I suppose entitles you to use the NHS - and an application fee of £319. So it's not cheap. You are entitled to work (and therefore pay taxes), be self-employed and set up a company (although not with employees) and study but not to bring family members or claim any public funds (benefits). The schemes are always reciprocal so the details are similar in other countries; in Australia it's called a Working Holiday Maker programme.

Because the length of stay is greater than one year, the incoming "youths" (can you really call a 35 year old a youth?) are included in the migration figures of the inbound country. Theoretically the impact on net migration is zero, provided numbers are in balance.  Are they typically in balance? I asked ChatGPT for some data for 2023. 

In 2023, approximately 23,000 individuals entered the United Kingdom under the Youth Mobility Scheme. The majority of these participants originated in Australia (9,900) and New Zealand (5,300). Regarding outbound participation, precise figures for UK citizens taking part in reciprocal youth mobility schemes abroad are not readily available. However, estimates suggest that in 2023 more than 26,000 young Britons participated in Australia's Working Holiday Maker program and an additional 8,000 engaged in New Zealand's equivalent scheme. These numbers indicate that the UK experienced a new outflow of youth mobility participants during that year.

We can conclude from all of this that:

• the numbers are small
• it's at least as likely as not that reciprocity means the net impact on UK net migration is minimal
• it's not cheap to do this, with considerable sums up front for visas, savings requirements and travel costs a good few thousands of pounds/dollars

In no way does this constitute "free movement". The Brexiteers need not worry on that score. However, it's likely that the scheme for our near neighbours in the EU (population 450 million, travel relatively easy and low cost, as against Australia, population 27 million, travel high cost) will be a different beast and could easily see 100,000 Youth Experience Scheme visitors arriving every year and, although a similar number will go the other way, those people will require housing, health care and other benefits. So it may be appropriate to have concerns.

My final point is about inequality. There are good reasons to characterise these schemes in practice as middle-class, for the better educated, with financial impediments to lower-paid, unskilled workers. I asked ChatGPT "is there any evidence to suggest youth mobility schemes are mostly for the educated middle class?"

Yes, there is strong evidence suggesting that YMS are disproportionately accessed by the educated middle class...this is supported by both academic research and government data [other sources: OECD and British Council].........Youth Mobility Schemes are not equally accessible. While they are technically open to many, the financial, linguistic and cultural capital required to participate results in a clear skew towards the educated middle class 

So there should be concern about that, not least politically where opposition to the schemes may come principally from political parties whose voter base has a high proportion that don't fit the requirements. The proposed scheme has not yet been fleshed out. When we know more, I'll have more to say.

Visit Rwanda

Here's a quiz question.

Have you ever wondered whether organisations get value for money out of their advertising?

That wasn't the question.

On 16th April 2025, Arsenal played Real Madrid in the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu in Madrid, in front of 77,073 fanatical football fans. The Arsenal players were wearing shirts with "Visit Rwanda" on the sleeves.

Here's the question.

How many of the 77,073 ended up thinking "Wow, Rwanda. Sounds like a cool place. I wonder what its beaches are like. Can I get a cheap flight tomorrow?"

If you guessed more than 0, you're deluded.

Apparently the Rwandan Tourist Board pays Arsenal £10 million a year for the sponsorship deal. It has been rumoured that the football club is reconsidering whether to continue after the current deal ends this year, because of "reputational damage". I think they should carry on; it's money for old rope. And £10 million would get you a backup goalie.

******************

By The Way #1: Rwanda is a landlocked country, However, it (says ChatGPT) "boasts beautiful inland beaches along the shores of Lake Kivu, one of Africa's Great Lakes, situated on the western border with the Democratic Republic of Congo". That's the DRC they are at war with (it's not technically a war but they are fighting each other).

By The Way #2: Arsenal won the match 2-1, with a beautiful winning strike from Gabriel Martinelli. I knew you'd want to know. Here it is.

https://youtube.com/shorts/_W7XsyCa6iU?si=SD7BARL0WVJ40OVm