Thirty shekels/pieces of silver

When I began to read the article I supposed it was about the US.
Jenrick is one of the most appallingly irresponsible MPs we have

Very neatly captured.
Does Magdalen have ghosts?
Only when I was at SEH my room was on a supposedly haunted staircase

This is the main opposition. Ha’penny mugs me for a cuddle. As well as being Top Cat, he does all the conventional things like purring and snuggling. He even licked my nose the other day.

And they’re not the same as crumpets, are they?
Similar but different

There’s also a bit of jealous competition from one of the others. There’s only one lap available these days

He’s never been affectionate, doesn’t purr, and mews a lot, in a raucous squeak. Daughter thinks he’s possibly suffering from dementia

In France, I get an annual blood check and it includes PSA. A few years back, the level began to rise. Off for other checks including a biopsy (ouch). Cancer confirmed. A month of tootling off to the hospital for radiotherapy. Now I’m clear, and grateful

I’ve just received my first Christmas card….

When OH needed to learn German, she went to evening classes and I accompanied her for the first term. Our teacher told us the rhyme, but not the tune:

Advent, Advent,
Ein Lichtlein brennt!

Erst eins, dann zwei, dann drei, dann vier,
Dann steht das Christkind vor der Tür.

He did the same thing again later, including shaking himself when I’d just finished cleaning my glasses

Kingfisher (Oxford Canal)
Wild boar (just outside my village)
Bearded/Griffon/Egyptian Vultures (Pyrenees)
Roller & bee-eater (Extremadura)
Otter (Marais Poitevin & Somerset Levels)
Was going to add Hoopoe (garden) but that’s 6

You tried taming a heron?

Now I think of it, there was a strain of thought in Victorian times that you shouldn’t eliminate poverty, because it enabled the wealthy to exercise Christian charity

Nuttier than squirrel poo

We had a gas fire like that, with a back boiler behind it