The Steeple Times

Category: Bargains

  • Pan Macmillan Pulp – Tattooed Twazzock Jack Monroe’s Patronising-The-Poor Book Should Be Pulped

    Pan Macmillan Pulp – Tattooed Twazzock Jack Monroe’s Patronising-The-Poor Book Should Be Pulped

    As Pan Macmillan issue a “safety statement” over ‘gender X’ harpy Jack Monroe’s patronising-the-poor book ‘Thrifty Kitchen,’ Matthew Steeples suggests they’d do better to recall it and pulp it

    Over the years, there haven’t been many people who gender-something-or-other-gender-anything-goes Jack Monroe (once known as ‘A Girl Called Jack’ and later as ‘Jack at a Pinch’) hasn’t chosen to patronise or pester. Here is a prattling pontificater with more front than Harrods, but less tact and an ability to troll more twaddle than Andrew Tate even.

     

    From the inception of The Steeple Times in June 2012 – and even before for myself personally also as far back as 2011 – the nation has witnessed this grim grifter seeking out fights with everyone from hapless harridans like Katie Hopkins to national treasures such as Michael ‘Choo Choo’ Portillo. David Cameron’s son, Ivan, was not immune from her poisonous pen after he died aged just six.

     

    Monroe – who is astoundingly listed on speaker fee rosters at £10,000 to £15,000 yet bangs on about poverty continually – is a hypocritical “them” (“neither man nor woman,” if you go by her all-over-the-shop narrative) who does not differentiate in her hatefulness. Instead, here is someone who targeted even the chirpy, cheeky chappy chef Jamie Oliver for his commerciality whilst herself being sponsored, for a time, by Sainsbury’s. Her campaign for the supermarket, very predictably and quite sensibly, was ended after just six weeks.

     

    Back in 2011 – sadly now beyond unlikely impossible today given the cost-of-living crisis – I proved that you could actually make a meal for 30p with ingredients bought in London’s tony Knightsbridge district. In doing so, I became portrayed as someone that the likes of Monroe loathe more than anything else in spite of an esteemed restaurateur reader observing: “Keep up the good work and bring this problem of supermarket food waste to your readers on a regular basis.”

     

    I had purchased sausages, potatoes and stuffing in the Brompton Road branch of Marks & Spencer Simply Food for a total of just 30p and when, in 2013, Mr Oliver was called a “poverty tourist turned self-appointed tour guide” for supporting such, she had a pop at both him and I on Twitter. Neither of us backed down in highlighting that you can buy affordable items and dine well, but sadly nor did this mouthy menace relent in her ridiculous notion that the privileged just patronise.

     

    Subsequently, last year, a Conservative MP – admittedly himself deservedly mocked as a total twerp when it comes to his views on many other matters – named Lee Anderson MP (AKA ‘30p Lee’) got into a fight with Monroe since she’s jolly good at that. She threatened to sue him for libel after he claimed: “She’s taking money off of some of the most vulnerable in society and making an absolute fortune off of the back of people” and now, at the end of the first week of 2023, she’s again started as she means to go on and got herself into another stinker of a bun fight.

     

    This time, in the wake of The Bookseller sharing news that Bluebird, a Pan Macmillan non-fiction imprint, has issued a “statement regarding ‘potentially risky’ hacks and tips included in Jack Monroe’s latest book Thrifty Kitchen, which was published on the 5th January,” comes proof that here is someone who doesn’t actually think before she puts pen to paper (or fingers to the keyboard).

     

    Amongst the definitely dangerous ideas suggested by Monroe in her latest profiteering pamphlet are to not buy a tin opener if you don’t already have one – they are currently available in branches of Tesco for 60p (and in other stores also are available) – and to instead use a “small sharp knife that you are not particularly attached to, a hammer or a mallet, a bit of vigour, some patience and a VERY steady hand.” A&E departments across the land must be celebrating this incredibly stupid suggestion.

     

    Even more bizarrely, should you even desire to own one, Monroe warbles on how about to create an ‘egg ring’ – currently on offer on Amazon for £2.10 (and available in other stores also too). Her tip is to remove the lid and base of a tuna tin and then sand away the rough edges. She pointedly profers: Wash afterwards to remove “any tiny dusty bits of metal.” Egg-tastic to someone somewhere, but clearly a route to cut fingers for most.

     

    This morning, The Bookseller’s Lauren Brown reported:

     

    “The statement reads: ‘Bluebird and Pan Macmillan understand that some of the hacks and tips in Jack Monroe’s Thrifty Kitchen have been pointed out to be potentially risky if proper care and attention is not taken. These include a way to open a tin can without a tin opener, how to repurpose a tin can after first use, and a method of straining food without a strainer or colander.”

     

    “It continues that these hacks come from when Monroe ‘found herself in extreme circumstances of food poverty and necessity required creative solutions to overcome the obstacles’ and that ‘proper tools should, of course, be used where possible.’”

     

    “Moreover, it states that ‘the tips are not recommended for daily use but have been mentioned for completeness and to give alternatives’ and that ‘safety measures should be given the highest priority, especially when dealing with knives and sharp objects, and heat and electrical appliances,’ concluding: ‘Bluebird has amended text in the e-book edition, and will do the same for future reprints, removing or amending some of the content that has been flagged, and adding enhanced safety information at the back of the book.’”

     

    “In response to concerns raised regarding the book’s content, the Trussell Trust – a UK charity to combat poverty – wrote on Twitter: ‘While Jack and BookShop have agreed to donate a number of books for our food banks, we don’t have any editorial control of the content. The safety of people who use food banks is our priority and food banks aim to help people access essentials such as tin openers if needed.’”

     

    “‘The publishers have assured us that they’re taking action. The books that will be donated to our food banks will contain an addendum that addresses any health and safety concerns and we will not be distributing any books via our food banks in the current form.’”

     

    A complete contrast to the utterly delightful ‘£1 store cupboard cook’ Miguel Barclay – a jolly gent who focuses on actually helping people cook affordably by “buying the basics” and “cooking in bulk” to save costs yet eat well – the annoying and condescending “not a boob hater, just my own” Monroe’s publishers would be better to take further action. They should take Thrifty Kitchen off the shelves and pulp it; so-inclined people of all wealth levels could then spend what they might on this bag-of-bilge book on several tin openers (and an egg ring even, if they must).

     

    Editor’s Note – Unlike as is the case in many publications, this article was NOT sponsored or supported by a third-party. Follow Matthew Steeples on Twitter at @M_Steeples.

     

    Pictured Top – Rather like Prince Harry’s tacky tome, ‘Spare,’ Monroe’s ‘Thrifty Kitchen’ has already hit the discount bin at Waterstones. It’s on offer for £9.99, RRP £19.99. Purchase at your personal peril.

     

    Jack Monroe likes to pick fights; amongst those she’s had a pop at are…

    When she’s not living-it-up with I’m A Celebrity bestie of Stanley Johnson, Georgia Toffolo, aside from myself, Jack Monroe has variously kept herself busy launching warbling words of war against:

     

    • Lee Anderson MP.
    • The Right Honourable David Cameron and his deceased child.
    • The Conservative Party – with their members in Bath being particularly high up on her list of ire.
    • Germaine Greer.
    • Katie Hopkins.
    • The Labour Party.
    • Jamie Oliver.
    • Michael Portillo.
    • The late The Right Honourable The Baroness Thatcher LG OM DStJ PC FRS HonFRSC.
    • The Right Honourable Liz Truss MP.
    • And many members of the Twitterati… And many, many others elsewhere.

     

    Thrifty Kitchen
    Monroe’s latest book, which Pan Macmillan released only yesterday, has been torn to shreds and mocked as “complete drivel.” She offers ideas for using fluff and water from tumble dryers – devices that anyone cutting back on costs will have already have stopped using during the cost-of-living crisis given how expensive they are to operate – and shared her thoughts on towels. To save money, she says, “both I and my son can dry our entire bodies after a shower with a hand towel and a bit of vigorous application” before adding: “I have actually already perfected this down to the humble flannel.”
    Ivan Cameron
    Sainsbury’s quite rightly disassociated themselves from Monroe after her November 2014 outburst about Ivan Cameron. They responded: “Jack Monroe blogs independently. Sainsbury’s is not a political organisation and we certainly don’t share her views.” A source also revealed that Monroe’s contract with the firm would not be renewed and equally, Andrew Percy MP, a member of the Commons health select committee, spoke for many at the time when he added: “This is not just a distasteful tweet, it is sick. If a right-wing politician or columnist had made such a comment, Miss Monroe would be writing hand-wringing columns about how evil or cruel such a comment was.”
    Jamie Oliver
    “Cooks cook” Jamie Oliver has done more to help those struggling to feed their families than most. That he has been repeatedly attacked by self-declared acid tongued “freelance food-and-politics-gob” Jack Monroe who once crassly also had a pop at David Cameron after the death of his son – she shockingly claimed “he uses stories about his dead son as misty-eyed rhetoric to legitimise selling our NHS to his friends” – is indicative of the lowbrow tendencies of the person making such attacks.
    Lee Anderson Jack Monroe
    Finger-wagging Conservative Lee Anderson MP was called out by self-appointed “humble food blogger” and “potty-mouthed activist” Jack Monroe in May 2022 after suggesting people could “make a meal for about 30p a day.” He responded: “She’s taking money off of some of the most vulnerable in society and making an absolute fortune off of the back of people. You know, it’s her that’s rich. I’m not rich… No, I was dragged up in Huthwaite. As you know, I’ve worked down the pit all my life, didn’t have two ha’pennies to rub together.” Whether the libel action Monroe has threatened will progress or not remains to be seen.
    Michael Portillo
    Michael Portillo very effectively shutdown in May 2019 when he forced her to step down from supporting ‘milkshaking’ right-wing politicians by asking if she’d do the same to centrist and left-wing figures. She had to pathetically concede: “Oh, OK… I condemn it.”
    Miguel Barclay
    For those looking for someone into budget cooking to follow, we urge readers to look to the brilliant Miguel Barclay instead of the mouthy person of gender-whatever.

    Twitter reacts to ‘Thrifty Kitchen’…

  • Heroes of the Hour – Free Christmas Lunch With Wine For All Lonely Singles At The Alexandra Wimbledon, 25th December 2022

    Heroes of the Hour – Free Christmas Lunch With Wine For All Lonely Singles At The Alexandra Wimbledon, 25th December 2022

    As the cost of living crisis deepens, the kindness of The Alexandra Wimbledon is to be saluted; they are offering free Christmas lunches with wine on 25th December for all lonely single people

    Proof that kindness and generosity of spirit still does exist comes with news that a south-west London pub, Young’s & Co. Brewery PLC owned The Alexandra Wimbledon, is offering on-the-house Christmas lunches including wine for anyone who is by themselves on Christmas Day this year.

     

    Rather like Bill and Cath Mullarkey – a pair of chefs turned EuroMillions winners who featured in The Steeple Times in January last year after they provided free Caribbean food to the homeless and pensioners – the staff and management of this Victorian boozer have been providing this service since 2014, but in 2022 when the cost of living crisis has well and truly hit, it will no doubt be especially welcomed.

     

    Open to not only locals of the Wimbledon, SW19 area but to anyone who can get themselves to this public house on 25th December between 12 noon and 3pm, of the initiative Square Meal shared: “The only rule is you have be on your own.”

     

    Single diners will be seated on tables of four, six or eight people and given a three-course roast Christmas dinner with wine or beer and will also thereby get the opportunity to make friends with others in a similar boat to themselves.

     

    We say: Cheers to that and well done to The Alexandra; one Wimbledon ‘regular’ who sadly won’t be free to make it though is Boris Becker. Fresh out of the clink, this tennis legend skedaddled out of Biggin Hill on a chum’s ‘PJ’ just days ago and will unlikely be back anytime before 2032 given he’s banned from entry to the UK until then.

     

    The Alexandra is situated at 33 Wimbledon Hill Road, London, SW19 7NE. Telephone: +44 (0) 20 8947 7691.

     

    Editor’s Note – Unlike as is the case in many publications, this article was NOT sponsored or supported by a third-party.

     

    Instagram
    This weekend on Instagram, the kind-hearted team at this south-west London public house announced that the offer would run from 12 noon until 3pm and is “completely free.” They did ask for support from those with the ability and for food contributions and volunteers also. “Every bit counts and we appreciate it all so much,” they added alongside a photograph of volunteers from when they did this in a previous year.
    Twitter
    The “free Christmas Day dinner and booze thing” was thought up to support “anyone who’s otherwise on their own this year.” Of it, the pub’s Twitter account recently shared: “Don’t be on your own on Christmas Day, come to us instead. We’ll give you free dinner and vino. I 100% promise you there’s no catch. Just come.” According to ‘Square Meal’: “So, how does it work? Guests who take up The Alex’s offer will be seated on tables of four, six or eight people where they’ll be served a three-course Christmas dinner along with wine. As much as it’s about the festive feast, the idea behind the tradition is to ensure no one has to spend Christmas alone. Plus, it’s a great opportunity to meet new people!”
    Book Exchange
    The fact that this pub also has its own book exchange provides definite proof that it is very much run with community spirit and kindness in mind. In a winter where cold weather has most definitely come to accompany empty pockets due to the cost of living crisis, this kind of initiative is something that other establishments should most definitely also adopt.
    The Kittoch
    Elsewhere in East Kilbride, Lanarkshire, Scotland, a pub named The Kittoch is also offering a free nosh-up for “lonely local residents who would otherwise be spending the festivities on their own.” According to ‘Heart.co.uk,’ the pub will provide a table for up to ten people who will each receive a “complimentary drink on arrival and a three-course Christmas dinner with all the trimmings.” Who knows what Santa will bring as extras for the guests there – in May 2017, “a shocked motorist found a bag containing £30,000 worth of cocaine in the footwell of his [unlocked] car after he left it parked behind a pub overnight. He handed in the stash to police, who are trying to establish who dumped the drugs in the Citroën C1.”
  • Hero of the Hour 2022 – Crusading £1 Per Head Chef Miguel Barclay

    Hero of the Hour 2022 – Crusading £1 Per Head Chef Miguel Barclay

    In actually showing the British public how to actually cook a meal costing no more than £1 per head, TV chef Miguel Barclay contributes something useful whereas the likes of food bank fighters Lee Anderson MP and Jack Monroe continue just to carp

    Whilst mouthy menace Jack Monroe and Tory twerp Lee Anderson MP respectively showed themselves as pugnacious, pathetic pillocks in May this year during their stupendously stupid spat over food poverty in Britain, thoughtful television chef and author Miguel Barclay has actually done something helpful and written not just one but seven books filled with £1 per head meals.

     

    Unlike the bombastic bully and bore Monroe and the ludicrous “[people] can make a meal for about 30p a day” prat Anderson, what innovative Barclay does is to provide sensible food savings tips that are actually both practical and useful.

     

    Amongst them are to “cook from scratch” and end up with “receipts that should read like an ingredients list and not a menu” when you leave the supermarket. “It needs to say ‘onion, tomato, garlic, and not ‘pasta sauce,’” he adds and “even things like carrot batons – you shouldn’t have the word ‘batons’ there.”

     

    “Buy the basics” and “cook in bulk” are two of his other suggestions and today we urge readers to follow this sensible chap’s advice and learn to eat better for less… And before you forget, always look out for the ‘yellow stickers’ when in anywhere from Asda to Waitrose.

     

    To purchase ‘Storecupboard One Pound Meals: 85 Delicious and Affordable Recipes’ via Amazon, click here. The book is the 6th in the £1 series and a 7th titled ‘Green One Pound Meals’ is available to pre-order by clicking here.

     

    RECIPES BY MIGUEL BARCLAY

    Featured in The Sun earlier this week, Barclay shared a number of £1 per head recipes with the paper’s Hayley Minn, amongst them:

     

    Cheese and Potato Hotpot (pictured top right)

    “I’m using cheddar here but you can totally throw in any other interesting cheeses that you have got lurking in the fridge.”

     

    “This dish is a great template for using up other leftovers, too. Imagine adding some layers of Sunday’s roast chicken or a few slices of ham like I have here.”

     

    To make one portion, you need:

    • 2 potatoes, very thinly sliced.
    • 1 onion, very thinly sliced.
    • A couple of slices of cooked ham, torn into chunks.
    • A big handful of cheddar cheese, grated.
    • Salt and pepper.
    • 1 teaspoon dried oregano.
    • Olive oil.

     

    Method:

    • Preheat oven to 190C/170 fan/gas 5.
    • Grab an ovenproof dish and start by adding a layer of potato slices, then onion slices and ham, then cheese, with a little salt and pepper and a pinch of oregano.
    • Repeat four or five times until the dish is full to the top and finish with a layer of potatoes.
    • Drizzle over a little olive oil and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes or until the top layer is golden brown and all the potatoes are cooked.

     

    Prawn Fried Rice

    “The secret to this dish is the sesame oil, which replicates the authentic Chinese flavour that home-cooked dishes often lack. So, why not buy yourself a bottle, transform your cooking, stop ordering take-aways and save yourself a fortune?”

     

    To make one portion, you need:

    • 1 mug of water.
    • ½ mug of long-grain rice.
    • Sesame oil.
    • Handful of cooked and peeled prawns.
    • 1 egg.
    • 2 spring onions, chopped.
    • Soy sauce.

     

    Method:

    • In a saucepan, bring the water and rice to the boil, cover and simmer gently.
    • When the rice is cooked and has absorbed all the water, tip it into a bowl and allow to cool to room temperature (or refrigerate).
    • When the rice is cold, heat a wok (or large saucepan) over a high heat and add a splash of sesame oil along with the rice.
    • As the rice starts to fry – keep stirring so that it doesn’t burn at the bottom – add the prawns.
    • Scoop everything to one side of the pan and crack the egg into the empty side.
    • Start to fry the egg and, once it is half-cooked, scramble it with a wooden spoon and mix it in with the rice.
    • Add the chopped spring onions and a final splash of sesame oil.
    • Then mix it all together over the heat and serve in a bowl with a splash of soy sauce.

     

    Lee Anderson MP and Jack Monroe food war
    Finger-wagging Conservative Lee Anderson MP was called out by self-appointed “humble food blogger” and “potty-mouthed activist” Jack Monroe in May this year after suggesting people could “make a meal for about 30p a day.” He responded: ““She’s taking money off of some of the most vulnerable in society and making an absolute fortune off of the back of people. You know, it’s her that’s rich. I’m not rich… No, I was dragged up in Huthwaite. As you know, I’ve worked down the pit all my life, didn’t have two ha’pennies to rub together.”
  • Wonderful Wise Waitrose – Supermarket Sensibly Scraps Best-Before Dates On 500 Fresh Products

    Wonderful Wise Waitrose – Supermarket Sensibly Scraps Best-Before Dates On 500 Fresh Products

    In scrapping best-before dates on 500 fresh products, Waitrose has seen sense and will help reduce food waste; they should be saluted, but what will ‘went-off-at-birth’ Waitrose-hater Owen Jones have to say?

    Whilst most people sensibly lauded Waitrose for announcing they will be scrapping the inclusion of best-before dates on some 500 fresh food products from September, the public still await a reaction from the supermarket’s number one hater, the eternally ‘angry man’ Owen Jones.

     

    Of the move, Marija Rompani, director of sustainability and ethics at John Lewis Partnership, which owns Waitrose, this morning announced:

     

    “Best-before dates are designed to show food quality rather than how safe it is to eat.”

     

    “By removing best before dates from our products, we want our customers to use their own judgment to decide whether a product is good to eat or not, which in turn will increase its chances of being eaten and not becoming waste.”

     

    “By using up existing fresh food in our homes, we can also save on our weekly household food shop, which is becoming an increasingly pressing concern for many.”

     

    “UK households throw away 4.5 million tonnes of edible food every year, meaning that all the energy and resources used in food production is wasted.”

     

    Catherine David, director of collaboration and change at Waste & Resources Action Programme (WRAP) added:

     

    “Best before dates on fruit and veg are unnecessary and create food waste because they get in the way of people using their judgement when food is still good to eat.”

     

    “We are absolutely delighted by this move… which will help stop good food ending up in the bin.”

     

    “We estimate that removing dates on fresh fruit and veg could save the equivalent of seven million shopping baskets of food from the bin, which is huge.”

     

    Rivals Tesco removed best-before dates on 100 fresh products in 2018 whilst Marks & Spencer did the same on 300 products in their range in July this year.

     

    Now, today, we join those calling on Apple watch wearing hypocrite Owen Jones to do the decent thing; it’s time for him to come out and celebrate the wisdom of the wonderful and anything-but-wasteful Waitrose.

     

    Pictured top – It’s ‘bye bye’ to irrational dates that just encourage people to bin perfectly good food from September at Britain’s smartest supermarket (left) whilst the eternally bitter Corbynite creep Jones (right) – a mouse-not-a-man who undoubtedly “went off” at birth – has yet to comment on this piece of extremely positive news.

     

    On Twitter, Matthew Steeples offered up a poll asking how ‘The Guardian’s’ nastiest piece of work would react to the news of the positive decision by Britain’s best supermarket. Previously, in April this year, a former columnist on the paper, Suzanne Moore, declared of Jones: “Owen Jones has long been very angry with me, and it’s not really to do with trans people at all. (There were trans people at many of those parties he attended – that’s how Terfy I am.) Trans people are merely pawns in his proxy war, and they deserve far better representatives. His real problem with me was that I did not support Corbyn or those who surrounded him. I didn’t feel it was my duty to get this deluded old fool elected. But Owen, with his zillions of Twitter followers, thought otherwise and became increasingly hostile to me. I may have been rude in my responses, but my animus against that part of the media isn’t personal: it’s about class. Owen went to Oxford and was a bag carrier in Westminster before being handed a national newspaper column. So many of these hard-Left types have no life experience and it shows. I was reminded of that recently when Jones went on some mad rant, posting 33 tweets about me. Way to go, mate, if you don’t want to look obsessive and harassing. He wanted to rebut the idea that he had anything to do with me leaving ‘The Guardian.’ The boring details are this: I chose to leave. I was not fired, but I found it intolerable to be censored for relatively mild views. I have never claimed to be cancelled or silenced. Do I think Owen was responsible for getting my “colleagues” to gang up and write a letter denouncing me? I can’t say. I certainly think he was responsible for creating the toxic atmosphere in which it happened. But he denies it and claims the letter was never about me, even though it was leaked to his mate Patrick Strudwick at ‘Buzzfeed,’ who strangely seemed to think it was. No need to go into all that again. I wrote at length about it here without once mentioning the twerp’s name. But suffice it to say that in 30 years of journalism, no one has spoken to me the way he did. Of course, anyone on Twitter will be aware he does this on a regular basis to women. That is why #OwenJonesIsAMisogynist started to trend this week, after ‘Private Eye’ reported that an independent investigator brought in by ‘The Guardian’ had upheld a complaint of bullying made against him by a female columnist, and that he is yet to face punishment.”

    Reactions to the brilliant best-before decision on Twitter

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  • Dracula’s Hooch – Bargain £2 A Bottle ‘Legend Of Dracula’ Wine

    Dracula’s Hooch – Bargain £2 A Bottle ‘Legend Of Dracula’ Wine

    Wine enthusiast Fred Skulthorp samples Romania’s £2 a bottle Legend of Dracula wine whilst flying from Cluj to Stansted and considers national decline

    This summer’s travel chaos provides a welcome opportunity to savour the novelty wines of the duty free – and reflect on the decline of our nation.

     

    One of the few pleasures left afforded by the budget holiday to the continent is the chance to take advantage of the discounted duty free wines. Cluj is not the obvious destination of choice for the seasoned drinker, but a post-lager wonder through the cobbled streets of this Transylvanian gem, with its mediaeval churches and the resentful stares of ageing locals and you could be in Languedoc, Bordeaux or Plovdiv.

     

    This stretch of the imagination is confirmed by the unashamedly bold and vibrant reds on offer in the airport’s duty free. Too often, a novelty wine for the jaded traveller is very much the sum of its carefully marketed label and alcohol content – and at first glance, The Legend of Dracula, Cabernet Sauvignon seems precisely this.

     

    Yet, persevere with the tricky corkscrew in the departure lounge (the pop of the cork drowned out by the sound of feral children and announcements for delayed flights) and you’ll be setting yourself up for a mid-air treat.

     

    First sips tend to go well with whatever marketing copy has made itself onto the back of the bottle. In this case, there’s a tasteful prose poem that soothes the initial acidic taste, and comes to pass for something quite moving as the plane taxis in the late afternoon haze of Romanian runway:

     

    A restless traveller through time, that’s who I am, 500 years ago I was known as Vlad the Impaler. I wanted to change the world for the better – so I became a rule-breaker and rule-maker, a warrior taking all the risks to follow his vision.

     

    What a risk it is to open a second bottle at 30,000 feet, the Carpathian mountains in your wake, and a feeling of smugness as your fellow travellers opt for whatever plonk has made its way into the Ryanair drinks trolley. A second bottle is a necessity really, as you go in search of the promised blackberry aftertaste, and though increasingly sour, some stale fizzy water and a forgotten flapjack from your carry-on luggage rejuvenates the bouquet. Stubborn perseverance is rewarded with something vaguely fruity.

     

    What really should be a final indulgence leaves me longing for more deals at Stansted. But where is the novelty wine for Britain? Where is our Legend of Dracula? The absence of such a bottle, I suspect, points to a profound sense of national decline. A nation that lacks the confidence to whack a picture of its national icon on a bottle of plonk, a Sir Francis Drake or a Sue Barker, is one mired in a sad and seemingly irreversible crisis of identity.

     

    Tasting Notes

     

    Fred Skulthorp is a freelance critic of the finer things in life. He first wrote for ‘The Steeple Times’ in 2013 about amongst Tesco’s Everyday Value Chardonnay and wines fit for students and after a significant hiatus has returned to share his thoughts on all things 2022.

     

    The capital of Transylvania, Cluj-Napoca, has been lauded as a “vivacious” city where the “tourism scene is still developing.” It has an opera house, a cathedral and an ethnographic park. The local football team, CFR Cluj, beat Celtic in the 2019 Champion’s League qualifiers and a visit to its salt mines are considered “one of the best things to do in Romania.”
    Bram Stoker
    Dublin born Bram Stoker’s famous novel was published in May 1897 and is considered one of England’s most famous pieces of literature. It has been adapted for film over 30 times and its characters have made numerous appearances in all media. Stoker (1847 – 1912) wrote many other novels and short stories including ‘The Primrose Path’ and ‘The Lair of the White Worm.’
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eJYW5oBaE0A