No.113, Wednesday, 1st. April 2026

Today I feel like celebrating, not because it is a day for jolly japes and enjoying the facial expressions of people who have been fooled by lies (these days that is every day!), but in a quiet laid-back way with a hint of a smile on my face.

Yes, my All Fool’s Day cheer arises out of a sudden and dramatic reduction in my dependence on dirty energy. Yesterday was the first day of the year with no heating. Rather dull really, but since I morphed into a pensioner at the mercy of private rents and consequently with a low income, I value the end of the heating season more than most.

The joy, such as it is, should last until about mid-October, when dependence upon dirty energy in the form of gas will return to haunt me, as if presaging All Hallows’ Eve.

I can remember when All Fool’s Day was rather jolly, and in particular when news programmes would hide a preposterous but strangely believable story sandwiched between two layers of the usual unpleasantness. The problem these days is that a certain President whose imbecility is both hilarious and frightening has turned every day into All Fool’s Day. How does the BBC compete with that? Chicken-ripple ice cream anyone?