SOMETHING ABOUT TRUE GRIT

Is it comforting to know that one is not alone in witnessing the end of American Democracy? After all one has been predicting this for some time, along with numerous others. So is there any satisfaction in seeing it happen?

 

The warnings were always there and had been getting worse during the last four years. No one was able to push back on the lies and gaslighting of the ordinary American electorate. There was a reason Mr Trump claimed time and again that he loved the poorly educated. They were the most malleable individuals in the country and he played on their poor education ad infinitum. The result is definitive proof that the American electorate is the most ignorant and poorest educated group on the planet. They have no idea whatsoever just what the constitution of the United States actually means, and it is crystal clear that general education in the United States has failed on a colossal scale.

 

We see a number of people being interviewed in the media who present opinion expressing shock and dismay at what is going on in the United States, and the effects the current administration is having on the rest of the world.  None of this has any effect whatever and the Trump express trundles on unchecked. It will continue to do so, so long as the citizens of the United States revel in ignorance. Comment and anecdote about the expanding catastrophe of Trumpism is of no import. It is merely repetitive nonsense.

 

I have reached the point of ceasing to listen or watch this continuous show of dismay and outrage at what is happening around the world. Waiting for some push back from European leaders appears to be something they too are waiting for. Each leader seems to be expecting another leader to take the lead, and consequently no one takes the lead.

 

So long as the rest of the world conforms to the premise that the President of the United States is all powerful he will maintain that position. The fact that he is an ignorant psychotic narcissist demands that European democratic leaders should call out the United States and issue sanctions to do everything they can to reign in this fake leader and force the American Public to wake up and get rid of him. It is one thing to show respect and allegiance to the Office of the President, but not when the individual who currently occupies that office is so blatantly unfit to hold that office. 

 

What is perhaps more troubling is the number of acolytes and narrowly educated individuals who support him and are willing to serve in his cabinet. They are the ones who will bend and interpret the law so as to give him immunity from it and thus sanction him to actually decide what the law should be.  If that is not dictatorship and completely contrary to the Constitution and separation of powers I no longer know what is. Not only do they support this blasphemy but they claim to be doing it in support of the Constitution, only it’s an interpretation so wildly skewered it beggars’ belief.

 

Mind you, much the same has been going on round the world, in particular Russia and China. So far as western Europe is concerned one can add Hungary and Austria. In fact the whole of the Middle European shatter belt, or old Habsburg Empire, is a case in point. As to the problems of the Middle East and south east Asia, it is more a matter of rigid religious beliefs that atrophies the mind towards inflexibility, prejudice and violence.   

 

The above was written yesterday and there has now been some reaction to Trump from European politicians. The leading German candidates in the current German general election have made their views felt in referring to Trump. It has been reported:

Christian Democratic chancellor candidate Friedrich Merz strongly rejected statements made by Trump about Ukraine. Commenting on Trump's statement that the government in Kyiv is partly to blame for the Russian war of aggression and could have brought peace itself long ago, the chancellor candidate front-runner told public broadcaster ARD.  “This is basically a classic perpetrator-victim reversal,” he said, pointing out that this corresponds to the Russian narrative of President Vladimir Putin.  “And to be honest, I am somewhat shocked that Donald Trump has now obviously adopted this narrative himself,” Merz added.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Wednesday criticized US President Donald Trump for calling Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a “dictator.” “It is simply wrong and dangerous to deny President Zelenskyy his democratic legitimacy,” Scholz told the Der Spiegel news magazine. “It is true that Volodymyr Zelenskyy is the elected head of state of Ukraine. The fact that no proper elections can be held in the middle of a war is in line with the Ukrainian constitution and electoral laws. No one should claim otherwise,” he added. The chancellor recalled that it was Russia under President Vladimir Putin that started the war in Ukraine. “Ukraine has been defending itself against a merciless Russian war of aggression for almost three years. Day after day,” Scholz said.

 

So it is clear that vying for leadership in this election requires the candidates to show a strong opposition to Mr Trump, raise questions about American support and the possible vanishing of democracy in the United States under a would be dictatorial President, leaning towards fascism. This appeal to the German public from the right and centre right of the German political spectrum is not without its ironic historical edge. 

 

In the United Kingdom one has unfortunately to contemplate the ridiculous adulation of Mr Trump by the likes of Nigel Farage. A dissembler and prevaricator of the worst kind who appears to be appealing to the right and far right of British political opinion.. That such sycophancy should be on display by a British member of parliament and leader of a party, no matter how distasteful, is dispiriting. His laudatory comments about his saviour Trump are sickening

Be that as it may, the British government has its own problem of rapprochement with the European Community and navigating a position which will allow it to deal with Trump in an effective positive manner without resorting to knee bending tactics and placating the narcissistic infantile idiot that is Mr Trump.  If ever strength and diplomacy went hand in hand it is now up to Mr Starmer to show his mettle. This is what true grit is all about.

MATTERS ARISING

 

There are a couple of matters which have surfaced in the recent past including the unspeakable behaviour of most Republican Party representatives in the United States Congress and some rather unfortunate problems faced by management of NHS England. As to that, The Chief Executive of said department, Amanda Pritchard, appeared before the health and social care committee. As reported in the Guardian, just hours before she had appeared before the committee, the House of Commons public accounts committee, or PAC, published a report which accused leaders of the NHS and the Department of Health and Social Care of lacking “drive” and “ideas”. In addition, after Ms Pritchard gave evidence, the health committee issued a statement, which said, Ms Pritchard and her team lacked “drive” and “dynamism”. Their quotation marks, not mine.

 

I had posted a blog on Wednesday the 5^th July 2023 (to be found at https://fbuffnstuff.blogspot.com/2023/07/managing-nhs.html)  concerning an interview on the Today Program with Amanda Pritchard. During that interview, Ms Pritchard was asked to comment on a joint statement made by the three main health think tanks in the UK, the King’s Fund, the Nuffield Trust and The Health Foundation, which said that the health service suffered from “insufficient resources to do its job, fewer hospital beds than almost all similar countries, outdated equipment, dilapidated buildings and failing IT”.

 

I was rather critical of Ms Pritchard’s answers to questions, or rather non-answers. I commented that when it was suggested that she could put pressure on the politicians to resolve some of the issues causing the current difficult and possibly damaging industrial action, she again shied away from an answer. She stated during the interview “I’m not a politician, wages and funding is down to the politicians, I’m only the Chief Executive”. In the event she came across as Ms Pollyanna, speaking joyfully of planning for more trained staff in the future and generally looking forward. It sounded all very positive but was, in my view, merely a classic ministerial projection of neverland. She made no mention of the outdated equipment and dilapidated buildings and other basics which make it impossible for the staff to do their job. This was of course at the start of the Conservative Government’s last year in office.

 

My own view, a the time, was that what she should be doing is taking up the report from the King’s Fund, Nuffield Trust and Health Foundation and battering the Minister and government to deal with the failing infrastructure. Hospitals need urgent repair and maintenance. Hospitals need functioning and up-to-date equipment. Hospitals need the latest technology. Hospitals need the best and most efficient IT. Hospitals need staff trained to deal with the latest and best kit available. To train staff in, and with, crap facilities and equipment is counterproductive as they will have to be trained all over again. What reduces waiting and mistakes is effective efficiency. What makes efficiency effective is knowledge and training with the right tools. With effective efficiency you get savings and with savings you get more productivity. To get productivity you need the best staff, and to get the best staff you need to pay them accordingly. Corporations have been going on about this for years (The BBC is an instance in point – they claim they must pay high wages to keep the best talent).

 

Now, under Labour, the Guardian reports (full report can be found at https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/feb/11/the-guardian-view-on-the-health-service-the-problems-go-deeper-than-the-boss), “The frustration of MPs on the health committee at what they regarded as long-winded answers was obvious to anyone watching. But Ms Pritchard is not a politician, and one reason for a lack of clarity in her answers was that the publication of crucial guidance, including updated targets, had been postponed by ministers”

 

Effectively, poor Ms Pritchard is in the unenviable position of being caught between two stools or rather regimes, neither of which is providing the actual resources required to provide the NHS with the fundamental equipment, buildings and medical personnel needed to make it progressive and efficient. So, having a go at management is all very well, but if there is no real added value to manage, what’s the difference?  The Guardian article added, inter alia:

 

 “While MPs, like voters, are understandably impatient for improvement, the expectations of the people with operational responsibility for the health service should be realistic. Given funding constraints, and the fact that NHS England’s structure (with its 42 integrated care boards) is still bedding in, it is unclear what demands for transformation really mean – beyond a wish that things were better than they are. Julian Kelly, Ms Pritchard’s deputy, explained that most of the £10.6bn increase to the organisation’s budget in 2025-26 will be absorbed by salary and national insurance rises, inflation and the £3.5bn allowed for rising costs caused by an ageing population and new treatments…..

Sorting out the confusion should be a priority for the new permanent secretary of Mr Streeting’s department, who is due to be appointed shortly, along with a new chair of NHS England. The filling of these two vacant posts means Ms Pritchard is likely to find she has less room to manoeuvre; the high level of autonomy granted to NHS England by the Conservatives is in the process of being reduced.”

 

So, in reality we are no further along than tinkering with changes of management as opposed to actually dealing with the nuts and bolts of the service which are necessary for management to be able to do their job; therefore, what was the change of government about?

 

I have, recently, become one of the more active patients of NHS England and can only speak glowingly of the treatment that I have received.  Whilst there have been minor hiccups, the overall dealings I have had with Guy’s and St Thomas’ and King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trusts is superb. To allow it to deteriorate would be an abomination. There are of course glaring abnormalities to be found and which make very distressing headlines, but given the numbers being cared for and the size of the organisation these anomalies are a small percentage of the overall performance. Nonetheless it is extremely disturbing such problems exist at all given the tragedies that can result. Striving for 100% efficiency and effectiveness in the NHS is to be lauded. It is hoped it can and will be achieved, but it will be at some cost.

 

Another matter involves the lies being told to courts by the security services. This is mainly done in order to maintain the standard response by security personnel “I can neither deny nor confirm whatever it is you want to know”. Legal actions involving the security service are often, and usually are, conducted in secret hearings behind closed doors, with the participants having been granted security clearance. More often than not, plaintiffs, witnesses and sometimes their lawyers are not admitted to such courts, nor can they be told how or what led to a court’s decision.  Given the rarity of such cases it has always been assumed by the Judiciary that public government servants (which is what security agents are) do not lie. That is a fiction which has been debunked, or rather a fiction that has finally caught up with what we all already knew. Spies tell lies. It is what they do because they are trained to do so. It is the nature of the beast. The current revelations and admissions by MI5 that its agents had told lies in court is not new or shocking. What is shocking is that justices and concerned persons profess to be shocked, which I find just as mendacious.

 

As to other matters arising in the United States, there are too many to mention. Elon Musk giving a press conference in the Oval Office, with Trump sitting like some side-line observer, whilst Elon held forth with his small son on his shoulders as if he were in complete control, and wasn’t it cute and fun to have the kid there, by the way. He did not seem to defer to, or acknowledge that Trump was even there, or even had any part in His Department of Government Efficiency. He was being transparent. Everything he was doing was out in the open. That no such Government Department is actually authorised by Congress or the Judiciary is, to him, of no consequence. The only thing that was open was that he was acting without any proper legal authority. How he was going about it was not at all transparent. Only his outrageous decisions were out in the open. Since when does he have the power to delve into personnel files, hire and fire and close down government activity?

 

There are also various congressional oversight committees to question heads of, and permanent staff of, various legal government departments and to approve the various presidential nominees to run some of those government departments.   To watch and listen to those hearings is a never-ending state of disbelief. The divisions on display are deep and run along the slimmest of margins. That Trumps Republican Party can claim a mandate through some sort of maniacal allegiance to Trump claiming adherence to the constitution and the democratic process is horrifying. The giving in to executive orders and unconditionally appalling acolytes as his cabinet, is beyond comprehension. The complete absence of so called checks and balances no longer exists. Unless Congress reasserts itself as an equal branch of government, American Democracy is no more and the Empire, that is the United States, will expire.  Its disintegration is already apparent in the ludicrous fantasy of the new middle eastern riviera on the Mediterranean. You can already see a new Trump Tower with Casino, spa, boutiques and west facing balconies to watch the sunset, all funded by his crypto currencies. Bye Bye American pie.

HOW DO WE LIKE IT SO FAR?

There is too much to be going on with. Many of the world’s leaders seem to be lining up to either make deals with the United States and their President, or resist the barrage of questionable decrees, both domestic and international in scope. Those seeking to make deals must somehow find a way to ingratiate themselves without appearing to be too accepting of his bullying and arrogant nature so as not to alarm their own countrymen. Others go full on with effusive flattery, thereby gaining his full attention, whilst relying on their countrymen to recognise the irony in their approach. It is as if they are indicating to their citizen’s “Hey, watch this. This is how you deal with and egotistical idiot”. This is certainly the approach used by Putin since Trump first come on the scene, back in the day Trump first applied to build a Trump Tower in Moscow.

In the United Kingdom, much criticism has been laid at the doors of David Lammy and Peter Mandelson for their presumed volt face in their current appreciation of Trump. Their prior comments about him seem to indicate a level of unacceptable hypocrisy; yet, how else is one to make an approach when faced with having to deal with the current American President and his advisors. To date the UK Prime Minister seems to be in favour with Mr Trump, although it seems clear that no one, and I mean no one, least of all Keir Starmer, knows why.

There are other opinions which suggest that, despite the brouhaha caused by the second election of Mr Trump, there is nothing really to be concerned about. The United States has always been a questionable influence throughout the world and has often violated international law in many respects. It has indulged in covert operations around the globe since the establishment of the United States of America. History is littered with instances of American interference and skulduggery. The continued existence of Guantanamo in Cuba, and the uses to which it has been put, is clearly evidence of that.  So no real change with regards to Trump and his open braggadocio of America First. It has always been America First. In effect, the current President is just the same old same old with a bit more exaggeration.

Despite this truth being universally acknowledged, there are certain American citizens and their elected representatives who still believe in the Constitution and the separation of powers that it supports. It is, for some, a strongly held believe. You can see them all over YouTube expressing opinion and dismay at the doings of the present administration, strenuously attempting to take Mr Trump’s nominees for public office to task for their inexperience, bias and adherence to Trump’s lies and conceits. They do this in the full knowledge that it is to no avail given the slim majorities of the Republican party in both houses of congress. The Justices of the Supreme Court have long lost any influence as the Court has clearly been corrupted.

So what is a citizen to do? The Press, most notably the White House Press Corp, no longer challenges the administration as it should, nor does it highlight the misinformation and continued propagandist style of the Press Secretaries proffered by Trump.  They have lost any integrity they might have had. The repetitious “I will always tell the truth” doesn’t cut it anymore.

Is it now just a matter of sitting tight for the next four years and hope it will all right itself in the end? There are many caring citizens in the United States who should not forget that there is a very slim majority who have voted in the current administration and it should not take much to form an effective opposition. Executive decrees are limited and can be struct down by the courts, as some already have been. There have been rather forceful solidarity movements around the world that have made differences in government. This should not be overlooked.

In any event, it would seem that the world economic situation will be going through some rather up and down frenetic activity in the light of tariff wars and other cascades of Mr Trumps irresponsible disruptions. For him, this is just another episode of the Apprentice show. “How will everybody react if I do something really stupid?” He does all this between rounds of golf in Florida. How is that in anyway serious?

The tragedy of Trump in the United Kingdom is, unfortunately, far reaching. Quite apart from a labour government finding itself in a situation having to adjust its very basic principles to deal with a Trump, it is also in the throws of attempting to reconcile those very principles with an economy very much geared to the marketplace. It is all down to affordability and the necessity of raising sufficient state income to provide the kind of welfare required for the nation. Without growth, no increase in taxable income. Hence the refrain of growth, growth growth. How does one cope with an essentially socialist outlook, with making deals in the marketplace, and in making those deals, cope with providing public services without selling out those services to private enterprise.

Public utilities and public transport have already been auctioned off and we can clearly see the results. Water companies have made their executives and shareholders rich and have only succeeded in polluting rivers and shorelines, whilst claiming they have to increase their pricing to fix the problems of antiquated systems they claimed they were going to fix when they first took over running the utility. They failed and are asking the public to pay yet more. Electricity and gas are equally claiming the need for increased payments. Refuse collection has been farmed out to private enterprise and collections have deteriorated. They are now fewer and the supposed emphasis on recycling, although necessary, is hiding the fact that the service once provided is painfully inferior to what it once was.  Train services have deteriorated considerably since privatisation, despite additional support from the taxpayer over the years and the fares still increase. These are just the UK’s domestic problems.

What price doing ‘deals’ with other nations in the world markets?  Mr Trump will be more than happy to organise a trade deal with the UK so long as it contains a pass for big pharma and numerous insurance schemes to get their claws into the NHS. This would be the final straw that killed off the NHS entirely.

Marina Dunbar, a young journalist and a Guardian newspaper fellow, in an article published on the 22^nd January 2025, reported, inter alia:

Within his first 48 hours back in office, Trump has signed several executive orders that threaten the healthcare of millions of Americans…

Those orders are expected to affect the medical insurance coverage for upwards of 20 million people in the US…

“The consequences of more people going uninsured are really significant, not just at an individual level with more medical debt and less healthy outcomes, but also has ripple effects for providers,” Sabrina Corlette, a research professor and co-director of the Centre on Health Insurance Reforms at Georgetown University, said.

Commercial insurance has proved difficult to navigate for millions, as people with insurance have been almost as likely to experience medical debt as those who are uninsured. In fact, people with health insurance may now represent the majority of debtors American hospitals struggle to collect from, according to medical billing analysts.

“Premiums go up for the people who do have health insurance. For the people without health insurance, it’s financially devastating,” Corlette said. “The result is medical debt, garnished wages and liens on people’s homes because they can’t pay off their bills.”

This is the prospect the British public is likely to face from a ‘trade deal’ with the United States, under the stewardship of Donald Trump and his cronies. The United States already has taken over certain digital services with their program ‘My Chart’ which is now being used by Guys and St Thomas Hospitals. The same program is used across the whole of the United States. All of our medical history, current treatments, appointments and prescriptions are available on this site. Why has the NHS app effectively been abandoned? None of this bodes well.

I do not think I am being alarmist. You cannot trust anything that man says or does. The last eight years of continuous lies, narcissism and infantile behaviour is brutally demonstrated by his first term in office, and during his last four years continuous rant about stolen elections and how hard done by he has been. He is a convicted felon with yet more criminal charges to deal with once out of office. They should be revied and dealt with once his supreme court immunity is gone. Whether that will be the case is another matter; however, I would urge the various prosecuting attorneys to be vigilant and proceed accordingly when the time comes.

The insanity of his UK supporters like Nigel Farage, Liz Truss, Boris Johnson etc. is an outrage and completely contrary to the British Constitution and the rule of law.  What they see in him is beyond understanding. That a British Citizen can support an insurrectionist, an inciter to violence, a fraudster and sexual predator, proved beyond reasonable doubt, says a lot about them. They are just as mendacious as he. How is it that they have support in the UK? What is wrong with these people? Have they no shame?

More of this anon. I have cooking to do.

WHERE DID IT ALL GO WRONG

Where did it all go wrong? I was watching this morning on YouTube, an interview, from CNN, between Jake Tapper and Stephen Miller the White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy. Mr Miller was giving his explanation about the executive order to freeze federal aid. The legality of the order was not discussed, but during the course of the interview it became clear that the main reason behind the policy was to ‘stop federal funds being diverted to left wing projects’ or words to that effect, adding, that the current civil servants who have some say in the expenditure of federal funds are left wing and supporters of Kamala Harris; also,  Joe Biden’s previous polices were a waste of public funds for left wing projects and that the civil servants in question had to be fired and completely replaced by new people, in order to enable  government to regain control. It was not intended (although it did) to stop funding Medicaid or other social support for the elderly like meals on wheels or child care programs etc.

In effect, what is intended, is a complete dismissal of all federal government employees who do not agree with Trump & Co.  and replace them with their own people, to enable complete control of public funds and all the power that goes with it. Mr Miller spoke of ‘the left’ as if it was a position that had no right to even exist, especially in the United States. He also went on about getting rid of ‘undocumented criminal immigrants’ in the same tone, as if the only criminals in the United States were undocumented illegal immigrants. The promotion of division and fear was his entire message, his entire policy. It is the continuous refrain of Trumpism. It is now another ism.

Sadly, it dawns on me now, that my generation must have a lot to do with what is going on. We were born during and just before the second world war. The world had come out of a deep depression, particularly in Germany, and the resentments of prior disputes boiled over into the rise of nationalism in Europe and around the world. The antagonisms that developed, and the fear mongering and scapegoating that took place led to that world war. Afterwards, our parents returned to work in earnest to try and make their world a better place in a variety of ways espousing, as normal, the different political points of view that go into making up the social order of things and the governance that goes with it. But, they did so in the firm belief that they would not let their children suffer the horrors of the war they had just survived.

Those that were able, did everything they could to protect their children. The work and education ethic were very strong and for a while, during the 1950’s and early 1960’s, most things, in the western world at least, were good.  I was one of those children. We had a great time growing up. Our parents were mainly protective and consequently a bit conservative (not necessarily politically) and reluctantly allowed us a degree of social freedom so that we might grow up to be better people. We, in the course of growing up, rejecting some of the more staid views of our parents and rejected certain attitudes to form our own.  

Given the particular events prompted out of the cold war (Korea, Vietnam etc..) a world-wide social movement developed into the flower power generation. It was all about peace and love, flowers in your hair, jaw jaw instead of war war, and ‘getting it together’. It was all about inclusion and getting on with each other. We all went to Woodstock, one way or another. Even Ronald Reagan in a farewell speech (which I had previously posted, but here it is again) spoke of inclusion and the state of what it was to be an American.

The modus vivendi now seems to be exclusion, division and a refusal to listen to another point of view. We are back to the entrenchment of resentment, the fearmongering and blaming of ‘outsiders’ for our troubles. Differences of religion no longer conform to their espoused adherence to charity, but have evolved into outright hatred, violence and carnage. So again, I ask myself, once a 1960’s hippy, where did we go wrong? Why are our children so full of hatred and division? Why are they so disparaging of others? Why do they seek to wield knives and guns and rampage? Why are our politicians so utterly divisive and seeking to so control their nations into zombies of ordered and over controlled citizens? Why have free thinking citizens elected these people to be our representatives? Why have we acquiesced to put them in such high authority? What is this attraction towards the dictator? Why are we repeating the mistakes of our ancestors?

We have all been here before and the protest songs and folk songs we sang together seem to echo is some distant world. Recently Rolling Stone Magazine published a list of the hundred greatest protest songs. Oddly a great many were composed in the 1980’s, 1990’s, and in the last 25 years of the 21^st century. Sadly, they have had as much effect as those from the 1930’s through to the 1970’s

In any event, the generations that have come after us seem to have completely lost the way. As much as there are people who want to save the planet, protect the environment, ensure the survival of humanity, protect and preserve existing welfare programs (NHS, income support, social security, care homes, meals on wheels, child care etc..) freedoms of expression, religion, education, employment and movement, there are people who want to abolish state funding all together and control these freedoms with an iron hand of conformity and dictatorial powers. The divisions could not be more stark. The refusal and denial of climate change and genuine democracy is apparent to all. The evidence is expressed in our daily lives.

There is the joke about the elderly person who asks God why he hasn’t warned him about approaching death. God suggests, look in the mirror, what do you see? How much warning do you need?  We can all say, look at the weather, look at the devastating floods, hurricanes, typhoons, drought and fires. How much warning do you need? Listen to the likes of Trump, Putin, Le Pen, Netanyahu, Sinwar,  Al-Masri, etc. How much warning do you need?

Can we not get it back together?

DO WE STILL LIKE TO BE IN AMERICA?

What a difference a day makes. Listening to the news is difficult. The various stories that are currently reported emphasise the difficulties faced by editors needing to prioritise the events reported on in order of their importance. Is the decision on level of importance arrived at by the editor alone or by a group of journalists in the newsroom based on their collective view as to what story should take precedence? The BBC have a basic formula of generally dealing with international news to begin with, unless there is a pressing national story which appears to be dominating the headlines. It then moves on to ‘local news’ which, when dealing with the greater London area, will often be part of a national news story.  Again, the degree of importance given to the story appears to be based on the editor’s judgement of what the public considers of most interest at the time of publication. ITV newscasts generally begin with local news followed by national and international news reporting.  A different approach but effectively along the same lines of separation of importance to the perceived viewer.

 

The main stories however are generally the same in whatever publication is on offer, presumably taking the general public’s attitude to what is of importance to them; although, the circulation of the various journals gives an indication as to what their particular readers feel is of importance. This is clearly indicated by the variety of headlines one finds in the Sun, The Express, The Mirror, The Mail, the Guardian, the Times, the Telegraph, the Financial Times etc. Each has their particular approach to lead story lines indicative of their readership. Know to whom you speak.

 

Given my own anxieties, I confess I lean towards the Guardian. I prefer its editorial views and I find some of its contributors are usually in agreement with me (tee hee) or at least express opinion with which I agree.  This attitude is clearly biased and full of ‘liberal lefty” prejudice, but it is what it is. I have sent the odd letter to the editor but have never had anything published. Indeed, I have sometimes been pissed off when I find my particular point being expressed in someone else’s letter or regular column the next day or a few days later. But such is life. People hold similar views and some occasionally have a platform. Some others are actually elected representatives, politicians who one hopes will promote the views we feel might go some way to improving the current problems and finding solutions to the difficulties.

 

This would be on both a national and international scale, after all it’s not like fight club. What happens abroad does not stay abroad. The ramifications go everywhere. Any perturbation on the globe clearly affects the entire planet. Spatiality matters. In discussing the brain, Professor Netta Cohen, now at University of Leeds, has proposed:

 

“One of the key things is that there are many interactive components, interacting in a non-trivial way, as physicists would say interacting with degrees of freedom.  There are microscopic degrees of freedom and macroscopic degrees of freedom that are interacting, each of those (components) are acting and interacting on a wide range of scales, this includes both temporal scales; you’ve got very very quick proteins acting on nanoseconds, all the way to the range of microseconds and sometimes milliseconds and you’ve got lifetime learning. A very broad range of time scales and a very broad range of spatial scales, things acting intracellularly, at the molecular level and the G-network level which are very localised and you’ve got things happening at whole brain level and that’s excluding your interaction with the environment which is whole organism level... A single protein can change the macroscopic state of the system; a single macroscopic perturbation can cause some gene expression which then causes some cascade which completely changes your system”

 

As a metaphor for what is going on across the globe on a very broad range of time scales and on a whole world level, it is more than somewhat appropriate. Can one see Mr Trump as that single protein or macroscopic perturbation causing cascades which are completely changing our system, or is it in fact a sequence of such proteins in the form of Putin, Trump, and other single minded right wing nationalists’ intent on bullying their way to supreme power? What on earth is the Greenland, Canada and Panama obsession about? Is it to emulate Putin and Ukraine, or Xi Jinping and Taiwan? What can Trump possibly have said to Danish Prime Minister Frederiksen?

 

This degree of freedom interaction is cause for considerable concern. He is being given a free ride in the United States by an astronomically ignorant and poorly educated electorate, a corrupt and without moral judgement so called Supreme Court and a Congress (in particular the Senate) of sycophants and lickspittles without a scintilla of integrity. Am I being harsh? I do not think so. His assumption that he can override the Constitution of the United States by executive order or decree is therefore not without foundation. ‘They’ have come round to his edicts before and there seems to be no reason for ‘them’ not to come round again.

 

As to the Washington Press Corps, they are alas absent without leave. There is nothing to challenge his ego. The only fly in his ointment is a little Episcopal Bishop in the Washington Diocese in the shape of Mariann Budde who spoke up from her pulpit. Her sermon to bless and commemorate the inauguration was in her church where he would not be able to voice objection or interrupt with the rage of his bully persona. He just had to sit there and take it. His usual response came out later on line with the usual epithet of nasty and other derogatory descriptive adjectives.

Her sermon has gone round the world and can be viewed:

I am not a believer in God. I do not call upon him as a saviour or proffer him as having a hand to lift me up and guide me through life. Marianne Budde however, is of a different view and she knows she has God on her side. This was not a sermon from a doubting Thomas. She was clear and articulate and spoke directly to power. ‘Smoke on your pipe and put that in’. 

NONSENSE AND NOSTALGIA

This was written yesterday but not posted till today.  

The United States Senate is going through the charade of questioning prospective secretaries of the various government departments put forward by Donald Trump. The choices he has made have been all over the news and have attracted a variety of opinion, most of which has pointed out the ineptitude of the various choices either through their disturbing right wing rhetoric, ineptitude or lack of relevant experience. All have a singular devotion to Mr Trump despite their claims of political impartiality and adherence to the constitution and the rule of law. I say charade because the current make-up of the Senate contains a majority of Republican Party representatives, most of whom are equally devoted to Mr Trump.

 

The scrutiny and style of questions put to the various candidates is nothing other than congratulations and leading questions extoling their supposed virtues. Indeed the Chairman of the Committee invariably introduces into ‘evidence’, without exceptions, positive letters of recommendation and backing for the respective candidates.  There are apparently no letters making any adverse comment. Equally no witnesses in opposition appear to come before the committee. So, despite the obvious caveats normally associated with Senate enquiries, the various candidates will be approved and Trump will have all his sycophants sitting at his table licking and brownnosing galore. The manner in which the Republican party cosies up to these so called secretaries of defence and attorneys general is sickening. The evasive answers and non-answers to question from opposition senators is breath-taking as is the scorn and arrogance displayed in the candidates replies. Never, in the history of the United States, have presidential choices for heads of cabinet posts been so low and lacking in character. It is a gathering of gangsters who have no regard for anyone but themselves in the shadow of their godfather.

 

That the United States Government should stoop so low as to choosing officials no better than mobsters and racketeers is the undoing of America. The convicted felon will have his way and there appears to be nothing that can be done about it. I would not be surprised in the long run if the United States applies to become a member of the Russian Federation under Putin, given Mr Trumps admiration of the man. The way Putin rang the changes at their last meeting through cajoling flattery was masterful, and will no doubt continue in the same vein.

 

Enough of that. Moving on to more fun things. Many things are getting far more expensive throughout the world. I can recall that in 1960 a cup of coffee at Ships Coffee Shop in Westwood cost 10 cents with just about unlimited refills. In addition there was of small jug of single cream on the table (along with other condiments including maple syrup and raspberry jam). Coffee went up to 20 cents in the 70’s. Herewith part of a sample menu:

There was a film called Diner released in 1982 written and directed by Barry Levinson about a group of friends in 1959 who frequent a Diner in Baltimore called Fell’s Point Diner. The depiction in the film is very much like my own time at UCLA in Westwood and meeting up with friends in Ships.  The film starred Steve Guttenberg, Daniel Stern, Mickey Rourke, Kevin Bacon, Timothy Daly and Ellen Barkin. They were all in their when the film was made. It’s worth a look if only for nostalgia. The film starts two minutes in to video:

As to the Ships menu, it should be noted that a top sirloin steak served with a baked potato sour cream and chives between 5pm and 9pm seems like a good deal at $2.85, but it would be the equivalent of $23.18 today, so not so very great since one can get a 6oz sirloin steak and eggs at Norms Restaurant in Inglewood, California for $17.99. 

So much for nostalgia. One forgets the salaries on offer. In Billy Wilder's film, The Apartment (released in 1960) in the opening monologue, Jack Lemon's character, C.C. Baxter, mentions that he receives take home pay of $94.70 per week, which today is the equivalent of $1,009.72 per week or £827.64. That is roughly equivalent to a yearly salary of £56,000.00 a year before tax. Not too shabby for a young single man in his 30's. He also paid less than one week's salary for one month's rent or about $200 a week (£163) for an apartment in New York City. He claims to live in the West 60's just half a block from Central Park. At today's rents he would have to pay at least  5 times that much for a one bedroom apartment in the same location. So there were things that were better value for money, like  rent generally, which would mean that a person on £56K per annum could not afford to live in Manhattan or indeed central London unless they shared. 

 

Perhaps sharing is altogether better for social interaction? Hard to say. A couple with a double income might manage it. It would appear that the current economic climate favours the couple, both working with fairly decent incomes. The single person clearly has more difficulty. This is even reflected in package holiday costs were there is usually a single person supplement. One has to say however, that the hours and work intensity required to earn those salaries means that there is less time to associate socially other than an after work drink with co-workers. Not necessarily the ideal way to pair up if one is seeking to have a partner. Hence the internet match making sites offering a variety of like-minded people to put themselves up to social interaction across the web. There have been successes but there have also been rather serious problems arising.

 

Economics and communications have clearly changed society in quite dramatic ways. It’s tough out there and it seems to be getting tougher. So back to nostalgia.

WHAT ABOUT MORE EDUCATION

The opening of 2025 has been a very mixed bag of events, mostly unfortunate. There is talk of a ceasefire in the middle east but Ukraine smoulders on. In the United States, Southern California is equally smouldering, quite apart from the insanity of the current transition towards a new federal government in Washington D.C. An infantile psychotic narcissist, as head of the free world, seeks to surround himself with sycophants and ridiculously unqualified people of inferior intellect as his secretaries of ministerial departments of state. To what end, not even he knows. The day to day reveals of the lack of character and knowledge of his cabinet choices is astonishing; yet, the Republican Party representatives inexplicably fall in behind him like lapdogs. This godlike adulation will be the undoing of the Republic. Of that I have no doubt, unless the rational and decent citizen’s left can somehow rally together and hold him and his cohorts in check as intended by the constitution. Good luck with that.

 

In the United Kingdom the new government is finding its own transition into governing extremely problematic. The first six months of the current parliament, despite the party’s massive majority, has been a string of little failures causing a distancing of its supporters from the leadership.  Government ministers are having to defend themselves vigorously at every interview after only six months in office. They have not ‘hit the ground running’ as claimed, and how long will they be able to carry on with “We have inherited a drastic situation left by the previous government`’ as a preamble to their excuses for inaction? I am perhaps being a bit harsh so far as the Labour Party is concerned, and the expectations of the citizenry may be a bit demanding and optimistic, but such is the nature of the beast.

 

 “You said X would happen and it hasn’t, and you appear to be lacking in judgement about certain matters relating to policy and personnel” is a constant refrain at present. That is not surprising given this first past the post majority from a minority one third of the electorate. The country is out of sync. The Labour Party did not enter parliament with a sigh of relief from the electorate in July 2024, but with a grumble of discontent, so despite the hoopla of congratulations at the polls, it was never going to be easy. With that in mind the pratt falls during this first six months have not helped. We can but hope the new year will prompt the ground running to commence. 

 

Addendum:

Celia is extremely upset about the above two paragraphs. I do understand. Yes there was great relief by all that the Conservative Party was so massively defeated at the last general election. Also, the Labour Party is doing wonders given the unfortunate and drastic situation left by the Conservative Party. A great deal of time and effort will have to be spent on cleaning up the mess. It has been an extremely difficult transition for the new government when faced with the urgencies required to get the NHS back on track, to deal with the calamitous fallout of Brexit and find a way to revitalise the United Kingdom’s relationship with its foremost trading nations in Europe. Apart from NHS reform. new legislation relating to tenants, employment, education and social care is urgently needed. The finances to secure the success of such endeavours is paramount and the economic growth to that end is not easy to promote. The success of the new government is in difficulties as it is subject to an onslaught of negative press and the polling which indicates that 70% of the public appear to be dissatisfied with the government. That is not surprising given that those figures have in fact not changed since the July 2024 election when70% of the electorate did not vote for Labour. So the fact that there has been no real change is pretty good going. I’ve no doubt they will bounce back, which is why I said that perhaps I was being a bit harsh. In any event the United Kingdom is a much safer haven that the United States or the Russian Federation. True freedom of expression and the rule of law survive here and are in no danger of succumbing to the likes of Trump and Putin.  

 

I am encouraged to have a more optimistic outlook and refrain from obsessing about the growing insanity in the United States and other depressing news in general. I will go for that, as I find my sleep pattern interrupted, not only from more frequently having to pee in the middle of the night, but from the anxiety of what one is helpless to change about the world. This, I am sure, is a not uncommon experience with people of my age. To paraphrase, what thoughts may come gives me pause.

 

I am certainly not at a stage where I would consider making my quietus by means of a sharp instrument or bottle of pills, not even of any kind. I believe there are still a few miles left in the current corpus, although closure does not seem far off. I see and hear of bits of prospective parliamentary environmental and social legislation that will come into effect in and around 2030, 2035 and 2050, and it does dawn on me that I am unlikely to benefit from the effects of such measures. Does that stop me from wishing they would come into effect even so? I wonder if the commitment levels are as strong as they once were, although I have to confess they were never that forceful in any event.

 

My critical faculties also seem to be out of step with current thinking. As an example, there is a new police procedural program on television, though not the most brilliant, original or earth shattering of shows, but which I found pleasantly entertaining. On reading a review in the Guardian it was panned in no uncertain terms by a reviewer I normally find reliable and amusing. So what can one say? A difference of opinion or a critical lack of discernment? It is hard to know which. In any event it is vital to keep the brain active and in a perpetual state of enquiry. Which is perhaps why one should once again consider the pursuit of another university degree of some kind. Should I follow up on the abandoned Phd in performance writing, make a formal application to engage in the aforementioned PPE degree, or some other subject entirely? To engage with academia is making a commitment to study, research, read and write essays within a disciplined and organised structure. One has to keep to a timetable and engage with other students and tutors or the fees required are just thrown away funds. Higher education costs, whereas autodidacticism can be a leisurely and inexpensive hobby. Within a university environment one has deadlines and targets to meet in order to obtain the piece of paper that demonstrate the qualification and expertise, or at least specific knowledge, in and of a subject. ‘Tis a consummation devoutly to be wished.  

 

Applications for the year 2025-2026 are now in the process of being considered by various institutions. UCL, LSE, Birkbeck and Kings College are but a bus ride away.  Perhaps a meeting and a discussion with some professor might be in order to get an idea as to what and whether it is worth pursuing? Perhaps a study in the vagaries and indecisions of old age from a philosophical, political and economic point of view? Who knows what lurks in the hearts of men? More of this anon.

I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO SAY

One is devastated by the news from Los Angeles. Two friends (I have known them for over 66 years) Bob, who has contributed comment on the blog (Monday 28^th October 2024 and Friday 8th November 2024) and lives in the Palisades, and Lolita, who lives in Malibu, have lost everything in the fire. It is almost impossible to comprehend the overwhelming distress they are going through. Bob and Kirie have lived in their home for over 50 years. Over half their lives have been obliterated. Lolita’s studio (whose work can be seen at  https://www.lolitasaprielsculpture.com/home ) has been decimated along with the rest of her home and possessions. The frustration of being so far away and unable to offer assistance is more than somewhat distressing.

This is not the kind of event that should be happening to us in our 80’s. It is imperative that they be given every assistance to reconnect with living, looking forward and re-establishing the equilibrium they had achieved before the fire. Family and friends come forward, as should the state of California and the United States Government.  President Biden has made clear the commitment of the Federal Government to do so, whilst the President Elect and his cohorts sing from a different hymn sheet. While Mr Musk is prepared to bank roll the Reform Party in the UK with $100 million, he seems unable to offer the same, if not more, to a fire relief fund for Los Angeles. It’s loose change to him after all. Even ten times that much would be insignificant to someone with allegedly over 4000 times that amount in assets. He could even pay the entire $51 billion estimate and it would still leave him with $400 billion, according to Forbes. He is unlikely to do any of that so long as he is allied to the right of politics and his stooge Donald Trump.

Be that as it may, in the autumn of 2009, sixteen years ago, I visited Los Angeles and took a few videos at the 50 year class reunion, one of which was with Lolita. Herewith is that video of a truly lovely human being. It’s not very long but it gives you an idea.

 

A TRIAL TO LOOK FORWARD TO

Well here we are again. A new year on the calendar and the first quarter of the 21^st century is in its final year. The turmoil that has occurred since the 11^th September 2001 is by no means insignificant. The escalation of automated military hardware has increased immeasurably and the death toll has trundled along with increasingly conspicuous breaches of crimes against humanity raised by the International Criminal Court.

 

Indeed, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court is Karim Asad Ahmed Khan KC. He was born in Edinburgh and received his qualifications from King’s College London and Wolfson College, Oxford. He assumed his current office on the 16^th June 2021 having been elected chief prosecutor of the ICC on the 12^th February 2021 for a nine year term.

 

There is an entry on his Wikipedia page which states:

“On 24 April 2024, Khan was sent a letter signed by 12 Republican U.S. senators threatening him and other UN jurists and their families with personal consequences if the ICC were to seek an international arrest warrant for Benjamin Netanyahu or other members of the Israeli government. The letter cited the American Service-Members’ Protection Act – known informally as "The Hague Invasion Act" which specifically includes "all means". The signatories said they would view any arrest warrant as "a threat not only to Israel's sovereignty, but also to the sovereignty of the United States". They threatened: "Target Israel and we will target you", and that any further action would "end all American support for the ICC" and "exclude [Khan and his associates and employees] and their families from the United States". The letter ended: "You have been warned."”

 

On the 20^th May 2024 Karim Khan KC issued a statement concerning Applications for arrest warrant in the situation in the State of Palestine, in which it is stated, inter alia:

“On the basis of evidence collected and examined by my Office, I have reasonable grounds to believe that Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, and, Yoav Gallant the Minister of Defence of Israel, bear criminal responsibility for the following war crimes and crimes against humanity committed on the territory of the State of Palestine (in the Gaza strip) from at least 8 October 2023:

• Starvation of civilians as a method of warfare as a war crime contrary to article 8(2)(b)(xxv) of the Statute;
• Wilfully causing great suffering, or serious injury to body or health contrary to article 8(2)(a)(iii), or cruel treatment as a war crime contrary to article 8(2)(c)(i);
• Wilful killing contrary to article 8(2)(a)(i), or Murder as a war crime contrary to article 8(2)(c)(i);
• Intentionally directing attacks against a civilian population as a war crime contrary to articles 8(2)(b)(i), or 8(2)(e)(i);
• Extermination and/or murder contrary to articles 7(1)(b) and 7(1)(a), including in the context of deaths caused by starvation, as a crime against humanity;
• Persecution as a crime against humanity contrary to article 7(1)(h);
• Other inhumane acts as crimes against humanity contrary to article 7(1)(k).

My Office submits that the war crimes alleged in these applications were committed in the context of an international armed conflict between Israel and Palestine, and a non-international armed conflict between Israel and Hamas (together with other Palestinian Armed Groups) running in parallel. We submit that the crimes against humanity charged were committed as part of a widespread and systematic attack against the Palestinian civilian population pursuant to State policy. These crimes, in our assessment, continue to this day…”

 

At the same time Mr Khan also issued warrant against Yahya SINWAR (Head of the Islamic Resistance Movement (“Hamas”) in the Gaza Strip), Mohammed Diab Ibrahim AL-MASRI, more commonly known as DEIF (Commander-in-Chief of the military wing of Hamas, known as the Al-Qassam Brigades), and Ismail HANIYEH (Head of Hamas Political Bureau) bear criminal responsibility for the following war crimes and crimes against humanity committed on the territory of Israel and the State of Palestine (in the Gaza strip) from at least 7 October 2023.

 

Also the list of defendants before the ICC includes Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin who faces the following charges:

“Allegedly responsible for the war crime of unlawful deportation of population (children) and that of unlawful transfer of population (children) from occupied areas of Ukraine to the Russian Federation (under articles 8(2)(a)(vii) and 8(2)(b)(viii) of the Rome Statute). The crimes were allegedly committed in Ukrainian occupied territory at least from 24 February 2022. There are reasonable grounds to believe that Mr Putin bears individual criminal responsibility for the aforementioned crimes, (i) for having committed the acts directly, jointly with others and/or through others (article 25(3)(a) of the Rome Statute), and (ii) for his failure to exercise control properly over civilian and military subordinates who committed the acts, or allowed for their commission, and who were under his effective authority and control, pursuant to superior responsibility (article 28(b) of the Rome Statute).”

 

An arrest warrant was issued by the Court on the 22^nd February 2023 for Mr Vladimir Putin, President of the Russian Federation amongst others including Ms Maria Lvova-Belova, Commissioner for Children’s Rights in the Office of the President of the Russian Federation. Additionally on the 2^nd February 2024 warrants were issued for Sergei Ivanovich Kobylash, a Lieutenant General in the Russian Armed Forces who at the relevant time was Commander of the Long-Range Aviation of the Aerospace Force and Viktor Nikolayevich Sokolov, an Admiral in the Russian Navy, who at the relevant time was Commander of the Black Sea Fleet. Further warrants were issued on 5^th `March 2024 for Sergei Kuzhugetovich Shoigu, Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation at the time of the alleged conduct; Valery Vasilyevich Gerasimov, Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Federation’s Armed Forces, and First Deputy Minister of Defence of the Russian Federation.

 

I do not know if Mr Khan has received any threats from the Russian Federation, but noting his response on the 20^th May 2024 to the threats from the United States on the 24^th April 2024, I am sure that he has clearly taken a view in issuing arrest warrants based on the “evidence collected and analysed by his Office pursuant to its independent investigations”.

 

Mr Khan has been busy in the last couple of years and there are arrest warrants outstanding in many parts of the world for numerous defendants, but for those who have screwed up the world in such a major way, it would be nice if  the warrants could all be executed at the same time.  One would like to see a trial before the court:

 

The World

-v-

Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, Maria Lvova-Belova, Sergei Ivanovich Kobylash, Viktor Nikolayevich Sokolov, Sergei Kuzhugetovich Shoigu, Valery Vasilyevich Gerasimov, Benjamin Netanyahu, Yoav Gallant, Yahya Sinwar, Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri, Ismail Haniyeh hi

Charge:

Conspiracy to screw up the world Etc...

 

I wonder how they would all get on being in the dock together at the same time. Personally I think one could add Donald Trump as an unindicted co-conspirator to round it up to a dirty dozen. 

 

We have had insanity so far and, what with co-Presidents Trump and Musk, the next four years seem to be a continuation of more of the same. Nonetheless, I will remain optimistic. One has a number of delightful events on offer in the near future including, the car passing its MOT midweek, a reconciliation supper next Friday or Saturday Night, Burns Night chez nous, a night out at the theatre to see The Score at the Haymarket in February and who knows what else may crop up of a cultural and life enhancing nature.  

 

I wish you all a very good start to the rest of the century.