Mark and Pete

When authority wobbles, everyone feels it.In this episode of Mark & Pete, we examine the troubling case of a teacher reported to have been under the influence of alcohol while teaching — slurred speech, disorder in the classroom, and a profession once synonymous with stability suddenly looking fragile.This is not a tabloid pile-on. It’s a deeper conversation about professionalism, standards, burnout, and what happens when the adults in the room are no longer steady.Teaching in the UK has become increasingly pressured: behaviour challenges, retention crises, administrative overload, safeguarding responsibilities, and public scrutiny. When a teacher crosses the line into intoxication while on duty, it raises uncomfortable but necessary questions. Is this personal moral failure? A symptom of systemic strain? Or part of a wider cultural erosion of self-control and accountability?We discuss:Teacher conduct and the Teaching Regulation AgencyProfessional standards in UK schoolsBurnout and alcohol misuse trendsClassroom authority and behavioural collapseThe difference between compassion and lowered expectationsFrom a Christian perspective, we explore Ephesians 5:18 — “Do not be drunk with wine… but be filled with the Spirit.” Sobriety is not merely a private virtue; it is a public responsibility when others depend on your clarity.There is room for mercy. There must be support for those struggling. But standards matter. Authority matters. Children need grown-ups who are present, clear-minded, and trustworthy.Expect calm commentary, cultural analysis, original poetry from Mark, and a steady biblical reflection from Pete.Because someone is always learning from the example set at the front of the room.Faith. Culture. Calm commentary.#MarkAndPete #EducationCrisis #TeacherStandards #UKSchools #ProfessionalConduct #ChristianPerspective

Has Britain entered a new ice age — or is it simply Tuesday in Cornwall?In this episode of Mark & Pete, we examine reports that Cardinham in Cornwall has experienced around 50 consecutive days of measurable rainfall, with nearby Liscombe on Exmoor also recording persistent winter deluges. Northern Ireland has likewise seen one of its wettest Januarys in recent memory. The wellies are weary. The umbrellas are questioning their calling.But what does it actually mean?We explore UK Met Office data, regional rainfall trends, and the difference between weather events and long-term climate patterns. Is this evidence of global cooling? Climate collapse? Or just Britain doing what Britain has historically done — namely, rain with commitment?We discuss:Cardinham and Liscombe rainfall recordsNorthern Ireland’s unusually wet JanuaryThe science of winter precipitation in the UKClimate change vs short-term variabilityWhy human memory is spectacularly unreliable when it comes to weatherAlong the way, we ask a bigger cultural question: why do we turn meteorology into theology? Every storm becomes a sign. Every cold snap becomes a thesis. And every puddle becomes proof of something ideological.With Mark’s original poetry and Pete’s biblical reflection from Ecclesiastes, this episode offers calm commentary in a climate of overreaction.Because rivers have always run into the sea. And Britain has always been damp.Faith. Culture. Calm commentary — even when the forecast is dramatic.#MarkAndPete #Cornwall #Cardinham #Liscombe #NorthernIreland #UKWeather #ClimateDebate #BritishNews #MetOffice #ChristianPerspective

What happens when royalty meets reality?In this episode of Mark & Pete, we examine the ongoing reputational crisis surrounding Prince Andrew and what it means for the British monarchy in the age of scrutiny. From the infamous BBC Newsnight interview to the fallout from associations with Jeffrey Epstein, we explore how scandal, privilege, and public accountability collide at the highest levels of national symbolism.This is not tabloid gossip. It’s a serious conversation about institutional trust, moral responsibility, and whether inherited authority can survive modern transparency. Can a monarchy built on continuity endure when confidence is shaken? Does stepping back from public duties resolve the issue — or simply freeze it in polite constitutional embarrassment?We also ask the deeper question: what does Scripture say about leadership, integrity, and repentance? Because crowns may be hereditary, but character never is.Expect calm commentary, a few raised eyebrows, and the sort of dry reflection that Britain specialises in when things become awkward.Topics include:Prince Andrew and the Epstein controversyThe Newsnight interview and public reactionRoyal accountability and constitutional symbolismReputation vs repentanceThe future of the modern monarchyFeaturing Mark’s original poetry and Pete’s biblical reflections.

A pendant linked to Catherine of Aragon has reportedly been discovered — and it’s more than just Tudor jewellery. It’s a window into one of the most dramatic marriages in English history, the break with Rome, and the personal cost of power.In this episode of Mark and Pete, we explore the significance of a newly identified Tudor pendant associated with Henry VIII’s first wife, Catherine of Aragon. Was it a romantic gift? A royal emblem? A symbol of legitimacy? Or a silent witness to the collapse of a marriage that changed the course of England forever?Catherine of Aragon was not merely a discarded queen. She was a Spanish princess, daughter of Ferdinand and Isabella, regent of England during Henry’s campaigns, and a woman of formidable intelligence and deep Catholic faith. Her refusal to accept Henry’s annulment triggered the English Reformation and the establishment of the Church of England under royal supremacy.We examine how Henry VIII used Scripture to justify his desire for a male heir, how the Tudor court turned marriage into political theatre, and how Catherine’s dignity in exile reshaped the moral narrative of the Reformation. The discovery of a Catherine of Aragon pendant invites fresh discussion about Tudor history, royal authority, marriage, conscience, and the abuse of power.With Mark’s poetic reflections and Pete’s Christian commentary, this episode asks: what happens when rulers bend truth to serve appetite? And what does this Tudor drama teach modern Britain about covenant, leadership, and integrity?This is history, faith, politics, and cultural reflection — all wrapped in one small piece of gold.Topics include: Catherine of Aragon pendant, Henry VIII marriage crisis, Tudor England, English Reformation, Church of England origins, royal divorce, Catholic vs Protestant history, biblical marriage, power and conscience, British history podcast.

Is Valentine’s Day still romantic… or has modern culture quietly fallen out of love?In this episode of Mark and Pete, we take a sharp look at Valentine’s Day in 2026 and ask whether Western society is still capable of real romance. From overpriced roses and restaurant panic bookings to dating apps and “situationships,” love increasingly feels like a performance rather than a commitment.But beneath the chocolate hearts and Instagram posts lies a deeper question: are people actually dating less?We examine the growing body of research pointing to a modern “sex recession,” declining marriage rates, delayed relationships, and rising loneliness among young adults. Why are Gen Z and millennials reporting less dating experience, less sexual activity, and less long-term partnership than previous generations? Is technology to blame? Has dating app culture turned romance into online shopping? Or have we simply become afraid of commitment?We explore how modern expectations—shaped by social media, pornography, and endless digital comparison—may be eroding trust between men and women. In a world of infinite options, no one feels chosen. In a culture obsessed with independence, fewer people feel secure enough to commit.At the same time, the longing for love hasn’t disappeared. People still want to be known, valued, and chosen. So why does Valentine’s Day feel increasingly awkward, commercial, or hollow?With Mark’s reflective poetry and Pete’s Christian perspective, this episode examines what the Bible says about covenant love, sacrifice, and commitment in contrast to today’s consumer-driven approach to romance. Is love just chemistry and feelings, or is it something deeper—something worth defending?Topics include: Valentine’s Day, modern dating crisis, declining marriage rates, Gen Z relationships, loneliness epidemic, dating apps, commitment culture, Christian worldview on love, covenant marriage, cultural decline.

Should Britain move to a shorter working week? Would a three-day or four-day week make us healthier, more productive, and less miserable… or is it just the final stage of national decline dressed up as “wellbeing”?In this episode of Mark and Pete, we dive into the growing push for a reduced working week, inspired by countries like the Netherlands, where people seem to work fewer hours, take more time off, and still manage to run a nation that functions better than ours. Meanwhile, Britain clings to its proud tradition of overworking, underproducing, and pretending that exhaustion is a personality trait.We explore the real evidence behind four-day week trials, productivity studies, and why cutting hours can sometimes increase output. Spoiler: when people have less time, they waste less time. Fewer pointless meetings. Less email theatre. Less corporate box-ticking. More actual work.But we also ask the harder questions. Is the shorter working week only realistic for office workers with laptops and “hybrid schedules”? What about nurses, builders, shop staff, delivery drivers, and everyone else who can’t simply log off and call it self-care? Is this reform… or just another perk for the middle class?We also tackle the cultural side of it: if people had more free time, would they invest it into family life, church, community, and rest? Or would we simply spend the extra days doomscrolling, ordering takeaway, and watching Netflix until we forget what day it is?With Mark’s trademark poetry and Pete’s Christian perspective, this episode asks whether the West needs fewer working hours… or whether it needs a deeper recovery: a return to purpose, discipline, and Sabbath-shaped living.Keywords: shorter working week, four-day week UK, Dutch work culture, productivity, burnout, work-life balance, modern Britain, cultural decline, Christian commentary, Sabbath rest.

Britain has reached a strange new milestone in the cost of living crisis: even doing the laundry is becoming unaffordable. In this episode of Mark and Pete, we look at the growing reality of laundry poverty in the UK, where rising energy bills, detergent prices, and laundrette costs are pushing more people to wash less, dry less, and quietly compromise on basic hygiene.At first glance it sounds like a minor inconvenience, even a slightly comic headline. But beneath the surface it reveals something far more serious: a nation where ordinary life is becoming harder, more stressful, and increasingly stripped of dignity. When families can’t afford to run the washing machine or tumble dryer, it doesn’t just mean wearing yesterday’s shirt. It means damp clothes hanging indoors, mould creeping into flats, asthma and respiratory problems worsening, and children turning up to school embarrassed, anxious, and vulnerable to bullying.We explore how energy policy, inflation, housing conditions, and low wages are colliding to create a new kind of hidden hardship. This isn’t Victorian poverty with chimneys and soot. It’s modern poverty with smart meters, condensation, and the constant low-grade fear of the next bill. Many people are now relying on cold washes, skipping bedding loads, re-wearing clothes longer, and using deodorant as an economic strategy.Mark brings his poetic take on Britain’s damp decline, while Pete offers the deeper Christian perspective: why dignity matters, why the ordinary needs of daily life are not trivial, and why a society that cannot keep its people warm and clean is a society in serious moral and spiritual trouble. We also touch on the biblical principle that compassion must be practical, not theoretical, and ask what role the church should play in noticing these quieter forms of suffering.Sharp analysis, British humour, and uncomfortable truth—welcome to the UK, where cleanliness is becoming a luxury.z

The Winter Olympics are facing an awkward little problem: winter is increasingly unreliable. In this episode of Mark and Pete, we explore the growing concern that the Winter Games may not have a long-term future, thanks to warming temperatures, shrinking snow seasons, and the rising cost of staging a global sporting spectacle in an era where snow has become a luxury item.It’s a story that sounds absurd at first, almost like satire. How can the Winter Olympics exist without winter? Yet the facts are stacking up. Fewer countries are willing or able to host the Games, and even traditional alpine venues are struggling with shorter snow seasons, higher freezing lines, and the increasing dependence on artificial snow. Ski slopes once famous for natural snowfall are now being kept alive with snow cannons, refrigerated tracks, and industrial-scale infrastructure that feels less like sport and more like an engineering project.We discuss how climate change, economics, and modern bureaucracy are colliding in real time. Hosting the Olympics is already ruinously expensive, and now the basic requirement of snow is no longer guaranteed. Could the Games be forced into a permanent rotation between only a handful of cold-weather nations? Could indoor mega-domes become the future of winter sport? Or will the Olympics simply shrink, retreating into something smaller, more regional, and less grand?Along the way, Mark brings his poetic take on the disappearing season, while Pete offers a Christian worldview perspective, asking what it says about modern civilisation that we increasingly live in a synthetic world of manufactured experiences. Even nature itself is being replaced with artificial substitutes, while the organisers insist everything is “sustainable.”Sharp commentary, British humour, cultural reflection, and a touch of theological realism—this is The Winter (Olympics) of Discontent.

Is Keir Starmer already on his last legs, or is he exactly the kind of leader modern Britain deserves: bland, managerial, and strangely unkillable? In this episode of Mark and Pete, we take a sharp (and mildly sarcastic) look at the Prime Minister’s growing credibility problem, and ask whether Labour is quietly heading toward another internal panic.Starmer was sold as the competent adult in the room, the calm lawyer who would restore order after years of political circus. But instead of Churchillian grit, we’ve been given something closer to a Human Resources memo with a haircut. He’s cautious, polished, and relentlessly careful… yet the country feels like it’s wobbling on the edge of something much darker than “policy disagreements.”We explore why Starmer increasingly gives off the impression of a leader who is not steering events, but reacting to them. Is he trapped between factions inside Labour, trying to keep the activist wing happy while reassuring the wider public? Is he losing the confidence of working-class voters who once formed Labour’s backbone? Or is he simply the latest example of what Hannah Arendt called “the banality of evil”: a technocratic, bureaucratic type of leadership that isn’t flamboyantly wicked, but quietly hollow?Mark brings his usual poetic fire, while Pete brings a Christian worldview lens, asking the deeper question: can a nation survive on management language alone? Because Britain doesn’t just need competence. It needs conviction, truth, moral courage, and a sense of purpose bigger than economic spreadsheets and government slogans.Along the way we touch on Labour party dynamics, leadership alternatives, media narratives, public mood, and why so many people feel politically homeless in the UK today. If Starmer falls, what replaces him? And if he survives, what does that say about the state of British democracy?Sharp analysis, dark humour, and a Bible verse to keep us honest. Welcome back to Mark and Pete.

Driverless cars are coming to London — and not in a distant sci-fi future sense. Real streets, real traffic, real pedestrians stepping into the road while staring lovingly into their phones. With Waymo preparing autonomous vehicle rollouts, the capital may soon become one of the biggest live experiments in artificial intelligence transport ever attempted in the UK.In this episode of Mark and Pete, we explore what the arrival of self-driving cars really means, beyond the glossy headlines. Are autonomous vehicles genuinely safer than human drivers? What happens when algorithms replace judgement? And who is responsible when a driverless car makes the wrong decision — the passenger, the programmer, the manufacturer, or the invisible data model trained on millions of previous journeys?We look at the deeper cultural shift behind automation: convenience slowly eroding competence, responsibility being outsourced, and society drifting into a world where humans stop making decisions because machines make them faster. Driverless cars aren’t just a transport change. They’re a philosophical change.Mark and Pete also discuss how technology subtly reshapes morality. When accountability becomes unclear, the temptation is to blame “the system” rather than face human agency. From a biblical perspective, this matters: Scripture assumes responsibility, wisdom, and conscious choices — not passive surrender to machinery.With humour, realism, and a long-view Christian lens, this episode asks the bigger question: in a world where cars drive themselves, are we still awake enough to know where we’re going?

2026 marks an extraordinary milestone: 100 years since the invention of television, the glowing box that quietly reshaped modern civilisation while we were busy eating microwave dinners and arguing over the remote control.In this episode of Mark and Pete, we explore how television didn’t merely entertain us, but fundamentally changed how we think, how we relate, how we worship, and how we understand truth itself. From the first experimental broadcasts in the 1920s to the rise of mass media empires, TV turned politics into theatre, news into narrative, and public life into performance.But the real transformation wasn’t technical. It was psychological. Television trained whole generations to sit, watch, absorb, and react emotionally — without reflection, conversation, or accountability. It altered childhood, shortened attention spans, and created a culture where image often matters more than argument, and personality more than principle.Mark and Pete discuss the surprising social consequences of television: the decline of shared national culture, the rise of celebrity authority, the erosion of silence, and the way entertainment values crept into every institution — including the Church.With biblical insight and a wry British realism, they ask an uncomfortable question: did television simply show us the world, or did it teach us how to see the world? And have we become so accustomed to being spectators that we’ve forgotten how to live as participants?A thoughtful, humorous, and slightly unsettling look at the century-long experiment that changed everything — and may still be changing us more than we realise.

Are we really on the brink of World War Three — or are we simply being herded into panic by a media economy that thrives on fear?In this episode of Mark and Pete, we take a clear-eyed, historically grounded look at rising tensions between the United States and Iran, with Donald Trump once again looming large in the background of global affairs. Missile tests, proxy conflicts, sanctions, and strong rhetoric are all familiar features of this long-running geopolitical drama — but familiarity doesn’t stop headlines from screaming “WW3” at the slightest provocation.Rather than joining the chorus of alarm, Mark and Pete ask harder questions. How often has the world stood closer to catastrophe than we realise? Why does modern media benefit from amplifying fear? And why does Trump’s loud, unpredictable style often coincide with a surprising reluctance to start new wars?Drawing on Cold War history, biblical theology, and cultural analysis, this episode challenges the assumption that conflict automatically means collapse. Jesus warned about wars and rumours of wars — not as countdown clocks, but as features of a fallen world where power constantly jostles for position.For Christians, the call is neither denial nor doom-scrolling, but calm discernment. History is noisy. God is not absent. And panic has never been a spiritual gift.A sober, thoughtful conversation for anyone tired of being told the end is always five minutes away.

A statistic quietly slipped into the news, and it landed with more cultural weight than most headlines.Robbie Williams now has sixteen UK number-one albums — more than The Beatles. For some, it’s a curiosity. For others, a mild heresy. But in this episode of Mark and Pete, we argue it’s neither scandal nor joke. It’s a diagnosis.This isn’t a debate about musical quality. It’s about how modern culture works. The Beatles belonged to an era of disruption, risk, and genuine artistic rupture. Robbie Williams belongs to an age of loyalty, legacy, and perfectly managed familiarity. One changed the weather. The other mastered the climate that followed.We explore how the music industry shifted from innovation to consolidation, from revolution to reunion tours, and from cultural shock to emotional reassurance. Album charts now measure not what is new, but what is trusted — and that tells us something about ourselves.There’s a biblical undercurrent too: the temptation to romanticise the past, to mistake memory for meaning, and to substitute nostalgia for hope. Ecclesiastes warns us not to ask why former days were better — not because the question is impolite, but because it blinds us to the work still required now.

When a celebrity moment sparks discomfort rather than applause, it usually means something deeper has been touched.In this episode of Mark and Pete, we turn to the controversy surrounding Victoria Beckham and her now-viral dance at a wedding — a moment that drew criticism not for being joyful, but for being conspicuously out of place. At a celebration traditionally centred on the bride and groom, many felt the spotlight had been subtly, but unmistakably, redirected.This isn’t a story about dancing, fashion, or even celebrity gossip. It’s about proportion, timing, and the quiet social rules that hold communities together. Why do some public displays charm us, while others leave us uneasy? Why does modern culture struggle so badly with the idea that not every moment is ours to dominate?We explore the British instincts around decorum, hierarchy, and knowing the room — instincts often dismissed as snobbery, but which may actually be forms of social wisdom. In an age that rewards visibility and self-assertion, restraint can look suspiciously like weakness.There’s also a biblical thread running through this: humility, honour, and the discipline of stepping back so that others may be lifted up. Christianity has always insisted that love is not merely expressive, but attentive — alert to context, season, and responsibility.A wedding, after all, is not a stage.And knowing when not to perform may be one of the last forgotten virtues.

When Donald Trump floated the idea of acquiring Greenland, the media treated it as comedy — late-night fodder, Twitter mockery, and a thousand smirking think-pieces about American vulgarity. What almost nobody bothered to ask was the obvious question: why Greenland?In this episode of Mark and Pete, we rewind the laughter and look at the map.Greenland sits at the crossroads of Arctic shipping routes, rare earth minerals, and military positioning that matters far more than most Western commentators are willing to admit. As the ice melts and global power shifts northward, the Arctic is no longer a frozen backwater but a strategic frontier — and one that China has been quietly and deliberately moving into for years.Trump’s instinct wasn’t madness. It was realism. Ungainly, unfashionable, and entirely out of step with a political class that prefers moral posturing to long-term planning. The real scandal isn’t that the idea was voiced, but that it was laughed out of the room without serious consideration.We explore why modern Western culture confuses prudence with paranoia, why strategic thinking is now treated as bad manners, and how history tends to reward those who plan ahead while punishing those who outsource responsibility to vibes.There’s a biblical dimension too: foresight, stewardship, and the uncomfortable truth that wisdom often looks ridiculous before it looks obvious.

This week on Mark and Pete, we take a hard look at a British political landscape that feels increasingly unstable, unserious, and oddly theatrical. The episode opens with the defection of Robert Jenrick from the Conservatives to Reform UK, using the moment as a springboard to assess the wider collapse of trust, loyalty, and coherence in UK politics. We explore what this says about principle versus ambition, and why voters are left feeling like spectators at a knife-fight conducted behind closed doors.We then turn to one of the most controversial proposals currently causing uproar in Westminster and beyond: Labour’s support for a vast new Chinese embassy in London, positioned alarmingly close to sensitive data infrastructure and security services. We unpack the public backlash, the national security concerns, and the broader question of whether Britain has lost its instinct for strategic caution in an increasingly hostile global environment.Finally, we step away from geopolitics and return to something unexpectedly grounding. Winnie-the-Pooh turns 100, and celebrations at the Hundred Acre Wood prompt a reflection on tradition, cultural memory, and why a fictional bear created a century ago still resonates more deeply than much of modern public life. In a week defined by political manoeuvring and institutional fragility, Pooh offers a quiet reminder of friendship, loyalty, and simple wisdom.As ever, the episode blends current affairs, cultural commentary, poetry, and Scripture, offering a thoughtful Christian perspective on power, prudence, and what endures when everything else seems to be wobbling.

Robots, Junk Food, and Talentless Tennis explores three revealing stories that say far more about modern culture than their headlines suggest.First, we look at the rapid expansion of robotics in business, prompted by Hyundai’s growing investment in automated workers. From factories to service industries, robots are no longer experimental novelties but permanent colleagues. The discussion centres on what automation means for productivity, human dignity, work ethic, and the temptation to treat technology as a saviour rather than a tool.Next, attention turns to the UK ban on junk food advertising across television and online platforms, alongside tighter restrictions on high-sugar drinks. Framed as a public health measure, the move raises deeper questions about personal responsibility, self-control, government overreach, and whether virtue can ever be produced by regulation rather than character.Finally, we examine a bizarre tennis incident in Nairobi involving an Egyptian wildcard entry whose performance included twenty double faults and just three points won. Beyond the comedy lies a serious reflection on merit, competence, fairness, and the modern habit of confusing opportunity with ability.Throughout the episode, the themes are punctuated by original poems that sharpen the satire and slow the pace, alongside a closing Bible verse from Psalm 127:1: “Unless the Lord builds the house, those who build it labour in vain.”Taken together, the episode offers a thoughtful, Christian-inflected critique of automation, regulation, and decline in standards, asking what happens when formation is replaced by systems, and wisdom is outsourced to machines or policies.

What will 2026 really bring? In this episode of Mark & Pete, we take a boldly unscientific but spiritually alert look at the year ahead, guided by Mark’s satirical poem The Top Prediction Picks for Twenty Twenty-Six. Expect humour, cultural commentary, and a Christian lens on a world that seems to be making it up as it goes along.We cover predictions about a stagnant economy, increasingly surreal British politics, AI replacing human candidates, cyber-espionage, and the strange return of superstition and modern witchcraft. From Keir Starmer’s ever-shifting image to the possibility of Scotland humiliating England on the world stage, no national anxiety is left untouched. We also explore Donald Trump’s media-saturated dominance, the rise of algorithmic power, and what happens when social media becomes the measure of human worth.As ever, Mark brings the poetry and Pete brings the theology, grounding the satire in Scripture and reminding us why Christians should be calm when everyone else is hysterical. Drawing on Jesus’ warning that no one truly knows the future, this episode reflects on why prediction is entertaining, certainty is dangerous, and faith remains essential.If you’re tired of shrill forecasts, political panic, and AI-fuelled nonsense, this episode offers sharp wit, cultural realism, and Christian hope for 2026 and beyond.

Welcome to the New Year episode of Mark and Pete, where optimism is treated with caution and realism is offered with grace. The Survivor’s Guide to 2026 is a thoughtful, funny, and quietly Christian exploration of how to step into the year ahead without losing your soul, your sanity, or what remains of your dignity.This episode blends poetry, reflection, and cultural commentary in the distinctive Mark and Pete style. Mark brings two original poems: The Survivor’s Guide to 2026, a wry field manual for enduring the year ahead, and New Year – Same Old Feeling, an honest meditation on why January so often feels emotionally familiar despite the calendar reset.

Christmas, as it turns out, is a strange mixture of warmth and mild insanity, and this special episode leans cheerfully into both. Mark and Pete wander through the season’s rituals, irritations, costs, comforts, and contradictions, pausing often enough to laugh at them, and just long enough to take something seriously when it matters. There are poems, naturally, because rules appear wherever joy is under pressure. There are elves too, watching quietly, costing loudly, reminding us that modern magic rarely comes without a receipt.Along the way, attention drifts to neighbours who decorate with evangelical enthusiasm, festive music that promises feeling without substance, and the peculiar cultural agreement that Christmas must be enjoyed correctly, on schedule, and with visible enthusiasm. It’s all very merry, in the way that British merriment often is, slightly strained at the edges.