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23 November 2022

This England: Flight of fancy

This column – which, though named after a line in Shakespeare’s “Richard II”, refers to the whole of Britain – has run in the NS since 1934.

By New Statesman

A man who spent £25,000 on a fake airport sign in Wales is bringing the joke to an end after 20 years.

For the past two decades, a billboard for Llandegley International has been a landmark near the Powys village.

It looks like an ordinary road sign, but actually directs drivers to an airport that only exists in people’s imagination.

After spending thousands of pounds to erect and maintain the sign, the owner decided it’s time to take it down.
BBC Wales (Neil Stone)

Call me maybe

A battered 90-year-old phone box is on sale for £25,000. There is no phone in it, two panes are missing, one of the white “Telephone” signs is damaged and it needs a lick of paint.

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But it does have an electricity connection, meaning the 3ft-square kiosk could be converted into a tiny shop.
Daily Mirror (Daragh Brady)

Guess who

Social workers may stop asking dementia patients who the prime minister is in memory tests due to the high turnaround at No 10.

After three leaders in four months, it was felt the question was unfair as those without the disease may struggle to name the current leader.
Daily Mirror (Amanda Welles)

Gnome fixed address

A couple are baffled after six gnomes were put in their garden over the last 18 months – then a seventh came in the post with a return address of Paris.

Christine Lock, who lives with her husband, Stephen, in South Molton, Devon, said, “They’re nice and look pretty, but I worry I’ll wake up and the garden will be covered!”
Metro (Michael Meadowcroft)

[See also: This England: One-track mind]

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This article appears in the 23 Nov 2022 issue of the New Statesman, Russian Roulette