HAPPY NEW YEAR

Coming to the end? I would like to believe that to be the case on a variety of matters. The end of wars in Middle Europe and Middle East. The end of Putin and Trump. The end of the British Conservative Government. The end of the increasing number of medical appointments.

2023 has not been the best of year ends. Its beginning was a rather mixed bag although much of it enjoyable.  After a lovely Christmas in Paris we also had another visit to Paris in January to see Annie dance at the Palais de Chaillot. After the show, we had a lovely supper with her director and fellow cast member.   Sadly on our return London we discovered that our great friend Charles Carne had died. So too had Piers Haggard. Their memorials were one day apart on the 7^th and 8^th of February. It was a very sad time. In addition, there have been a few passings of old acquaintances in this last month, Barrie Meller, Tim Woodward and David Leland and very sad it is; but that is on the downside. Like Annie’s performance, there is an upside. 

 

We did a short trip to France in March to lift the spirits and visit a couple of Cathedrals and had lovely meals at Augne and Font-Peauloup. Shortly after our return Celia got a job with the Royal Shakespeare Company which took us through to the 5^th of August. It was all very nice and followed by another visit to France in September to hook up with an old high school chum and her cousin in the Dordogne. We went on to Quillan I in the Aude Department to visit Clare, returning to London via Font-Peauloup and more lovely food. From then on we’ve had a few very nice lunches and suppers with friends in London. Another highlight was a visit to the Theatre Royal Bath to see Oliver Cotton’s play The Score which we believe will next be performed in London some time in 2024. Something to look forward to.

 

The year began on a Sunday and is ending on a Sunday. This next year, whilst beginning on a Monday will end on a Tuesday, it being a leap year. That being the case, it is also an Olympic year in Paris, France and an election year in the United States. It may also be a general election year in the United Kingdom. Indeed there should be an election before the Paris games begin on 24^th July. The official opening ceremony is on the 26^th July but some of the preliminary games must begin on the 24^th.

 

There will also be elections held in South Africa, Taiwan, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Ukraine, India, Indonesia, Russian Federation, Mexico, Iran, South Korea, Algeria, Uzbekistan, Ghana, Mozambique, Madagascar, Venezuela, North Korea, Mali. Syrian Arab Republic, Sri Lanka, Romania, Chad, Senegal, Cambodia, Rwanda, Tunisia, Belgium, Dominican Republic, Jordan, South Sudan, Czechia, Azerbaijan, Portugal, Belarus, Togo, Austria, El Salvador, Slovakia, Finland, Mauritania, Panama, Croatia, Georgia, Mongolia, Uruguay, Republic of Moldova, Lithuania, Botswana, Guinea Bissau, North Macedonia, Mauritius, Comoros, Bhutan, Solomon Islands. Maldives. Iceland, Kiribati, San Marino, Palau, Tuvalu.

 

Some elections already have fixed dates and others are yet to be decided. Some of the elections will be completely free and fair and others will be suspect or decidedly controlled. I do not expect the Belarus elections to be anything relating to "democratic" and the Russian Federation is so controlled that it hardly deserves to be called democratic.

 

In any event it would seem that most of the world’s population will be asked or coerced into making a political decision. There is an interview on YouTube between Brian Tyler Cohen and Mehdi Hassan which is interesting if only to get a small perspective on the upcoming US election in November. Mehdi Hassan no longer has a show on MSNBC and this interview was done some while ago before he was removed. It is also a bit of a book promotion.  Hassan certainly has views on America.

So let us look forward to 2024 in the hope that the forthcoming elections round the world will actually create a world change towards greater co-operation among nations and a strengthening of the power of United Nations Resolutions to bring about world peace and greater economic equality.