London Diary: Never mind if you cannot differentiate between the Black Sea and the Baltic Sea!

Diplomatic gaffe

Know the difference between the Baltic and Black seas? Never mind, if you don’t. Even Great Britain’s top cheese in international diplomacy— Foreign Secretary Liz Truss— doesn’t.

Threatening Russia with “consequences” if it invaded Ukraine, she said that “we are supplying and offering extra support into our Baltic allies across the Black Sea”. The “allies” were Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. But she hadn’t reckoned with Maria Zakharova, Russia’s foreign ministry spokeswoman, who clearly knows her neighbourhood’s geography better than the woman who aspires to be her country’s next PM. Zakharova was quick to point out that the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania were located off the Baltic Sea, not the Black Sea, which is more than 700 miles to the south, via Belarus, a key Russian ally.

“The Baltic countries are called so because they are located precisely off the coast of this [Baltic] sea. Not the Black [Sea],” she wrote on Facebook. And twisting the knife, she added: “If anyone needs to be saved from anything, then it is the world from the stupidity and ignorance of Anglo-Saxon politicians.”

Another senior Russian official called British diplomacy “absolutely worthless”, and the president of Croatia dismissed Britain as a “secondrate” power. A slight improvement on I.K. Gujral, though, who called it a “third rate” country.

Pardon, what’s that?

Try telling a millennial that “a stitch in time saves nine”, and they are likely to react as though you’re talking gibberish. And what’s this nonsense about “nailing colours to the mast”?

These are among a growing list of once commonplace sayings that are becoming extinct —unfamiliar to the Twitter generation. A survey found that some 60 percent of young Brits had no idea if such phrases even existed. And such ignorance is not restricted to the young alone.

According to The Times, more than 2,000 people between the ages of 18 and 50 were given a list of quintessential British proverbs and asked if they understood or used them. Most of them drew a blank. The Biblical phrase “casting pearls before swine” went over the heads of nearly 80 per cent of the respondents. The expression means it is a waste of time to offer help to someone who will not appreciate it. And, apparently, it refers to Jesus Christ telling followers not to share his teachings with those who will misuse them.

A spokesperson for the research agency Perspectus Global, which commissioned the poll, said it showed how language has evolved and changed over the years.

Books are forever

In the age of e-books and online shopping, the idea of setting up a brickand-mortar bookshop may sound like madness. But surprise, surprise, this is exactly what a lot of young Brits, especially women under the age of 30, are doing —opening new bookshops.

“All are convinced that there is a bright future for the paperback. Many new bookshops have a modern twist: these include a wine bar at the back of the store, a pop-up shop in a “shepherd’s hut” in the park and a book subscription service,” wrote one publisher.

And, they are doing well, though it has been hard work. Keira Andrews, who opened a shop in the university town of Reading after she noticed an empty shop in her neighbourhood, said it had been a “steep learning curve” having to work “ten hours a day, sorting stock, speaking to customers and hosting book clubs, writing clubs and talks”.

“Business is really good though and it has gone beyond anything I thought. There hasn’t been a single day that someone hasn’t come in and said ‘I’m so glad there’s a bookshop back here,” she said.

Chrissy Ryan, who runs BookBar in north London, complete with a wine bar, attributed the new interest in books to the Covid lockdowns.

“People rediscovered reading when they couldn’t really do anything else. Many also craved socialising, so, strangely, it was the perfect time to open a bookshop and wine bar. Physical bookshops will always exist because booksellers have an emotional intelligence that no algorithm can replicate.” Sceptics say it’s a passing fad, and an odd successful bookshop —like an odd swallow—doesn’t add up to a spring.

Rent-a-dress boom

It was once the privilege of only the rich and famous to be able to rent designer clothes, but is now increasingly becoming more common amid a proliferation of renting companies offering affordable rates.

Apparently, you can now hire designer labels from as little as £4 a day with companies offering delivery within two hours and rental for up to a month, according to media reports. The London rental website My Wardrobe HQ, reportedly offers biker boots, ballet flats and trainers from £6 a day and mohair and merino wool jumpers from £4 a day.

Rental industry in Britain is growing so rapidly that there’s talk of a “rental revolution” in the making. One online fashion platform, Hirestreetuk.Com, which features a number of famous brands, claims to have more than a million users.

And, lastly, Boris Johnson has compared himself to The Lion King —the hero of Walt Disney’s animation film—who roars back to centrestage after trouncing his detractors. Well, we shall see.

(This was first published in National Herald on Sunday)