Peter Rhodes on Russia's revolt, a new hub and the delights of dining with dogs

A statistic to remember: of the 1,966 delegates who attended Russia's 1934 Party Congress, 1,108 were later shot as “enemies of the people.” With comrades like this, etc . . .

By definition, a mercenary organisation may be short on principles but can be influenced by money. I dare say history will reveal that at some stage in the Russian/Ukrainian war, the CIA was quietly chatting with Wagner.

Meanwhile, back at my BT saga, as soon as the engineer came and went, promising to order a new hub, BT sent me a cheerful but wildly inaccurate text: “Your service should be back to normal now.” In their dreams.

And yet, when all is resolved and your gleaming BT hub eventually arrives, powers up, bathes itself in that reassuring bright blue light and reconnects you to the world and all its knowledge, you forgive them anything and just play, wide -eyed, with your new gizmo. We are such suckers for toys.

You may assume from yesterday's item about a stray dog bounding into our house, that I dislike dogs. Not at all. They are great. But there are so many of them.

Dog ownership soared during and after the pandemic from about nine million in 2019 to 13 million today. Some may have been acquired purely for company but a sudden rise after Covid passed suggests many people working from home now feel able to care for the canine they once dreamed of.

This surge in pampered pets coincides with a desperate drive by pubs, cafes and restaurants to sell as many meals as possible, and if that means dropping the traditional ban on dogs in dining rooms, so be it. While most people may love dogs, they may not be enchanted when an unknown wet nose appears at their table in search of chips. A few days ago I was in a restaurant where a dog was not only sniffing around the tables but wandering into the kitchen. A pooch too far.