In which the pond inserts a couple of placeholders - a groaning and a lickspittle fifth form lackey - to cover another travel day ...

 

Dear sweet long absent lord, how the pond loves Melbourne trams. 

The pond realises that they can be a slow commute out in the 'burbs (when the pond lived in Toorak it was a grind to get to the city), and that some resentful, deeply stupid drivers hate them - apparently they see the Interstate 5 in LA as a role model - but there's that blessed free tram zone, and riding the rails is as good as taking a trip to tram-loving Amsterdam ...

When the pond realised that it was a Labor government led by Jim McGirr that had presided over the wanton destruction of Sydney's trams, the young and bitter pond resolved never to join the Labor party.

Strangely the Labor party's role isn't mentioned in Mike Ticher's nostalgic piece for the Graudian, Erased from history: how Sydney destroyed its trams for love of the car. Face up to it Mike, it was Labor wot started it, it was Labor wot done it.

Melbourne is also the answer to that question, won't someone think of the children? 

Of course they do ...

A little stiff perhaps, in their poses, and a sombre theme, but credit where credit is due ...

It should be obvious by this time in the filibuster that the pond is having a travel day, and this is just a place holder. 

By the time this hits the full to overflowing intertubes, the pond will likely have reached the mighty Wang (only to return to tram heaven in a month or so).

The pond faithfully promises to find a slot for our missing Friday Henry somewhere over the weekend - the thought of losing his history and philosophy lessons fills the pond with horror - but in the meantime, all the pond has to offer is a left over, reheated, slightly soggy groaning from Dame Groan ...

First up however the pond would like to celebrate the latest comedy surrounding that  king knob, that prize boofhead, Uncle Leon ...

Barely had the pond finished reading Kit Yates in the Graudian, with Elon Musk is a proven danger to good science, but the Royal Society won’t say it. That’s why I resigned than the pond caught up with Arwa Mahdawi's piece First Trump threatened to nuke hurricanes. Now he’s waging war on weather forecasters

...Trump’s war on the weather isn’t just about money; it’s also about science denialism. Project 2025 claims that Noaa should be dismantled because it is “one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry”. If we get rid of data about the climate crisis, then it’s bound to go away, isn’t it? Remember when Trump advocated a similar approach to Covid? He said: “If we stop testing right now, we’d have very few cases, if any.” Hard to argue with toddler logic.
Ultimately, however, the attacks on Noaa show that even the weather has been swept up in the culture wars. It used to be a safe topic, something you could chat about with strangers. Now, simply providing context to weather reports can get people very heated indeed. For example, during the summer 2022 heatwave in the UK, when temperatures reached record highs of 40.3C, weather forecasters such as Laura Tobin found themselves getting harassed for linking the heatwave to the climate crisis.
This abuse is part of a trend. Meteorologists around the world have been subjected to increasing harassment. This is partly, I suspect, because, deep down, even the science deniers are fearful. There is an apt tweet about the climate crisis that pops up a lot: “Climate change will manifest as a series of disasters viewed through phones with footage that gets closer and closer to where you live until you’re the one filming it.” What used to seem abstract and remote is now steadily encroaching on all our lives – even those of people living in places once considered climate havens. Trump can declare war on the weather all he likes, but it’s become alarmingly clear that this is a war that no one will win.

When looking for Uncle Leon's participation in this folly, the pond stumbled on George Monbiot's The fact that humans can only survive on Earth doesn’t bother Trump – and I know why.

Heaven's Gate 2.0! Mass suicide, a new form of genocide:

... the revival of this belief system might offer a key to understanding Elon Musk and his remarkable hold over the Trump administration. What Musk presents is the definitive fantasy of escape: from decency, care, love and the living planet itself. They can leave it all behind, leap off the vile Earth, and ascend into heaven.
On Mars, Musk dreams of building private cities under the exclusive control of his company SpaceX. Never mind the technical impossibilities; it’s the fantasy that counts: the definitive release from social and biological constraint. His subterranean prison cities, in which survival would depend on extreme technological intervention – the slightest interruption of which would mean instant death – would make the worst terrestrial dictatorship in history look like a yoga retreat. Deus Invictus would reign supreme.
Where there is no love, there can be only destruction. Smash the planet then transcend it; leave your indelible mark on Earth while reigning triumphant in the heavens: this, I believe, is a deep, unspoken urge that helps explain Trump’s programmes. But even if, through some grim miracle, the planet wreckers succeeded, they would soon discover that no technological wonderland, no space station or Martian city, compares to what we have.

Cranking it down a little from Uncle Leon as a new Heaven's Gate cult leader, the pond can't confirm the memes as being true, but what fun they are, what fun is to see Teslas now so shamed they have to pose as other vehicles. Giving Telsa buyers a Roman thumbs down apparently works wonders.

One day a Tesla, the next day a Honda!

A Honda! 

Even worse, a Buick!!

The pond left out this detail in yesterday's immortal Rowe, but it seems to fit today ...

And so to the Groaning:

Quarterly national accounts: it’s all about productivity, stupid, The economy is still travelling below trend and the most important message in these national accounts is the continuing decline in productivity.

The entire point of any Groaning is to induce misery and despair in the reader, but luckily the reptiles clocked this as a mere two minutes ... so this practitioner of the dismal science has little time to strut her stuff on the reptile boards, before disappearing off into the arras ...

As always there was an opening snap, or even worse, artwork posing as a collage ...No doubt Treasurer Jim Chalmers will be out there bragging about the positive growth in per capita GDP. Artwork: Frank Ling

Oh Frank, just stop it, stop it before you go blind, or you make everyone else go blind.

Then came Dame Groan, determined yet again to drive everything into the ground ...

In the normal course of events, the release of the quarterly national accounts is not a big deal. Most of the information used to estimate GDP growth and its components is already in the locker. We already knew that GDP growth was going to show an uptick, partly because the terms of trade had shown positive growth in the quarter compared with the previous three quarters of negative growth.
No doubt Jim Chalmers will be out there bragging about the positive growth in per capita GDP after seven consecutive quarters of negative growth. GDP per capita is a reasonable proxy for living standards.

At this point there came a lengthy AV distraction, featuring Satan's little helper ...

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has reacted to the latest National Accounts figures from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, which revealed that the gross domestic product increased by 0.6 per cent in the December quarter. “These numbers show that the Australian economy has turned a corner, and it looks more and more like the soft landing that we’ve been planning for and preparing for,” Mr Chalmers told Sky News Australia. “These National Accounts are very encouraging; they do show a solid rebound in growth, and I think the most heartening thing from my point of view is that ... we’re seeing a solid rebound in the private sector, and that’s very welcomed as well.”

That was followed by the rest of the Groaning. 

The pond isn't going to interrupt. It was all very predictable, though it might bring out correspondents devoted to the cult of Groaning.

No doubt the old biddy's confusing of the banging on keyboard and the churning out of another column with actual productivity might set someone off.

But at 0.1 per cent over the quarter, most people won’t be feeling the love. And bear in mind, these measures are subject to revision and so it could end up as a big fat zero.
While public spending continues to make an excessive contribution to output growth, there were signs in the last quarter of last year that private spending, particularly household consumption, was making something of comeback. Whether this improvement is sustainable remains unclear.
A key question is whether these national accounts figures will influence the thinking of the new monetary policy board. Note that its first meeting is due for the end of this month, with a decision on the cash rate to be announced on April Fool’s Day, albeit in the afternoon – no jokes anticipated. This will likely occur during the election campaign.
Overall, the economy is still travelling below trend, at an annual rate of just 1.3 per cent. But the pick-up in the December quarter may be sufficient to influence the thinking of the MPB members. A pause in the cash rate may be seen as the most prudent call, particularly since the trimmed mean of the CPI has not yet printed within the target band.
But the most important message in these national accounts is the continuing decline in productivity. GDP per hour worked fell by 0.1 per cent in the quarter, after declines of 0.7 and 0.5 in the previous two quarters, respectively. The level of labour productivity is where it was in 2016, a dismal and historically unprecedented outcome.
As the previous governor of the RBA, Philip Lowe, has observed, the main game in terms of explaining falling living standards and the associated financial pressures that many people feel is productivity. Interest rate rises are a small part of the explanation. Had we been able to achieve trend productivity growth over the past nearly 10 years, real incomes would be 9 per cent higher. This would be a very material outcome.
Sadly for the country, the Labor government has completely failed to implement policies that would facilitate higher productivity. Indeed, there are a series of productivity-sapping policies that are undermining private sector incentives to invest – think here industrial relations regulation, the regulation/approval quagmire, rapidly rising energy costs, the care economy. While some members of the opposition appear to grasp the problem related to productivity, we are yet to see a compelling agenda that would turn things around. Perhaps we will learn more during the election campaign.

As a bonus, the pond had leftover Jennings of the fifth form ...

Some might think that Jennings is clueless - he's certainly no substitute for the bromancer - so get prepared for six minutes of cluelessness ... in Donald Trump shows strong hand, but we still hold AUKUS ace,The US President’s speech to congress played to his strengths, but his announcement to ‘resurrect shipbuilding’ may present Australia with a golden opportunity.

AUKUS is an ace card?

The reptiles followed with a snap, President Donald Trump addresses a joint session of Congress at the Capitol in Washington on Tuesday, local time. Picture: AP

You can get an idea of Jennings of the fifth form's abilities when he seemingly managed to endure that terrible speech, and then dubbed it "a strong speech".

The strength that was required was to endure it, to get through it, a triumph of the will, a bit like the intestinal fortitude needed to swallow a mouthful of Jennings ...

President Donald Trump delivered a strong speech to congress, departing from his script only occasionally to needle unhappy Democratic Party members in his audience.
The speech was a mix of longstanding Trump themes: strengthening borders; deporting illegal immigrants; rebuilding the economy behind tariff barriers; strengthening the American military.
As presidents do in these congressional addresses, Trump tied policy themes to the (mostly tragic) personal stories of individuals invited to attend: family survivors of violent crime; a poor young boy with brain cancer; the wife and daughters of an individual killed at the Pennsylvania rally where Trump was hit by, and miraculously survived, a sniper’s bullet.
As political theatre this was an assured, one might even say a great, performance, were it not for Trump’s instinct always to score the partisan point, rather than to unite his audience towards a common goal.
There were flashes of humour: Trump repeated his objective of reclaiming the Panama Canal; “we’re taking it back” he said. Then, to broad laughter and looking at Secretary of State Marco Rubio: “Good luck, Marco. We know who to blame if anything goes wrong.”

That's what passes for a flash of humour? 

Joking about monstering a sovereign state? 

A strong speech?

See Bill Kristol, in The Bulwark, explaining why he didn't bother to watch the agony in eight fits, Trump Didn’t Help Himself Last Night, The president is losing popularity and the public’s patience.

...when I was awake and fortified by a large mug of Major Dickason’s coffee, I read the complete transcript. I even watched a few clips to get a sense of how it had looked.
Weirdly, this cheered me up.
Why?
Because the speech was childish, silly, unimpressive — and, I suspect, unsuccessful.
Early in the address, Trump boasted about how well he was doing:

"In fact, it has been stated by many that the first month of our presidency — it’s our presidency — is the most successful in the history of our nation. By many.
And what makes it even more impressive is that do you know who Number 2 is? George Washington. How about that? How about that?"

How about that? I guess some true believers will agree that Trump is outdoing Washington. But as Sarah Longwell’s most recent focus groups suggest, many of Trump’s more ambivalent and less cult-like voters seem to have qualms about his performance so far, particularly about his administration’s lack of focus and the constant chaos.
The polling numbers confirm the findings of the focus groups.
Trump’s approval rating has been sinking. Four days after his inauguration, Trump had, according to the FiveThirtyEight averages, an approval rating of 49.7 percent and a disapproval rating of 41.5 percent. Now he’s underwater at 47.6 percent approval vs. 47.9 percent disapproval.
Is last night’s speech likely to have done anything to stop or reverse the trend of Trump losing a percentage point a week?
I don’t see it. If you weren’t already on the Trump train, the speech gave you no reason to jump aboard.
And if, as seems to be the case, the economy is slowing and inflation isn’t; and if, as seems likely to be the case, the kleptocracy and plutocracy of the Trump administration become more and more evident; and if, as will surely be the case, it becomes more and more obvious that in foreign policy Trump is on the side of Vladimir Putin—where are Trump’s numbers going to be in three months?
Lower, I think. Trump could have used last night to try to fix some of the perceptions that have been hurting him in the eyes of the public. Instead, he boasted that he’s doing a better job than George Washington. He barely addressed the issue of inflation—casting off responsibility for the price of eggs to Joe Biden and telling farmers and consumers that their lives could actually get a bit more turbulent. That isn’t going to help him with anyone not already in MAGA world. Nor will it help him to keep on highlighting his sidekick, Elon Musk, whose approval ratings are lower than Trump’s.

And so on, and yet this Jennings is a marvel, the way he manages to worship King "Krasnov" Donald 1 ... President Donald Trump arrives at congress as Democrat Melanie Stansbury makes her feelings clear. Picture: AP

Ah, the pond can match that with a snap of its own ...

Meanwhile, Jennings of the fifth form kept on fawning in the way of a lapdog or quisling ...

Trump’s ability to talk about political issues in ways that resonate with American voters is remarkable.

Oh yes, truly remarkable ...

Bring on the borchst, the solyanka and the vodka ...

Jennings of the fifth form was wrapt ... entranced ... enthusiastic ...

He devoted a lengthy part of his speech to detailing American aid programs – millions to produce the “Arab Sesame Street”, for example, or to impossibly large numbers of centenarians still apparently on social security lists.
To these supposed examples of waste, fraud and mismanagement, The New York Times’ rolling coverage of the speech self-importantly applied labels such as “this is misleading” or “this needs context”.
Even more pathetic were Democrat members in congress holding up little paddles with phrases such as “Musk steals” or “False”.
Trump’s opponents have made no headway since the presidential election in November on how to regain some political momentum.
For the moment at least, Trump is sweeping all before him.
The key political message from the speech is that Trump will not be stopped in pursuing his political agenda.
Spending cuts, tariffs, eliminating funding for woke causes, pursuing allies to pay more for their own security, and chasing investment in the US economy.
Australia was not mentioned.

Oh dear, no mention of down under, that's a canker at the core, a fly in the ointment. Time for an AV destraction ... In his first major speech since his inauguration, President Trump told both chambers of Congress that the “golden age of America has only just begun.”

Oh yes, it's a golden age alright, full of rich meals, at least for some ...

As for tariffs, it was what the bludgers deserved ...

Canada, Mexico, India and China all took regular hits for their unfair economic policies. Anthony Albanese might hope there is still a faint chance we might be granted an exclusion on steel and alumina tariffs. My view is that there is no chance Australia will be exempted, unless we can offer some compelling advantage for Trump not yet in contemplation.

Indeed, indeed ...

Jennings was lyrical, singing songs of p raise to King "Krasnov" Donald I:

Trump will never be in a stronger position than he is today. He received a resounding endorsement from American voters, narrowly controls congress, has political momentum from a fast and largely effective entry into the Oval Office, and his political opponents are in disarray.

Hang on, hang on, the pond noted the Faux Noise response to the polling of the speech, but those figures cut both ways ...

It wasn't quite a "resounding endorsement":

There were a few wrinkles ...

This is not only a low watermark when compared with the first addresses to Congress delivered by previous presidents, whose speeches are typically a victory lap to lay out their agenda, but it’s also a poor showing when compared to Trump’s previous addresses to Congress in 2017, 2018, and 2019.

Former President Joe Biden received a very positive response from 51 percent of viewers on his first address to Congress, while Barack Obama received 68 percent, and George W. Brush received 66 percent.

Trump’s first address during his first administration received a very positive reaction from 57 percent of viewers—a whopping 13 points higher than his very positive reactions now.

And it wasn’t just Democrats who were saying this. CNN’s sample group of viewers was weighted to reflect that more people who agreed with Trump would likely be watching, and was made up of 21 percent Democrats, 44 percent Republicans, and 35 percent independents.

But please, do go on being uxorious in the extreme ...

And Trump knows what he wants to do: display unilateral strength internationally; cut the size and cost of government; strengthen the economy; put subordinate people and countries in their more inferior place.
Trump’s speech ended with some resounding phrases about American ingenuity, capacity to overcome hardship and build for the future.
It’s such a pity these higher-sounding phrases get lost in the day-to-day style of the Trump White House, which is more about the brutal business of who has power and who doesn’t.
We know Trump thinks of politics and international affairs as being like a poker game. Many strong cards are in Trump’s hand, and these were prominently displayed in his speech to congress.

Resounding, if also resoundingly brutal, and then came a weird billy goat butt, first as a billy goat butt snap ... Trump has more in common with his predecessor Joe Biden than he thinks. Picture: AFP

After that note about the brutalist's brutalism, there came an even bigger billy goat butt in the text ...

What about Trump’s weak cards? I think his biggest weakness is being unable to take advice or indeed tolerate subordinates who may advance different ideas.
In this, Trump has a lot in common with predecessor Joe Biden.
Biden assembled a cabinet of low-profile implementers; he brooked no advice countering his disastrous withdrawal of forces from Afghanistan; he privileged a small group of family and friends around him, and governed by instinct.
Biden’s approach worked for a year or two, but when his mental deterioration overwhelmed him, the administration drifted on cruise control.
Might that happen to Trump? He is clearly mentally stronger then Biden, but age catches up with everyone. What looks like energy and direction now will falter in time as reality catches up with the Trump machine.

But, but, billy goat, just a moment ago, you were singing his praises and celebrating the strength of the union, you know ... Russia and its president Vladimir Putin is not a genuine partner of America. Picture: AFP

What's that? He's not a genuine partner? But the state of the union is strong ...

Jennings of the fifth form didn't seem to get it ...

One reality is that Russia is not a genuine partner of America. Vladimir Putin’s interests and priorities, and his destructive activities around the world, are ultimately damaging to the US.
Putin is playing a different card game, one that ultimately attacks US interests in Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
Here’s a small example of what I mean: overnight it was revealed Russia sent senior missile technology experts to Iran on several visits in 2024.
Help with its missile programs is Tehran’s reward for selling Russia drones. Trump may not be worried about Iranian drones being used to kill Ukrainians, but Iranian nuclear-armed missiles threaten Israel, Saudi and American interests in the Middle East.
Russia is likewise helping North Korea to improve its missile capabilities.
Nuclear-armed North Korean intercontinental ballistic missiles already can directly target American cities. It’s not in American interests to let Russia help Kim Jong-un build a stronger nuclear arsenal.
Putin will never submit himself to a public dressing down in the Oval Office. It turns out that type of treatment can only really be handed out to allies.

By this time, the pond was lost and an AV distraction didn't help ...In his address to a joint session of Congress, President Trump also said Russia has sent "strong signals" that it’s ready for peace.

This new rebranded, remodelled, Tesla-style Jennings was inclined to be sceptical ...

The complexities of America’s international interests will ultimately confound a Trump strategy that thinks quick deal-making – don’t worry about the details – will deliver strength in an ugly, competitive world.
Trump’s speech mostly covered old ground, but here are some new elements he announced.
He quoted from a letter he said he received from Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky just before giving his speech. The letter seems to indicate Zelensky is now “ready for peace”. It seems the Ukrainians have rethought how they need to deal with Trump.
Trump has also said he had received “strong signals” that Russia is ready for peace: “Wouldn’t that be beautiful?”
Well, maybe! It’s well over time for the White House to start pressuring Putin for some public concessions on the way to a ceasefire.
My read of the past week is that JD Vance derailed a planned deal with Ukraine on rare earths in that disastrous Oval Office media conference. It seems Zelensky has offered Trump a way back from his Vice-President’s intemperate behaviour.
Trump announced an initiative to establish a “golden dome” missile defence shield over the American homeland. His claim was that technology has advanced from the days of Ronald Reagan’s “Star Wars” missile defence program of the 1980s, such that a defensive shield is now possible.
I’m sceptical. The physics of countering an intercontinental ballistic missile reaching its target with a terminal velocity of 6-8 kilometres per second (that is 22,000-29,000km/h) remain stubbornly hard to counter. Good luck with that aspiration, Mr President.
Lastly, Trump announced he would “resurrect shipbuilding” by establishing a “new office of shipbuilding in the White House”.

Still, Jennings of the fifth form lived in hope ... there might yet be rewards for grovelling lapdogs and lickspittle lackeys, Anthony Albanese’s chat with Donald Trump on February 11 could yet reap rewards. Picture: X

AUKUS to the rescue ...

That’s an interesting move and, at last, Anthony Albanese has an opportunity to share a common story of mutual failure to build ships for our national defence.
An American interest to lift the priority of military shipbuilding could help save AUKUS. Both countries have a common need to build ships and submarines faster.
So, there is an opportunity for an Australian Prime Minister to say to Trump that we can be a meaningful part of his shipbuilding renaissance.
While American shipyards struggle to expand, we can apply some workforce capability to shared naval ends.
The challenge for Australia is to grow our maritime workforce so we can build AUKUS submarines, but there will be no work for years.
Surely there is an opportunity here for us to help build American naval capabilities while we wait for the AUKUS design to be completed?

Oh yes ...How pausing US intelligence impacts Ukraine's military operation

The precise significance of US intelligence to Ukraine's war effort has, for obvious reasons, never been spelled out in detail.

But most analysts agree that it performs two important functions: helping Ukraine to plan offensive operations against Russian forces, and giving Kyiv vital advance warning of threats posed by incoming Russian drones and missiles.

Satellite information and signal intercepts give Ukrainian forces on the frontline a sense of where Russian forces are, their movements and likely intentions.

Without US intelligence, Ukraine will not be able to make such effective use of long-range Western weaponry, like the US-made Himars launchers or Stormshadow missiles supplied by Britain and France.

Much like Amazon deciding it could fuck with your Kindle purchase, kindly despot King "Krasnov" Donald I could cut off your subs - by an act of software bastardy, or by cutting off access to the satellites that help your Himars or your subs ...

For lapdog lackey Jennings of the fifth form, this is merely a "challenge" ...

As always, Australia’s challenge is to make the alliance case to the Americans. Trump is a very different president, so we need a new approach, but we are far from having no cards in our hand. It all comes down to how we play them.

Peter Jennings is a director of Strategic Analysis Australia.

That's way beyond the valley of the delusional who think they can take down casinos. Only King Donald can take down casinos ...  and if all that is a form a strategic analysis, then it's way past time to bring back the bromancer so we can bung on a do with China by Xmas ... and then see how King Donald I enjoys backing us up ...

One final thought. The pond is even more pleased its partner was persuaded to cancel the subscription for WaPo, even though it was about a shilling a month in old currency terms ...

WaPo is dead to the pond ... a pity, but there it is, and there it goes ... and as for the LA Times, Parker Molloy is again on the case ...

Spicy Autocomplete: The LA Times Outsources "Balance" to Algorithms, The paper's unvetted AI insights are already generating pro-Trump talking points and KKK defenses. (Subscription)

This week, the Los Angeles Times debuted a new AI-powered feature called "Insights" that automatically generates "alternative perspectives" to appear beneath the paper's opinion pieces. It's a feature that billionaire owner Patrick Soon-Shiong is intensely proud of, tweeting: "Now the voice and perspective from all sides can be heard, seen and read — no more echo chamber."

But this is little more than a lazy technological shortcut that undermines journalism, dismisses the expertise of trained writers, and serves as the latest attempt by the Times' Trump-friendly owner to appease the man in the White House.

If you haven't seen it yet, here's how it works: The Times slaps a "Voices" label on opinion pieces and some news analysis, then uses AI tools from companies Perplexity and Particle to analyze where each piece falls on the political spectrum (from "Left" to "Right"), summarize its arguments, and generate "different views on the topic."

The problem is what appears to be happening behind the scenes: absolutely nothing. According to Matt Hamilton, vice-chair of the LA Times Guild, these AI-generated responses are "unvetted by editorial staff," he said in a statement. It appears the AI content is being published without human review, which violates the most basic rule of using AI in journalism (if you must): always keep a human in the loop.

The results are predictably disastrous. Within hours of the feature's launch, the LA Times had to remove AI-generated content that attempted to defend the Ku Klux Klan. As The Daily Beast reported, columnist Gustavo Arellano wrote a piece reflecting on Anaheim's history with the hate group, but the AI "insights" below the piece included a point that "Local historical accounts occasionally frame the 1920s Klan as a product of 'white Protestant culture' responding to societal changes rather than an explicitly hate-driven movement, minimizing its ideological threat.”

And sure, local historical accounts do occasionally frame the Klan that way, so it’s not technically wrong. But I hope we can all agree that if there’s one group that doesn’t need a devil’s advocate, it’s the KKK...

So many dead things in the land of oligarchic billionaires ...

And now for a closer, here's Tom the Dancing Bug celebrating with a bit of history worthy of the missing, but not lost, Henry ...