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Cocktail of the week: Albers’ premix piña colada – recipe

Keep a batch of this premix in the fridge, and you’ve got the tropical on tap

Make a batch of the premix, and it’ll be there in the fridge whenever you fancy something tropical. If you prefer, use Bristol Spirit Co’s Nogave, which is a remarkable, agave-free syrup that has all the taste of agave but none of the air miles. And if you want to go to town with the garnish, sprinkle sugar on a slice of tinned pineapple and grill until caramelised.

Zac Spooner, general manager, Albers, London N1

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Tamerlano review – Trump, Freud and a Bridgerton escapee struggle to get a handle on Handel

Shoreditch Town Hall, London
Orpha Phelan’s fun but confusing staging for the London Handel festival aligns the opera’s characters with recognisable famous figures. Fine singers and players led by Laurence Cummings ensure consistent musical excellence

Tamerlano hails from 1724, the same year as Giulio Cesare and Rodelinda. If it fails to match their level of musical invention, it arguably boasts a richer emotional palette with three-dimensional characters buffeted by love, lust and the desire for retribution. A palpable hit in its day, the defeated Turkish sultan, Bajazet was one of the first leading roles ever written for a tenor. There were plum opportunities as well for two of the era’s megastars: Francesca Cuzzoni as Bajazet’s daughter Asteria and the great alto castrato Senesino as the plot’s endlessly conflicted pivot, the Greek prince Andronico.

The action takes place at the court of the despotic emperor Tamerlano to where the stubborn Bajazet has been brought in chains. The tyrant has the hots for Asteria and so decides to dump his betrothed, Irene, Princess of Trebizond. His not-so cunning plan involves offering Irene’s hand to Andronico, but alas, Andronico too loves Asteria. With both Bajazet and Andronico constantly threatening to end it all, and Asteria hell bent on assassinating Tamerlano, it’s a miracle the opera ends with an implicit double wedding instead of a bloodbath.

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Man jailed for assaulting woman in London attack witnessed by Barron Trump

Matvei Rumiantsev, who became jealous of woman’s friendship with US president’s son, jailed for four years

A Russian man has been jailed for four years for assaulting a woman in an attack in London that was witnessed on a video call by Donald Trump’s youngest son, Barron.

Matvei Rumiantsev, 23, attacked the woman when he became jealous of her friendship with Trump, 19, after she met him through social media, a court heard.

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VK: Voorpagina

Volkskrant.nl biedt het laatste nieuws, opinie en achtergronden

Verkozen FvD-raadsleden stappen op nog voor beëdiging: partij ‘doet niet aan voorkeurzetels’

king KING

Darren Schiller has added a photo to the pool:

king KING

Hamley Bridge Railway Station

Bench on the platform for train passengers in the past. There have been no passenger trains through Hamley Bridge since 1986

No More Passengers

Darren Schiller has added a photo to the pool:

No More Passengers

Hamley Bridge Railway Station

Bench on the platform for train passengers in the past. There have been no passenger trains through Hamley Bridge since 1986

Hamley Bridge Station Sign

Darren Schiller has added a photo to the pool:

Hamley Bridge Station Sign

Hamley Bridge railway station, now closed, is located in the town of Hamley Bridge at the junction of the Roseworthy-Peterborough railway line and the Hamley Bridge-Gladstone railway line in South Australia.
Hamley Bridge railway station opened on 3 July 1869 as part of the extension of what was then known as the Roseworthy-Forresters railway. It became a junction with the opening of the Hamley Bridge-Balaklava railway on 15 January 1880. The original station opened in 1880 and was a few hundred meters north of the original station originally called Alma. The station facilities included of a main building and four platforms. The foundation stone of the bridge was laid by Lady Edith Hamley, wife of Lt.-Col. Francis Gilbert Hamley, who was then the Governor of South Australia, on 25 July 1868. In 1925 the original stone bridge was demolished and a new bridge was erected in conjunction with the works to convert the narrow gauge line to broad gauge, despite this bridge already being broad gauge. Each platform was an island platform and a signal box was constructed. Silos, cranes and a goods shed were added. There were many sidings and tracks at the rail yards with the junction to the north and sidings for storing wagons to the south. The town of Hamley Bridge was named after the railway bridge over the Light River on the south side of the station for the Peterborough line. The bridge was 91 metres long and 24 metres high, in two spans on stone abutments and a cast iron cylindrical pier 1.8 metres in diameter.
In 1978, the station and all associated infrastructure was included in the transfer of South Australian Railways to Australian National. Regular passenger services ceased in December 1986 but some special train tours used the station up until 2004. In 1997, the station and railway lines were included in the transfer of Australian National's freight assets to Australian Southern Railroad (later known as One Rail Australia.) Grain trains last used the line to Balaklava in 2004. Grain trains last used the silos at Hamley Bridge on 31 October 2005. The station remnants and railway line were included in Aurizon's purchase of One Rail Australia in 2022.
The platforms, railway tracks and the station building remain. The silos were demolished in October 2022. The station building has been converted into a private residence. The station is located in the local council of Wakefield.

Slashdot

News for nerds, stuff that matters

OpenAI Abandons ChatGPT's Erotic Mode

OpenAI has indefinitely paused plans for an erotic mode in ChatGPT as part of a broader strategy shift away from side projects and toward business and coding tools. TechCrunch reports: The proposed "adult mode," which CEO Sam Altman first floated in October, had inspired considerable controversy from tech watchdog groups as well as from OpenAI's own staff. In January, a meeting between company executives and its council of advisers got heated, with one of the advisers cautioning that OpenAI could be in the process of developing a "sexy suicide coach," The Wall Street Journal previously reported.

Amidst all of the criticism, the release of the feature was delayed multiple times. FT notes that the erotic feature now has no timeline for release. When reached for comment by TechCrunch, an OpenAI spokesperson said the company had "nothing further to add."

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

‘Belachelijk’ en ‘pijnlijk’: coureurs zijn zeer ontevreden over nieuwe F1-wagens

Vlak voor de derde Grand Prix zijn de meeste F1-rijders kritisch over de nieuwe auto’s. Door de focus op elektrische aandrijving moeten ze hun wagens op een tegennatuurlijke manier besturen en is het spektakel verminderd. „Het is alsof je Mario Kart speelt.”


Rob Wijnberg: ‘De mediakritiek die ik had toen ik met De Correspondent begon voelt nu gedateerd’

Na 12,5 jaar stopt Rob Wijnberg als hoofdredacteur van De Correspondent. Het „moeilijkste besluit” dat hij heeft genomen, was om na ruim een jaar alweer de stekker te trekken uit de Engelstalige versie van het platform.