Colin Dexter, The Wench is Dead, Shaun Bythell, Seven Kinds of People you find in Bookshops, Madeline Miller, The Song of Achilles, John Boughton, Municipal Dreams: The Rise and Fall of Council Housing, George MacDonald Fraser, Flashman and the Mountain of Light, Chris Wrigley, Arthur Henderson

 A week's worth of reading, far more than usual because we have been restricted in our movements. Libby tested positive for COVID and had to self-isolate, so our plans for half-term had to be scratched, and instead we had a quiet time at home, so lots of reading. a week after Libby tested positive I did too, and am just in to my isolation period. I am starting to feel better after a rough few days, but I can feel it in my chest, have shortness of breath and notice it when climbing the stairs. Everyone else is still testing negative, so let's see what happens. Given my invalid status it's been easy comfort reads. Back to Morse and Flashman, and I'm sure I've said this before but it is incredible how dated Morse is. Casual sexist and racist attitudes are normal, even charming and whimsical rather than bigoted or predatory behaviour. Incredible to think how much society has changed its views on what is acceptable behaviour. Still a long way to go though. Flashman has the excuse of being a Victorian for his own prejudices though, but Morse still feels contemporary to me, or near-contemporary. 'The Song of Achilles' was wonderful, a poetic, erotic retelling of the Siege of Troy as a love story between Achilles and Patroclus. I loved Madeline Miller's 'Circe' too, here's hoping for more retelling of the Greek myths from her. 'Municipal Dreams' had the expected result at making me rage at the folly and cynicism of the destruction fo council housing from the 80s onwards and its move from an aspirational, well-built homes for heroes to jerry-built last resort housing. What a state our country is in as a result. The biography of Arthur Henderson was a reminder of the eternal battle in the Labour Party between those who seek to replace capitalism and those who seek to work with it. Henderson was very much the latter and would have been at home in Keir Starmer's Labour Party, and led the calls for Corbyn to be expelled. I didn't realise quite how anti-the left he was, I only knew him as one of the 'good guys' during the bankers' ramp that didn't jump ship and betray the Labour Movement