There is a new field in this universe, and standing in it, at last at ease, is an old soldier. His name is Hector. He is a Cavalry Black, a big Irish-bred gelding the better part of seventeen hands, and for seventeen years he served with the Household Cavalry in London, on State and Ceremonial duty, which is a polite phrase for the hardest thing you can ask of a horse. Understand what that means. A horse is a flight animal. Every instinct in it, refined across millions of years of being prey, says one word in the face of sudden noise and pressing crowds: run. Hector was trained, over years, to do the opposite. To stand. To carry a rider in a steel breastplate down the Mall through a wall of sound, past the bands and the cheering and the saluting guns of the King's Troop, and not move a muscle. To hold himself still on a state occasion while every nerve in his body screamed at him to bolt, and to do it again, and again, faultlessly, because the man on his back and the crowd at his shoulder were trusting half a tonne of flight animal to master its own nature on command. He walked behind a gun carriage at a state funeral once, at the slow march, the drum beating the step, a nation watching through its tears, and he never put a hoof wrong. He is retired now. The shoes are off. The clipped parade coat has been let go woolly and unmilitary, the first sign the people who tend old service horses look for that one is finally letting down. He shares a green field with a small unbothered donkey called Nelson, because a horse should never be alone, and the black charger who stood behind kings and the donkey who has never had a worry in his life are now inseparable. When his old groom visits, Hector lifts his head and nickers across the field before the man has said a word. And here is the part that undoes everyone who knows what they are seeing. One afternoon they found Hector lying flat out on his side in the grass, dead still, and a heart stopped, the way every horseman's does at that sight, because a horse down and flat looks like the worst news there is. Then an ear flicked at a fly, and the breath went out of them in relief. He was simply, deeply asleep. A horse only sleeps like that when it feels entirely safe, because flat on the ground is the one place a prey animal cannot flee from, and most never dare it. For seventeen years Hector stood, awake to every danger, holding everyone else's nerve so they could rely on him. Now, in a quiet field, he has decided it is finally safe to lie down and close his eyes. He gave his courage to the rest of us for seventeen years. He has earned the grass. He is taking it lying down, in the sun, with the donkey keeping watch.

Dog whistling

Dame Sybil Thorndike, who has been perhaps Britain’s most famous stage actress of the 20th century, dies at her home in Chelsea, London. She was 93.

Well done 👏👏👏

Why has the BBC got incels writing its headlines? This huge man, already a known stalker, grabbed this young woman by the hair, tried to sit on her, said gross things and tried to force her to kiss him, for 15 minutes until stopped. He absolutely does deserve this sentence.

🚨NEW: South Wales Police has just SCRAPPED their Islamic blasphemy law. No religion should be protected from criticism in this country. Now it's on the Government to repeal their Islamophobia definition and stop this happening again.

lol a Muslim is talking about needing heads after a beheading... Um. You are too stupid to be speaking in public, Zara.

⚡🇬🇧🇺🇸 JD Vance: “Defending your culture isn’t radical. It’s reasonable.” “To everybody in the UK who rejects that idea, I’d encourage them to just keep on going It’s okay to want to defend your culture. It’s okay to want to live in a safe neighborhood. It isn’t radical.”

TODAY’S AFFIRMATION ✨✨✨ Read it or keep scrolling — either way, it’s here for you.

I'm not always correct about things - no, honestly, i'm not humble signalling, it's true! - but I was correct about statins. Many moons again, my doc said you need to go on statins, I was like: * puzzle face * why would I take a pill for something that's not making me ill? The awful stories ive read about what statins have done to people since then....

It comes as no surprise that these organisations have many common funders. As per usual, “civil society organisations” have been used to push a political programme — in this case, an incredibly harmful anti-racism agenda, which directly led to the death of a young white man.

Oh I remember seeing her work years ago! Left a real impression. Never forgot it. Was thinking just the other day about the women once putting petals in their bras to smell sweet. Bit random, I know, but the film was touching in so many ways. Never looked up the creator behind it, but now I know. RiP Marjane Satrapi x

Well, summer was nice I guess.

The police are in disarray & their DEI policies of two tier policing have been exposed. But who is overseeing this, the head of @PoliceChiefs Gavin Stephens, who when he was Chief Constable for Surrey Police was in thrall of Stephen Ireland, founder of Pride in Surrey convicted and sentences to 30 years for raping a 12 year old boy. Is he really the best man for the job? @bindelj @JournalistJill

Under new SNP rules, it's misogynistic to expect women to have eyes, brains or the ability to read accounts.

When Labour grandees are saying it, you should realise there is a problem. But this current Labour Party would rather the two-tier continue.

The head of Hampshire Police. Is there anybody left in authority in the UK who wasn't bullied at school for being 'marginal'?

Guessing he left @KemiBadenoch full quote on the photocopier......

Knew exactly what he was doing.