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It was with great trepidation I set foot in the cinema.


The journey leading to this moment had be difficult. Hoards of tourists were occupying the kingdom of Leicester Square, drinking and eating all the available food and cola, each laying claim to their only object of desire, a ticket to Odyssey.


They lay about, cursing and shouting, minor scuffles broke near the ticket office as each applied to be a suitor to the prize, but each in turn was rejected. They had all failed to meet the conditions of ticket purchase on-line, where they had to complete a task. They were required to pass a debit card through many hoops to its correct purchase destination, avoiding the touts, fraudulent sites and scammers. All had tried to do battle with the one eyed monster and its keyboard and all had failed.


Having braved the Sahara heat of Leicester Square, avoided the whirlpool of pickpockets, the movement had arrived. I approached the guardian of the QR code and proffered my password, it was accepted, my journey had begun.


I ventured into the darkest and twistyest of narrow passages, reminiscent of a pharaohs tomb, but without the light. The passage, of time, gobbled the footsteps like a hungry soldier fed by Circe, but eventually the solid bolts of the door were drawn and a vast cavernous space laid before me, well I assume it was because that also was pitch black and cold as Hades.


I groped my way along the snow set dark ramp where the row identifiers arose from the floor like long dead soldiers and guided me to my allotted place. There I found that others who had supplied for the long journey with buckets of corn and gallons of cola, it was as though they had prepared for a ten year banquet.


The film itself? I left with an abiding impression that I had witnessed a new wonder of the ancient world, the quality of the ancient Greek dentistry. The teeth glistened like marble tombstones, even the oldest and grzzleyest of actors had perfect teeth, and they were all in place; it was incredible. No wine stains and not a crooked molar amongst any of them. I truly had witnessed a wonder.


I left the cinema to reflect that clearly the Greeks knew a lot more about dentistry than the effects department knew about authenticity. And, while some may quibble about accuracy and American accents, I will forever remain in awe of ancient Greek dentistry



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The Government is to issue rain guidance to primary schools as the country’s longest spell of hot weather since the Great Sweat of 1858 continues.


The information, both online and in print, will counter what the Government calls the ‘high levels of weather illiteracy’, particularly around rain. 'There are children in London and the southeast who have never experienced rain,' said the Government’s climate change officer Dr Ann Orak. 'They’re eight or nine and essentially don’t know what it is. They’ve never seen it and don’t know how to treat it.'


Jessica, who lives in Greenwich with her two primary school-age children, told the BBC: 'It’s a real issue. It’s heart-breaking when your youngest child says "Mummy, will the rain take me away when I’m asleep?" But many children around here have never seen rain and the stories they hear about it play into their primeval fears.'


The Government advice includes not staring at the rain, not making sudden gestures in its presence and the use of trees – those that are still alive – for shelter. Older staff at the Meteorological Office also recommend putting household plants outside, as if making an offering to the rain gods. 'I remember my gran doing this,' said one staffer, wiping away a tear.


Photo by Alex Dukhanov on Unsplash



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The whole Strait of Hormuz thing is a massive, horrible mess, and it makes Donald Trump look like a LOSER. Which is pretty much the worst thing that could possibly happen, and threatens his re-election for a glorious third term.


But the American President has a solution. He is offering to bomb Oman and the United Arab Emirates – but in a good way.


Bombing the UAE and Oman will save the Iranians a lot of trouble. And bombing in a planned and precise way will mean that the UAE and Oman won't need to use up their valuable anti-missile missiles. Sounds mad? Don't worry. There is some logic to Trump's latest fever dream. The plan is to precision bomb a new waterway from the Strait of Hormuz to the Arabian Sea, so that oil tankers won't have to go past Iran.


'Digging would be way too slow,' said the President, in a rare moment of clarity. 'We can't dig a new waterway in time for the mid-term elections. Bombing will be quick and effective. We still have loads of bombs – good solid American bombs - and we're making new ones all the time. The rumours that we are running out of bombs are fake news. We'll use American shock and awe to build a new canal in record time.


'I'll be explaining my plan to the Sultan of Oman and also raisin it with the UAE. I reckon that they will be right on board. All of that land is just sand and no use for anything, not even golf courses. Once we've bombed it all out, we can scoop up the sand and make sandbags. Everyone in the Middle East wants to buy sandbags these days. We're going to clean up.


'I'm calling the new waterway the Donald J Trump Liberation Canal. It'll be great. And I have no doubt that the UAE and Oman will be happy to pay me back in full for the costs incurred.'




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