Patrick Comerford
I keep on saying it, again and again, and it remains true: I am overwhelmed by the viewing and reading figures for this blog. These figures are about to reach 45 million this evening (29 July 2026), the third time this month the figures have passed the million mark, reaching 44 million less than a fortnight ago (16 July 2026), and 43 million 12 days earlier (4 July 2026).
These viewing and reading figures are overpowering at time, with this blog continuing to reach volumes of readers I never expected when I first started blogging 16 years ago. At the end of last year, this blog had 21 million hits (31 December 2025). So far this year, there have been more than 23 million hits or visitors in 2026 alone, and about 2.4 million hits before the end of July.
Half of all hits or reader figures have been within the past five or six months, with 22.5 million hits since 4 February 2026. I first began blogging back in 2010, and it took almost two years until July 2012 to reach half a million readers. Throughout this year and last, the daily figures continue to be overwhelming on many occasions. Of the ten days of busiest traffic on this blog, three were in May (1, 6 and 14 May 2026), three were the previous month (26, 29 and 30 April 2026), three in March, and one in February:
• 1,124,925 (1 May 2026)
• 525,719 (14 May 2026)
• 509,644 (29 April 2026)
• 344,003 (30 April 2026)
• 323,156 (27 March 2026)
• 322,038 (26 April 2026)
• 318,835 (6 May 2026)
• 318,307 (1 March 2026)
• 314,018 (28 February 2026)
• 301,449 (2 March 2026)
The daily average was over 187,000 throughout May, but that figure was distorted by the exceptionally high number of hits on three days. There were about 71,000 hits a day last month, and an average of about 80,000-90,000 a day so far this month. Yet, ten years ago, in 2016, the daily average was around 1,000.
To put this latest figure of 44 million into perspective:
The continuing conflict in Iran and the Middle East has pushed an additional 45 million people into acute hunger and food insecurity because of price rises, including food, oil and shipping costs. These are 45 million people Trump does not care about.
Israel has launched a multi-million-dollar campaign to reshape public opinion in the US amid declining support for its policies, according to a Wall Street Journal report last month (July 2026). The report says the Israeli government has signed a contract worth more than $45 million with Brad Parscale, a long-time ally of Trump, as part of a broader effort that includes AI-powered messaging, digital outreach and media campaigns.
One element of the initiative involves AI-generated text messages sent to millions of Americans by a supposed group called ‘Friends for Peace,’ encouraging recipients to discuss Israel, Iran and regional security.
With all the hype about Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey, I am reminded that Homer called olive oil ‘Liquid Gold’ and it has been part of Greece’s history since antiquity. Crete has about 45 million olive trees that produce around 50% of all Greek olive oil. These olive trees outnumber the island’s human population by roughly 50 to 1. The groves produce more olive oil than all the rest of Greece combined, with the majority belonging to the highly regarded Koroneiki variety.
The world’s oldest olive tree is in the village of Ano Vouves near Kissamos in the Chania area. The tree is 3,000 years old and still produces olives. It has a trunk with a circumference of 12.5 metres and a diameter of 4.6 metres, and has been declared a Natural Monument.
A €45 million tourism development is being built in Fodele on the north coast of Crete, about 26 km west of Iraklion, on the road to Rethymnon. Fodele Hills is planned as a new tourist complex with a capacity for 298 people. Fodele is the birthplace of the artist El Greco and until now it has attracted visitors because of its orange and lemon groves, the house where it is said Doménikos Theotokópoulos (El Geco) was born, the Byzantine-era Panagia Church with its frescoes, and the monastery of Agiou Panteleimona with several 17th-century icons.
A widespread agricultural subsidy fraud ring in Greece siphoned off up to €45 million a year, with false claims to owning pastures, archaeological sites, and even non-existent land to collect European farming subsidies. The plot, uncovered by the European Public Prosecutor's Office (EPPO) and local authorities, reached all levels of political life in Greece. The 22 people charged included four sitting deputies in parliament from the ruling New Democracy party and former officials of the state agricultural payment agency.
The scheme exploited a poorly maintained land registry following EU policy changes in 2014. Fraudsters declared fictitious plots, fake livestock, and impossible locations – such as banana plantations on Mount Olympus – to siphon off millions.
The fraud went detected for years, and the Greek prime minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was forced to admit the scandal had revealed ‘the state’s inadequacy’ in dealing with corruption. The scandal forced the resignation of five senior government officials, including the migration minister, Makis Voridis, a one-time far-right activist who was the agriculture minister when the scheme was being run.
Trump’s vanity parade last year, with a massive display of military might, cost $45 million. Although the parade was supposed celebrate the 250th birthday of the US army, Trump monopolised it to celebrate his own 79th birthday.
Larry Ellison, the billionaire co-founder of Oracle who now owns the Eagle and Child in Oxford, gave about $45 million to a nonprofit backing Trump’s 2024 election campaign. According to The Wall Street Journal. The funding was not subject to disclosure rules and was not been reported until a few weeks ago (June 2026). Meanwhile, the restoration work on the Eagle and Child in Oxford seems to be inadequately funded and remains closed, with the buildings covered in cladding and scaffolding.
45 million sq metres is 45,000 sq km. Although Estonia, the most northerly of the three Baltic States, is often described as a small country, it has an area of 45,000 sq km and is larger than Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark or Switzerland.
Paris is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the world, with 45 million tourists every year in the Paris Region. With 45 million tourists a year, Mexico is the sixth most visited country in the world, according to UN statistics. France is top of the list, followed by Spain, the US, Turkey, Italy and then Mexico. Forecasts by VisitBritain predict over 45 million inbound visitors to the UK in 2026.
Six publishers turned down The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter, but it went on to sell 45 million copies.
45 million minutes is equal to 85 years, 7 months, 15 days and 16 hours. In other words, if this blog was getting only one hit a minute, it would take over 85½ years, from mid-December 1940, to reach today’s figure of 45 million.
I retired from active parish ministry over four years ago, on 30 March 2022. These days, though, about 150 people on average are reading my daily prayer diary posted on this blog each morning. I imagine many of my priest-colleagues would be prayerfully thankful if the congregations in their churches totalled 1,000 or more people each week.
This evening, I am truly grateful to the real readers among those 45 million hits on this blog to date, and in particular I am thankful for the faithful core group of 150 or so people who join me in prayer, reading and reflections each morning.
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