The Vicar of Upper Wensleydale, in North Yorkshire, the Revd David Clark, has expressed disappointment at the “upsetting” reaction of villagers in Askrigg to the new rendering of the clock tower of St Oswald’s.

One described the work, unveiled last week, as “quite horrendous”.

The Grade I listed church featured in the TV series All Creatures Great and Small, where it is portrayed as the parish church of the fictional village of Darrowby. Its orientation in Upper Wensleydale exposes it to driving rain, which had penetrated the bell-chamber. Investigations suggested that lime pointing alone would not solve the problem.

Read it all.

The Vicar of Upper Wensleydale, in North Yorkshire, the Revd David Clark, has expressed disappointment at the “upsetting” reaction of villagers in Askrigg to the new rendering of the clock tower of St Oswald’s https://t.co/2i1Jps0SyD pic.twitter.com/JcJtxyTb2K

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) April 3, 2025

 The percentage of U.S. adults who have recently been unable to afford or access quality healthcare has reached 11% — equivalent to nearly 29 million people — its highest level since 2021, according to new findings from the West Health-Gallup Healthcare Indices Study, which classifies these individuals as “Cost Desperate.”

The most notable increases since 2021 have occurred among Hispanic adults (up eight percentage points to 18%), Black adults (up five points to 14%,) and the lowest-income households, earning under $24,000 per year (up 11 points to 25%). Meanwhile, there has been no meaningful change in the proportion of White adults or middle- to high-income earners facing the same level of struggle. As a result, disparities in access to healthcare based on race, ethnicity and income are also at their highest point since surveying began.

Compared with 2021, the percentage of Americans aged 65 and above who are considered Cost Desperate has edged up just one point to 4% in 2024, while rates have risen by three points among those aged 50-64 (now 11%) and by four points among those younger than 50 (now 14%).

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% of US adults who are unable to afford or access healthcare reached 11% (~29 million people), its highest level since 2021 per new Gallup poll.

US is one of the richest countries in the world.

In U.S., Inability to Pay for Care, Medicine Hits New High https://t.co/4WmfkkHvLn

— MCN Journal (@MCNonline) April 3, 2025

If you failed to spot America being “looted, pillaged, raped and plundered by nations near and far” or it being cruelly denied a “turn to prosper”, then congratulations: you have a firmer grip on reality than the president of the United States. It’s hard to know which is more unsettling: that the leader of the free world could spout complete drivel about its most successful and admired economy. Or the fact that on April 2nd, spurred on by his delusions, Donald Trump announced the biggest break in America’s trade policy in over a century—and committed the most profound, harmful and unnecessary economic error in the modern era.

Speaking in the Rose Garden of the White House, the president announced new “reciprocal” tariffs on almost all America’s trading partners. There will be levies of 34% on China, 27% on India, 24% on Japan and 20% on the European Union. Many small economies face swingeing rates; all targets face a tariff of at least 10%. Including existing duties, the total levy on China will now be 65%. Canada and Mexico were spared additional tariffs, and the new levies will not be added to industry-specific measures, such as a 25% tariff on cars, or a promised tariff on semiconductors. But America’s overall tariff rate will soar above its Depression-era level back to the 19th century.

Mr Trump called it one of the most important days in American history. He is almost right. His “Liberation Day” heralds America’s total abandonment of the world trading order and embrace of protectionism. 

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“Ruination Day”: The new Economist cover amid Trump’s tariff war.

Trump has launched a global trade war, calling it a “Liberation Day.” As an economist, I know a thing or two about tariffs. So here are some predictions of what we should expect if this tariff war continues.

1/n pic.twitter.com/9uvVTcskmr

— Roman Sheremeta (@rshereme) April 3, 2025

Listen to it all and the composer’s website is there [I first learned of this through Preston Trombly].

We thank thee, Lord God, for all the benefits thou hast given us in thy Son Jesus Christ, our most merciful Redeemer, Friend, and Brother, and for all the pains and insults he hath borne for us; and we pray that, following the example of thy saintly bishop Richard of Chichester, we may see Christ more clearly, love him more dearly, and follow him more nearly; who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, now and for ever.

Today's the feast of St Richard of Chichester, 13th Century bishop, here in glass by Ninian Comper at St Mary Magdalene, Gillingham, Kent, a church with several Comper windows of the 1890s and 1900s. 1/2 pic.twitter.com/791xqJCAZJ

— Simon Knott (@SimoninSuffolk) April 3, 2025

Thanks be to thee, O Lord Jesus Christ, for all the benefits which thou hast given us, for all the pains and insults which thou hast borne for us. O most merciful Redeemer, Friend and Brother, may we know thee more clearly, love thee more dearly, and follow thee more nearly, now and for evermore.

Golden sunrise – Skye Bridge, Isle of Skye #Scotland @angie_weather @StormHour @ThePhotoHour @VisitScotland @BBCScotWeather @SeanBattyTV pic.twitter.com/ONpnfGbZp0

— James MacInnes (@Macinnesplant) April 3, 2025

“Woe to him who builds his house by unrighteousness,
    and his upper rooms by injustice;
who makes his neighbor serve him for nothing,
    and does not give him his wages;
who says, ‘I will build myself a great house
    with spacious upper rooms,’
and cuts out windows for it,
    paneling it with cedar,
    and painting it with vermilion.
Do you think you are a king
    because you compete in cedar?
Did not your father eat and drink
    and do justice and righteousness?
    Then it was well with him.
He judged the cause of the poor and needy;
    then it was well.
Is not this to know me?
                says the Lord.
But you have eyes and heart
    only for your dishonest gain,
for shedding innocent blood,
    and for practicing oppression and violence.”

Therefore thus says the Lord concerning Jehoi′akim the son of Josi′ah, king of Judah:

“They shall not lament for him, saying,
    ‘Ah my brother!’ or ‘Ah sister!’
They shall not lament for him, saying,
    ‘Ah lord!’ or ‘Ah his majesty!’
With the burial of an ass he shall be buried,
    dragged and cast forth beyond the gates of Jerusalem.”

“Go up to Lebanon, and cry out,
    and lift up your voice in Bashan;
cry from Ab′arim,
    for all your lovers are destroyed.
I spoke to you in your prosperity,
    but you said, ‘I will not listen.’
This has been your way from your youth,
    that you have not obeyed my voice.
The wind shall shepherd all your shepherds,
    and your lovers shall go into captivity;
then you will be ashamed and confounded
    because of all your wickedness.
O inhabitant of Lebanon,
    nested among the cedars,
how you will groan when pangs come upon you,
    pain as of a woman in travail!”

–Jeremiah 22:13-23

Red sun rising over the Baily Lighthouse this morning aligned from the Bull Wall in Clontarf with many sunspots visible. Saharan dust probably caused the red colour. #dublin #ireland #sunrise pic.twitter.com/gSo17AX6PR

— Sryan Bruen Photography (@sryanbruenphoto) April 3, 2025