I am no supporter of Donald J Trump, during his first campaign and Presidential term I determined to write something derogatory about him everyday ( I tried but did not succeed) ! Obviously it worked as after four years of his pathetic presidency he lost to Biden. Give the man his due he got up and raged, lied, conned and bullied his way into another run at it and as we know won. 

Since taking the reins,  once more we have witnessed a deranged, elderly buffoon, fire off in every direction like some demented Catherine wheel, sparks flying every which way! He has learnt his lesson from the first time and placed individual people in positions of power that will not restrain him and do what they are told! Musk who’s somehow wheedled his way into Trumps inner circle, an even looser cannon exploding pot shots at anything he deems is eating up funds or is ineffective and inefficient. Of course it will in one way or another all end in disaster. Unfortunately along the way it is calamitous for all of us.

Trump has many faults, they have been well documented. In my opinion he looks and acts as though he is unwell, let’s hope it’s serious! He is a narcissist, only interested in the next headline, he has nothing serious about him, a fading TV reality star, who longs for fame and has no serious loyalty to anyone and if any at all only if they are massively wealthy. 

We will have to endure him for the next four years , trying to keep calm and do what we can to mitigate his excesses. I think there is every possibility he may die in office, though the prospect of Vance as President is no less palatable. 

America has lurched into a partial democracy and it is going to take all of the people (even MAGA) to rid themselves of him. He has proved he has no respect for the law or any blocking of his agenda but that has to continue to thwart him. He has to be defeated by democracy however painful or hard it is. 

I have never been to America, never felt the desire to. In its current state I certainly wouldn’t. There are many things about American society and culture which are admirable but when a country elects a man like Trump not once but twice, you have realise for all their wealth and power (not for everyone) there is something deeply wrong with their nation? 

A word more about Canada. Not withstanding the ridiculous idea of Trumps nonsense about becoming the 51st state, to little support has been given to them. In Mark Carney they have a Prime Minister who will not take any crap from Trump.

Perhaps the leaders of European nations and others of a like mind should just tell him to fuck off, we’ve had enough of you, we are just not going to engage with you anymore? Dangerous but it just might work, he wants to be respected, he wants to be loved, show him none!

Take care

 Be afraid be very afraid because this time the brakes are off and Trump is going to run wild! The flurry of executive orders he signed on the first day are only the tip of the tip of the iceberg he and his cronies are going to launch on the world. Don’t think for a moment he is bluffing about all the things he claims he is going to do, this time he means it. This will be an unprecedented 4 years of American power changing both the country and the world, almost entirely for the worst. 

His posturing on Greenland amongst other boasts are deadly serious and you would not be surprised if he uses force to get what he wants. Certainly he will use tariffs, economic blackmail, aide and any other arm twisting in order to achieve his aims. He will ignore the rule of law both international and domestic. He will do anything he can to change the constitution in order to remain President. 

This will be 4 years of pain and tragedy for us all. America you voted him in and now we will all reap the whirlwind 

Stay well

 We have out Bond villain at last! Straight from the pages of a Fleming novel comes Blofeld armed not with guns and rockets but with bags of electronic money and his own social media platform, on which he can write any provocative post he likes with it seems impunity! His name Elon Musk, a handle that we surely must have seen would lead him to becoming the disruptive force he now acts as. If power corrupts then being the world’s richest man is the ultimate corruption! He has cosied up to the big orange gorilla and believes he can intervene, interfere and generally stir up shit to anyone he feels like. 

Us liberal leaning lefties have for to long left the stage bare and men of his ilk have readily stepped into the spotlight. We have nobody to blame but ourselves. Our so called intellectual superiority and smugness, has ignored the rising of popularism as the plight of the ordinary working citizens got ignored! The irony is that there are now more billionaires than ever and the gap between Musk , Trump and their wealthy tech buddies is a yawning chasm that seems impossible to bridge. It is ironic when people believe that the most rich will solve all their problems. In an ideal world indeed this should happen, it’s not as though the rich can’t afford to do so. Money is the idolatry the be all and end all of the game, men like Musk and Trump care little for the people they claim to care about but are miles better at getting their message heard, with little concern for what is said or who it may damage! 

Those who oppose must get their act together and be as clear and forthright in repudiating their rhetoric as they are in delivering it. They are way ahead so a lot needs to be done to catch up! 

Stay well

I’m angry, baffled and bewildered! Why is the powers that be allowing Israel to continue slaughtering Palestinians by the thousand, mainly women and children? I shake my head in disbelief as the violence continues. Of course it is only one conflict that is currently going on but its horrendous killing is unacceptable, as it is in every one! What will it achieve? Does Netanyahu and his hard line govt. genuinely believe they will eradicate Hezbollah or Hamas? Not matter what they do these two groups will survive and continue! This is genocide, plain and simple. The US must stop supplying them with weapons, though no doubt their money is good wherever they buy them. Netanyahu is clinging to power, making excuses to prolong the conflict, delaying any ceasefire or negotiations. How any western government, no matter how strong their guilt is towards the Jewish people for atrocities they suffered, has not strongly condemned Israel is beyond my understanding, strong pressure must be applied openly for all the world to see. The Israelis are rapidly becoming a parallel with the regime that caused 6 million to be put to death, the scale may not be the same but the proportion of deaths comparable is!

I do not claim to have the slightest idea of what efforts maybe going on through channels but whatever is happening, it has not stopped Israel. It cannot continue, it must not continue. 

I had to get that off my chest. I confess I don’t care much about Israel one way or the other and certainly the attack perpetrated against them was horrific but their retaliation is way out of proportion!

Stay well

 These Tories must go

We have had enough of their show

14 years of it

Not one PM who could give a shit

Couldn’t govern their way out of a wet paper bag

Sunak the last of the drag

Brexit screwed us big time

Johnson reign full of slime

Truss deluded and mad

Mad sad and bad

The worst government ever

So much corruption and sleaze

It is like a disease 

And now Hunt the C**t

Says the will be a “black hole” in which Labour will fall 

How much money did you spaff up the wall?

They must must go!

Like Captain Picard “Let’s make it so”

 

I wonder if most women are aware that their hard fought rights are being rapidly eroded. Equality has never been achieved but the fight for votes, equal pay and most importantly the right to their own bodies, amongst others,  has been a long one and still goes on. In America the repeal of Roe v Wade has single handily set back women’s rights by decades and the sad part is others in the so called democratic west are bordering on following suit and making it harder to get an abortion! There are many countries where women are second class citizens still subjected to it by laws and religious belief, I am sure I don’t need to point out the countries in question? 

Since my early days I have always supported equality, though I would be a liar, as a man born in the fifties, if did not admit to always behaving the right way.  With some exceptions the world would undoubtedly be a better place if run by women, though regrettably many who have gained power have oft proved worse than their male counterparts but it would be better.

I have never understood it. Men maybe physically stronger, women bear our children but after those two differences there are few others? 

The promotion of LBGT rights and prominence has done nothing to further the progress of female rights, indeed it has set it back! 

The world will never accept total equality of anyone, human nature, being what it is but we all need to try.

I confess to getting angry on occasion with my wife’s decisions but I am wise enough to keep my mouth shut, it is her life and if she wants my input she will ask for it, I hope that does not sound too patronising. 

In a country that is slowly eroding all our rights we must not forget those whose rights are being taken faster. We need to shout loudly about all inequality but women need to shout louder than ever, the battle is far from won!

Stay well

 Another week has disappeared and what have we learnt? Yet more Tory MP’s are corrupt, the PM keeps making stupid statements, Trump can’t stay awake at his own trial, the Ukraine is struggling to contain the unjustified aggression of Putin, the Middle East is more of a powder keg the usual, Rwanda is far from safe and no law will ever make it so, the Daily Mail is determined to attack Angela Rayner! I could go on but you get the general gist! 

On a different note I went out yesterday riding with the Kettering Cycling Club, we rode 17 miles around the local area, the road surface as we all know are a disgrace! There is a unwritten rule in cycling, in a group that you point with your left hand where the road surface is bad or the pot holes would damage your wheel, to warn those behind you, it was almost a constant pointing, even on supposedly “main” roads!

I am not a person who worries and I live for the moment, it is also fair to say, generally I am an optimist but it is obvious to anyone that our country is falling apart both figuratively and literally. Much due to Brexit but is was on the decline years before. It is easy to blame the Conservative govt. and world events but we are all to blame. The apathy and selfishness of most of us is astonishing ( I include myself) We no longer have any community feel. We all sit looking at a screen, looking at crap and swearing at all the misinformation we are fed everyday! We have become a nation of sound bites, glib phrases, stupid quotes and a surfeit of poor judgement and corruption! 

We have the potential to be a great country, all the ingredients are there but we seem to be obsessed with what has gone wrong and not how we can make it better ( yes I get the irony of that) Each of us must try to improve things no matter how small that improvement is. We have poor unimaginative leaders but that should not stop us. 

We have, after meaning to for some time bought biodegradable bags and have a separate bin for food waste, yes we should have been doing it for years but now we are, a small thing but a change.

Stay well