Amateur Reform and Sleep-walking into Socialism

 Much as I agree with many of the policies as promoted for the Reform Party, I am concerned at the views and apparent lack of sense by some of the people being put up for election. The latest character, Robert Kenyon, standing in the Makerfield by-election, appears to be rather a bad choice.

Firstly, he may claim that he voted for Brexit but all the evidence of his reaction to the declaration of our referendum result and posts of social media around that time contradicts that claim. Naturally, no-one will ever know where he put his cross on the day but my bet is that he was not a great supporter of the UK leaving. That, in itself, is not such a big deal and I can see many people are a bit disillusioned with how things have been negotiated since but my main concern is just how silly his tweets or comments have been. They seem no better than some bloke of limited intelligence having a rant after a couple of beers in the pub. Indeed, I am not sure I would want the type of person who feels he has to comment in that way to other people's messages or posts. His language and attitude lack any class and, looking at how he has behaved and the other things he seems to have supported or shared with a thumbs-up emoji, which in itself, tells us a lot about his lack of grey matter and ability to communicate in society, tend to make me rather unenthusiastic about having him as a Member of Parliament and getting £75000 or so from out taxes plus a massive pay-off and great pension when he gets kicked out a some point in years to come.

The final straw, and something which now has made me think again about supporting Reform, has been his comments about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He seems to think that Russia were 'within their rights' to invade Crimea in 2014. I see no comment from him criticising Russia since either. Even if we accept that Crimea has had a fraught history and no-one outside Ukraine seemed to put up much resistance to Russia at the time I fail to see any argument that supports invasion.

Reform also seem to be quiet on most matters concerning Russian activities, reflecting largely the extraordinary silence recently from anyone in the States with any degree of influence on the war in Ukraine. One has to wonder where their policies would lead if elected. I fear that, much like Trump, Farage would not wish to spend any money on further support and would just hope that it all goes away in time. Frankly, a Reform government would have an extraordinary amount of work on its plate anyway with no obvious plan as to how they would implement the changes and so foreign policy generally is likely to take a back seat.

I watched the Makerfield candidate on Question Time yesterday evening and had to smile at just how pathetic all the candidates came across. It was like watching a cartoon. 

The Liberal Democrat made almost no impact whatsoever and the only thing I can now recall, apart from his slightly odd appearance and his not really suiting a moustache, was the mention of his husband for no apparent reason other than perhaps to get the vote of a young chap in the audience wearing a remarkably pink and fancy shirt.

The Conservative had an almost permanent smile. An older chap who spoke a lot of sense but seemed quite out of place and was more ignored by the audience, and Fiona Bruce, than even the Liberal bloke. There was not, it seemed, a single Conservative supporter in the audience anyway and I think he and Fiona realised that.

The Green lady smiled even more than the Conservative but hers was one of those smiles that comes either just before or just after they make a sarcastic remark or are convinced that they know best whatever the other person says. She seemed only concerned in getting the Reform bloke to talk about what he had or hadn't said many years ago about what he might like to do to Carol Voderman's bottom. No-one in the audience, or the panel for that matter, questioned the Green Party's policy on not having any border controls, allowing people to use drugs and supporting Hamas or Hezbollah, probably both, as well as maintaining a list of all the jews in Britain. You do have to wonder what has happened to the Green Party. They used to be concerned about whales and the countryside. Now it's Gaza and, er, Gaza.

Andy Burnham was the Labour candidate and, of course, his sole job was to get through the evening without slipping up so that he could win the by-election and take over as Britain's Prime Minister. He managed that reasonably well, although you got the impression that he didn't have any solutions for any of the problems that the government has got itself into and, in the end, is unlikely to make Britain any better place at all. Indeed, by being somewhat more electable at a future General Election than any of the other obvious candidates, Britain could become considerably worse in the longer term if he were able to keep Reform or the Conservatives out of power for a further five years.

To get back to the Reform candidate, I had, at least, expected him to be able to present himself well, with some passion and good old Reform banter and protestations and instant, one-line recipes for fixing things. Instead we saw him floundering and way out of his depth, woefully unprepared and definitely not someone we would want to be running any department in the country. According to the polls before the show, Reform were running Labour a close second and, had someone called the Restore Party not being standing, they might have stood a chance of winning the seat. After the show Labour were 10 points ahead and I fear for the worst.

Unimpressive as Reform looked that night, I see their victory as the only way to avoid a long-term socialist destruction of all that I care for in Britain over the years ahead. I don't like all their policies and the candidate is rubbish but they are the only party with any chance of beating Labour at this time. I would vote Reform in Makerfield and would encourage anyone who does live there to do so.

Let us hope that the next General Election is some time away so that Kemi Badenoch can continue to impress people and regain the trust of so many Conservative voters who turned away from the party in 2024. I believe Reform have now peaked and, as we see more of their rather poor candidates on TV, I predict that their vote share will diminish with that of the Conservatives growing once more. It may well be that we have an even split across the parties as I think the ridiculous Greens will steal votes from Labour and the Lib Dems so we could even be looking at 20-20-20-15-15-5, the 15s being for the Greens and Lib Dems and the 5 for the usual rag-bag of Independents, Monster Raving Loonies and Islamic State supporters etc.

Whatever else one may conclude from that, one thing is certain, much as big change is necessary, it ain't about to happen as no combination of parties would have enough authority to do much more than collect taxes and talk a lot.

The trouble is that unless the Conservatives and Reform can start to work together and demonstrate that they have learned lessons from their previous failure, in the case of the former, and that they have solid and well-researched policies for fixing Britain, in the case of the latter, then the public will remain largely unimpressed by anyone and we will find ourselves sleep-walking into Socialism.

Perception rules

 I have written much in the past about how ridiculous attention to Diversity, Equality and Inclusion matters has developed over the years, with HR departments and leagues of new 'staff development' trainers delivering instructions to organisations across the country, mostly large and influential but also small and vulnerable, to the extent that most of us are scared to say or write anything relating to anything that might be considered a 'protected' minority characteristic. 

I have always blamed this intrusion into common sense left, right and centre on the last Conservative government's lax attitude and simply not spotting what was going on under their noses. I never thought they actively condoned or supported the changes happening but I did believe that they were very wrong in just letting it happen.

Now, thanks to an excellent article by Charles Moore in The Telegraph, I realise that the seeds of the racial element of much of this were sown far earlier, in 1999, when we were governed by Blair's Labour government. I reproduce most of the article here as it sets out so well how things went wrong.

When enormous official reports about terrible wrongs appear, most of those commenting on them do not have time to read them in full. The story breaks and everyone wants a quick reaction. This usually guarantees favourable reporting: much safer to praise than to interrogate.

In 1999, I was busy editing this newspaper, but I decided to take time out to read and analyse the whole of Macpherson. Something about the clamour surrounding it, and the mob intimidation from the public gallery in Lambeth Town Hall of witnesses to the inquiry, had made me suspicious.

Two things struck me about the report. The first was its tone. From the start, it was accusatory and rhetorical, not measured and professional. It assailed the character of police officers who appeared before it, like a prosecution, not an official inquiry. Its interpretation of events seemed settled in advance, whereas a well-conducted inquiry takes evidence on which to form its interpretation. Officers who dissented from the Macpherson view were exhibiting “their own unwitting collective racism”, it said. Hence, his concept of “institutional racism”. 

It seemed to me that the report never proved this. It simply asserted it.

The second point arose from the first. If the police, as the report said, were “unwitting” in their collective racism, it followed that self-selecting enlightened people – such as Sir William Macpherson, then in his 70s and living in a castle in non-diverse Perthshire – should order their re-education.

Thus the subject of racism gained the special privilege of not being defined by the criminal law in the ordinary way. A new, non-legal principle was invented and imposed. “A racist incident,” said Macpherson’s famous conclusions, “is any incident which is perceived to be racist by the victim or any other person.”

So anyone who thought he or she had suffered a racist incident had indeed done so, no further evidence required. And since even declared non-victims could, by “perceiving” a racist incident, make it exist, you needed only one person to perceive a racist incident, and report it, to make it an event which must be officially recorded. What was the criminal law, whose job is to establish guilt or innocence, supposed to make of that?

“If this definition were to be accepted,” I wrote in this space at the time, “the statistics of racist incidents would suddenly shoot up, allowing the police to be attacked even more.” That is exactly what has happened.

Macpherson added something else: “The term ‘racist incident’ must be understood to include crimes and non-crimes. Both must be reported, recorded and investigated with equal commitment” (“24 hours a day”). That, too, is exactly what has happened, the official name for this extra branch of police work being “non-crime hate incidents”.

Finally, Macpherson recommended that his racist incident definition “should be universally adopted by the police, local government and other relevant agencies.” That has also happened. We are governed by Macpherson race theory.

Sir William, I wrote then, “imposes on his victims, the police, a concept of racism which makes them guilty whatever they do… It is contemptible that someone versed in [the English] law should have done such a thing.” By doing so, he would “inflame racial feeling.”

Today, the flames are crackling. They may even succeed in burning down our entire party system.

One of the “nine principles” of our police, deriving from Sir Robert Peel, who founded them, is that “The ability of the police to perform their duties is dependent upon public approval of police actions.” The Macpherson legacy is quite different. It is to make the police – and many other public employees – the agents of a race doctrine they have been told they themselves do not understand.

The same doctrine teaches that, if they are white, they will never understand it. So now poor police officers run around gabbling half-digested jargon about identity and disable the native capacity of their own eyes and ears, even when someone is dying in front of them. How could such a police force ever win public approval? That is why, as Kemi Badenoch recently put it, we are “descending into tribalism”.

It is race, obviously, that makes this discussion so tense. But I think the problem runs wider and deeper. It is an irrationality of which racism itself is the worst but not the only symptom. After Macpherson, the British state decided to allow “perception” to trump the law’s traditional emphasis on provable fact. That irrationality has opened up other ones – such as the assertion that gender is a matter of choice not of biology, or the doctrine, in relation to sexual assaults, that “The victim must always be believed”, which has led to a slew of false, life-ruining accusations of child sexual abuse.

Racism remains a real and present evil, so the unpicking of the Macpherson legacy must be calmly conducted, but unpicked it must be.

It seems worth ending with one further point. In Britain today, by far the most virulent form of racism is anti-Semitism. A serious attempt is being made to drive out Jews, arguably the most well-integrated of all immigrant groups. And where have our post-Macpherson, “anti-racist” police been in all this? Just standing and watching as the Jew-haters march down the street.

Finally, after the publicity surrounding the attack on Henry Nowak, people are realising that the police have been acting as they have been trained to do and it is that training that needs to be changed - and quickly. That will not be easy. Many officers and legal minds have grown up over 25 or more years believing this concept of 'perceiving' a racist incident. It will take a long time to reverse much of teh arguments made before and, no doubt, there will plenty of push-back by those who wanted and made the instructions in the first place. No-one likes to admit they were wrong.

There is a long way to go before British society and legislation returns to the wonderfully simple elements of common sense and freedom of speech and thought that we were once well-known for. Some movement has taken place on trans matters with our Supreme Court declaring that you are either a man or a woman and you cannot change your biological sex. You may be free to dress or act as your please but remain as your were born and will be treated under the law as such. Anyone can choose to be a transvestite or announce that they feel most comfortable at any point they choose along some spectrum of gender from male to female and it is right that we respect their views in day-to-day life. We should not, however, be fired or arrested for asserting that a man is a man and should not be using a woman's toilet or changing room, or for referring to him as her and declining to engage with weird new pronouns like ze or expected to use they in contradiction of the grammar we have learned.

There is a long way to go but, at least, it appears we may have made a start.

 

Who Really Cares?

 A lingering cold does not put me in the best of  moods but I would have been maddened in any event by the recent news hitting our screens and newspapers. I’ll start with the idiot Vance. What on Earth is he doing supporting Orban in the coming election in Hungary? Is there something we don’t know about the opponents? I don’t know much about Péter Magyar who has been expected to defeat the almost embedded Orban. Why should Vance dash off to appear on stages with a potential loser? Or has he been informed that, whatever people may wish in their vote, Orban will continue to wield power and Vance will look like he had crucial influence. I might start referring to him as Ad Vance as he always seems to be seeking publicity to support a campaign for the Presidency in 2028. How dreadful it would be to have a real fool and religious pain with no manners and little understanding of people to take over from the madness of King Trump. 

Recent revelations about communications between senior Hungarian politicians and Putin make it clear to anyone observing things that Hungary most definitely does not wish to oppose Russia in any way. Memories of 1956? After being so brutally repressed 70 years ago one would think that any signs of Russia wishing to control them again would have been firmly rebuffed as soon as they appeared, certainly in 2022 if not, indeed, 2014. Putin clearly has some hold over Orban and several others in government, to such an extent that they will not support any efforts to assist Ukraine to repel an invader who has acted with ghastly acts of murder and more over more than four years. Do they not respect a nation’s borders?

It is strange to listen to Hungarian academics and government officials try to explain their position. They sound almost identical to Trump in their view that, at this time, Ukraine has no chance of regaining any territory, has lost huge areas, amounts of infrastructure never mind people and that it would be better for everyone if they just stopped and came to some agreement with Russia which, in all essence would almost certainly see vast tracts of land to the south and east ceded to Russian control and I suspect there would be further encroachments after that too. Asked what their view was on the first day of the invasion in 2022, however, most respondents cough and splutter as much as I do. But in their case it is in order to avoid having to reply. One would have thought that Hungary would declare itself in support of Ukraine's defence and help them resist Russian advance.

Thereagain, one would have hoped every other nation in the world other than North Korea would have offered to help resist at Day One. Of course, no-one did. Many good words. Fewer good deeds. Planes promised by Norway in 2023 are still not delivered. Funds that the vast majority of EU states have committed to give to Ukraine have not materialised, blocked by a Hungarian veto time and time again.

Hungary, as she stands today, supports Russia and Russia will support Hungary. I do so hope that Orban loses and someone will open the doors on the treachery of Hungarian politicians over these years. They always sound so reasonable in interviews but I have yet to hear any ask out loud why they support Russia.

The same question might have been asked of Trump. I do not include any of the people he occasionally sends to meetings or to make announcements as it seems pretty clear that there is only one view now in America and that’s Trump’s. One has to wonder where any even faint opposition has disappeared to? We hear nothing by way of sensible alternative views from anyone, democrat or republican. 

His dreadful withdrawal of support for Ukraine and many announcements that Putin has basically won and so Ukraine needs to stop fighting now, to which he will attach in capital letters something about saving lives all point to an extraordinary state of affairs where USA and Russia seem more than just friends these days. We all wonder what the hell Putin must hold by way of a Trump card. But there surely has to be something.

We look at how pathetic Russia’s troops have been, and how lacking in success have been their bombardments and military efforts. For ages now, they had been losing over 1200 men every day and making zero advance. Indeed, Ukraine, whilst not successfully regaining territory either, have certainly hit several places in Russia, destroying oil installations and munitions factories or storage. We don’t know exactly what they hit every time but it seems to cause as much trouble as anything Putin attempts. The one thing Ukraine drone operators don’t do deliberately is kill innocent people on buses. Twice this week a First Person Drone, that is one that is directly controlled by a human, has hit public buses, killing occupants. The person deciding to fire will have known exactly what he was doing and I am not aware of any yellow Ukraine tanks with large windows and little old ladies inside with bags of shopping.

On a normal day in a normal world actions like these, repeated daily by Russian troops, would have been enough to enrage the public, students and everyone who cares about fairness, human life and what is ‘right’ sufficiently to have politicians instructing troops from UK, the British Commonwealth, Europe and, who knows, some other ex-Soviet states to go in and dismiss the invaders. Quite frankly the USA should lead the whole thing as they have the might but I reckon we could get by without them. I have said time and time again that Russia is not strong. They do not have a mass of troops ready to fight. All they have are nuclear weapons, as far as I can make out. Surely if they’d had something else that they could use to bring this horrid war to a bloody end then they would have used it or them. Will no-one call their bluff and go in and attack? Whatever Trump and Putin have agreed behind closed doors, any nuclear or chemical weapons would immediately alienate Russia and substantially add to the cohesion of those involved in supporting Ukraine.

Hungary could sit it out, as could any country with some sort of tie or debt to Putin. But the vast majority could end this the way it should be ended, with the complete withdrawal of Russian troops to where they should have been in 2014. Yes, I include Crimea and some eastern regions which have been very much under Russian control for a long time. I accept that, by repopulation and means more foul, the people in those areas have changed considerably over the years and so just bunging them back Ukrainian passports, language restrictions and all that is not a good move. Care will be needed to help everyone in the contested areas live free and peaceful lives and not be put down by some new authority, especially one celebrating victory.

I challenge Trump or whoever is in charge of USA’s policy on Ukrainian matters to say that this is not a fair outcome, restoring the world to how it was before Russia decided they wanted more land and people within their borders. 

Tell me if I am wrong but, the performance of Russian troops has been useless and I cannot see it suddenly getting so much better that, whereas it could not advance against a handful of Ukrainians, they can defeat fresh and well-trained men and women from all over the world in great numbers. It’s only the fear of Putin hitting the big red button that I believe holds everyone back. Knowing that even without the USA’s missiles, much of his cities and countries would be devastated and he most certainly would not go down well in history after that, my bet is that he would take the best deal offered. And maybe try another day.

Here I am in England banging on about how we should take on the Ruskies. It is unfortunate that I don’t get the impression that Britain could do very much. We have reports of oil tankers merrily passing though our own ‘Straits’ and being protected by Russian vessels of some apparent standing. So we didn’t do a great deal about that. Why not? Why could a boarding party not have approached one of the vessels which declared itself to be under some flag of no relevance to Moscow and proceeded to get it, at least anchored down somewhere by the side of the main thoroughfare. Should the Russian navy have interfered then not only would any action have taken some explaining in International law but also to everyone who seems to think that Russia is totally harmless.

I hear that there are stacks of these tankers, ostensibly carrying Russian oil to other nations but doing so under some disguise. They all need to be stopped. Trump says we should go and take the oil in The Straits of Hormuz. I say there’s plenty on our own doorstep.

This whole business is farcical. Iran included. I like the idea of preventing Iran, or more precisely, fanatical Islamists who hate most of us in the West for reasons I have entirely understood but that’s for another day, developing some weapons that could blow up a few towns here. Remembering all the instances where these crazy people have caused real bad things to happen over the years, no-one wants to see anyone who hates us that much with a nuclear weapon. Even a dodgy one. It’s difficult enough having to tiptoe around anything North Korean observers might read now that Kim Jong Un has a big weapon to show off at rallies. One does wonder just how reliable North Korean manufacturing really is but it only takes one to get off the ground to cause trouble.

The question is whether bombing the place (and now having to bomb it again apparently, despite assurance all the facilities had been destroyed) is really going to achieve much. Better by far would have been some programme to feed into the nuclear development programme there some people who could report back and better advise how to stop it or, perhaps more smartly, create some way in which the West might, in future, be able to turn it in on itself. As it stands now, after such huge attacks and devastation by both Israel and USA, there are going to be an awful lot of people who will be seeking revenge.

Just as we went after the 9/11 organisers, Iranians of a certain culture or religion will be determined to strike back. Sometime. They’ll not do anything quickly but, whatever the outcome of the present mess, be sure that there are instructions being issued as you read this to Islamist terrorists in all parts of the world and those instructions will be to destroy whatever it is they detest so vehemently. I honestly don’t understand what their religion is all about if it not just permits but actively insists on jihad here or wherever and that people who are absolutely innocent, in a normal way of thinking, should be killed. It’s actually worse than Russian drone operators killing little old ladies on a bus in Ukraine. They may well be some guys recently let out of prison and this sort of violence is nothing to them. They fire more for practice or to show the hit to friends than a genuine desire to kill. They could be mentally retarded men persuaded to join the army and encouraged by the impressive pay. They are not normal Russians. But I can see that some ‘normal’ Iranians, who believe a particular interpretation of their religion, will follow whatever instruction they’re given to carry out an attack on our society. Bearing in mind just how many people come to this country and claim asylum and, whether successful or not, seem able to effectively set up home here, there has to be a huge threat to us here and now. Every move that Trump has made has made life for us in Britain, maybe parts of Europe too, much more dangerous. You will look over your shoulder in the shopping centre, the new ones always fine targets for maximum publicity. You will wonder about that bag someone left for a moment unattended and move a little further away. You will look at that hired white van and wonder just what it has inside and just how great an explosion could be caused should the driver decide to head for the church entrance. 

What Trump has done is turn millions of people against us all by this ridiculous bombing and destruction of massive parts of the country. Just as we really cannot comprehend why Russia should have wanted to cause so much suffering and damage to Ukraine and Ukrainians, we simply cannot justify the USA doing the same in Iran.

Israel’s position is clear. They want to eradicate organisations and groups of people, comparatively small in numbers, whose whole aim is to destroy Israel and has been for years. By dismembering Hamas and cutting Hezbollah’s resources they should have provided some hope for the Israelis that they can live in peace. That’s quite different to Trump’s aim. Indeed, do we know what his aim is?

At one point he wanted to destroy Iran’s ability to construct a nuclear weapon. One does have to ask why they wouldn’t simply buy a few from North Korea or even Russia. You can bomb all you like, Donald, but that won’t prevent them firing something at you one day if they want to. Especially now, after you have angered so many additional people who might not have been too bothered until they lost their homes and families under the rubble.

We have seen Russia bomb places in Ukraine and Trump says Ukraine should make a deal. It seems to me that he is not at all concerned that massive areas have become pretty much uninhabitable, whole towns demolished, never mind children lost to far away Russian families, unlikely to be seen again and scarred forever by the experience. Now he has authorised the same crazy bombardment, more in fact, in Iran. The Strait of Hormuz remains closed at this time. Nothing of any advantage to anyone other than those who bet on oil and gas prices has happened. Trump looks really quite foolish to me and, like Putin, in many ways, is kinda stuck. I have no idea what either of them can do to get out of this mess.

As I remarked way back at the start of this article, where are the leaders? Where are the people who can encapsulate public feelings and beliefs as to what is right and what is wrong? Where are the people with the guts, and maybe we need a few with the money too, who can tell Trump to step aside and take over some proper action to persuade Putin to take his troops home and our taking a good hard look at how we can minimise the impact of Iranian retribution and revenge.

I see no-one. No-one prepared to stand up and even suggest action.

History will look back at this time and wonder just how we had all become so pathetic and gullible to enable idiots like Trump, Vance and others to run the show. Trump I can vaguely cope with as he is so ridiculous and so invested with the deals and business that he sees nothing of the human side of what has happened. He’s just unrestrained and slightly mad. Vance, on the other hand, professes to have strong ‘Catholic’ belief, wanting more traditional and family-oriented values. How can he even vaguely match those views without very strongly opposing what Russia has done in Ukraine? How can he think that it can be right to permit all Putin’s monstrous acts to be effectively ignored, and, whilst I do know that Christians are all for turning the other cheek, he is allowing himself and his country to be badly stuffed between some other cheeks by a rampant Putin.

Can we please hear from someone of some power and significance who can talk some sense? Trump, Vance & Co have to go. Putin too but that’s more difficult. As for Iran, I’d just exit stage left and work on converting the scientists.

In the meantime, if you look like an angry Iranian then forgive me for keeping a safe distance, if such a thing exists in this world of chemicals and nasty substances and lunatic drivers and suicidal idiots.

The Ideas of March

 It's now mid-March and the world has largely moved on from Epstein, everyone generally coming to the conclusion that the American had some pretty effective ways to attract the rich and famous and entertained them well. They all look pretty foolish but that really is probably going to be all that we remember in years to come. I am pretty sure Trump was very much involved and did all sorts of embarrassing things but seems smart enough not to have written emails about it or get himself snapped in action. I do wonder, though, whether Putin has some good hard evidence of Trump in action so maybe there is a little more of the story to run.

More important at this time, however, are the battles that are developing across the Middle East and continuing in Ukraine. I am not sure I see anything good coming out of either wars. Much as I despise the attitude of governments in Iran and that of Hamas and Hezbollah and IS, which appears to be reconstituted to represent a significant threat once more, the huge destruction wrought on Iran by US and the IDF has never struck me as being particularly likely to achieve any change. Yes, a number of leading people have been killed and huge damage done to military installations but the old government remains in charge and those now running things will be even more determined to do bad things to America and its allies. 

A significant proportion of the population may well pray for a change, wish the downfall of their dreadful rulers and hope for a better life when they can act and speak freely but bombing the hell out of Tehran, some towns and military installations is not going to help them. Indeed, anyone showing even the smallest signs of support for some alternative government is more likely than ever to be hauled away and shot or lost forever in a cell somewhere. That proportion is still just a proportion and there seems to be a good number of the population who either support the ayatollahs or just go along with what they say for an easy life. Basically whilst the police and army have guns and a presence on the streets then they'll continue to ensure some religious zealot ayatollah remains in charge.

Iran is going to lose a lot of buildings, weapons, planes and ships but it can continue to fire missiles and drones from time to time and cause a lot of trouble for neighbours who might have to to decide that enough is enough and leave Israel and the USA to it. Iran as a nation run by demented ayatollahs who hate Christians and almost anything Britain or the USA do or stand for is unlikely to change anytime soon. I rather suspect that those who survive will be all the more determined to teach us a lesson now. And that is where trouble really starts. For lurking in towns and cities all over Europe and here in Britain are immigrants who, if not themselves from Iran, are sympathetic to the cause of Iran, whatever that is. Destruction of the West, I suppose. Many are probably not bright enough to understand what it is they're for, never mind against, but the clever brain-washing techniques of whoever manages these people, controls their lives and beliefs has been sufficient. They can all be controlled and if someone somewhere calls for them to do something then they'll jump to action and do as they're told, no doubt including wearing some ghastly suicide vest or driving a van at a queue of white kids at a bus stop in Birmingham or similar despicable acts. These terrorists will be the new weapons of war and no amount of bombs on Tehran will make any difference. And they live just a few miles from you, wherever you are.

Now that's scary.

There's a lot of talk about oil prices and, of course, I'll be paying a lot more for petrol next week. There's this narrow stretch of water along which it seems a massive amount of goods and, of course oil and gas, travel and Iran appears able to control who gets to pass at the moment. Because it seems that a ship can be stopped by quite a modest missile of some sort hitting it in the right place and these can be fired from all sorts of places along the strait, keeping ships moving looks extremely difficult and I have to wonder how long it will be before we hear of one of the West's ships being hit as it tries to defend others. That would be a huge shot in the arm for whoever's still running things in Iran and could make America look pretty weak, especially if oil prices are still high and they're unable to control much on Kharge Island.

I do quite like the idea of that - controlling the massive supply of oil by effectively running the whole shooting match at the island. But there are many hostile people around who could well decide to blow up the whole thing and cause chaos in the global economy rather than let the USA run it. So I am not convinced they'll get very far on that track either. All in all, I am not sure I see a way for Trump to get out of any of this and still look good. He will not like that at all.

All that he can say is that it will take a while for Iran to rebuild their nuclear facilities and army. Big deal.

Then there's the other war. Russia do seem to be pretty much stuck where they are. Ukraine do not have the resources to push them back as that requires troops they can't send. But they can defend territory quite effectively now with drones and remote facilities in what has been a quite remarkable series of developments in a short space of time, under pressure too. Ukraine towns are still being hit every night and most days by some missiles and drones and civilians are getting killed or injured just going about their normal lives at a shop or travelling in a bus. Russian sites are also being hit by Ukraine's drones and several important technology facilities appear to have been damaged as have some military and oil depots. 

It strikes me as a bit strange that Russia has not done anything more dramatic or made what anyone would describe as a serious effort to take more territory or cause more huge devastation. One has to wonder whether they really do have the resources? I am, naturally, relieved that they haven't made any major move for a long time and that Ukraine has largely managed to keep going through the winter and preserved such troops as it has. Could Russia be running out of men? They are losing massive numbers every day, more than they are recruiting, so they will soon need to consider conscription - and that's when the government won't be that popular, however the demand to enrol is presented. I guess there'll not be much demonstration, and cutting off people's access to websites and communication via social media that's not monitored by them, will suffocate any sound of dissent anyway.

This does strike me as a good time for nations to help Ukraine make their move - with our troops and weapons from as many nations as can be persuaded to support as possible then it could become blatantly obvious to Putin that not only has he been prevented from further invasion by Ukraine alone and that now there is a real chance that his troops will be forced back. This must be the time when we make a move. I expect nothing from America now and suspect they'll be very occupied in the Middle East. UK needn't be, we could concentrate on Ukraine and actually help, as could most other European nations, showing Putin that he's not going to get anywhere and calling his bluff regarding nuclear weapon threats.

Other nations who might have supported Russia are likely to be too busy elsewhere at this time and, in any event, Russia has not exactly helped them much in their hour of need. Only North Korea looks a bit scary and might offer some support, not that their last efforts were notably successful.

This could be the month that Iran and Islamic State win and America is beaten or, at the very least, required to take an alternative route that they can describe as 'success' but we'll all know is "failure" other than causing a lot of destruction. It could be the month when Putin sees Islamic State as more of a threat to his future aspirations than Ukraine and someone manages to persuade him to switch his attention to that. I fear that his desperate belief in recreating the Soviet Union and destroying Ukraine as an independent state will remain but there's a chance for him to get out while he can and no doubt America could assist with some cheap oil or some contracts for this and that.

Unfortunately, we'll all look back in April and wonder just what the hell we were all thinking in March. And the 20,000 children taken to various parts of Russia from Ukraine are no nearer any chance of seeing their families again. Indeed, as time passes, not only will most of the children start to believe whatever their Russian masters tell them and forget about mothers (who the Russians tell them were unable to afford to look after them or other awful tales) but also the adults left in the towns and villages that have been under Russian control for 4 years will find it difficult if Ukraine does manage to regain control. There will be many who went along with the invaders who will not be popular with their rescuers. The longer time passes, the more people who actually wish to remain Ukrainian will decide to leave these areas and that, in turn, will leave those who actually support Russia as the majority and then what can you do? In so many ways, the longer Putin manages to prolong this war, the more likely he is to be sure of gaining at least those parts his forces now administer.

I guess there is not much anyone will be able to do about that, even if a peace deal were struck today. I do worry about the children, though. For so many, their young minds are so readily influenced and the people teaching them so controlled. I expect even the textbooks refer to Ukraine as part of Russia now and Britain as some terrible place where it is always foggy and men wear bowler hats and everyone is very miserable. Some English men are also very stupid and write long articles saying how bad President Putin is.

God help them, and us. But preferably not the Islam one.

The other Andrew

 I keep seeing my name in the headlines. It's something to do with being called Andrew. 40 years ago I found myself in quite a bit of trouble and attempted to get myself out of trouble by agreeing to be interviewed by the BBC, first on Radio 4 and then in a TV programme. Instead of helping me and focussing on the real baddies, all that I succeeded in doing was making everything worse and wishing I had kept quiet. Prince Andrew, as he was then, has not done himself any favours either and many see him now as as much a bad person as the person who was at the centre of all the events we are now reading about every day, Jeffery Epstein.

When the photo first appeared of Andrew looking quite young and cheerful, with his arm around a young a cheerful-looking Virginia, I don't think anyone was particular surprised and certainly not 'horrified' or concerned in any particularly dramatic way. We knew he liked girls and, although he probably was married to Fergie at the time, his lack of faithfulness to her was no big deal. As I recall, at that time the story was all about Andrew having a bit of a romp with a girl and we didn't pay much attention to who or what the other people were. It then began to emerge that he'd been at parties with Epstein who we then began to learn had shipped in a number of young girls to accompany partygoers at various locations around the world. Still no big deal, as far as I could tell but we then get stories from some of the young girls and things get a bit darker.

The girl in the photo with Andrew tells the world that she was obliged to have sex with him and that Epstein effectively forced whole loads of girls to do things they didn't want to do with men three or four times their age. Then we start to be told that many of the girls were 'young', inferring that they were under age, whatever that means. In the USA, I believe, it is against the law to have sex with a girl who is under 18 in some states, 16 in most. Virginia looks like 20 something in the photo the whole world had seen. I don't think anyone at that point was of the opinion that Andrew was sleeping with very young girls. There began to be stories about Epstein gathering lots of schoolgirls and abusing 14-year-olds and that's what he went to jail for but we weren't calling Andrew a paedophile or particularly bothered about what he had or hadn't done with Virginia.

If he had simply accepted that he'd had a brief relationship with her then things may well have turned out differently. Instead, he denied ever having met her and decided to let the BBC interview him about it all as, by now, Virginia was asking for lots of money and making a scene. Quite why she had been quiet before the photo emerged I am not sure I understand. But now everyone watched Andrew trying to explain how he hadn't met her and should really have dropped his friendship with Epstein far earlier than he did. And things have pretty much exploded ever since. Virginia gets a huge amount of money as some sort of 'out of court settlement' but Andrew remains on the ropes. Now everyone is talking about Epstein and he's killed in his prison cell and then some new investigation by the FBI gets under way and, heavens, everyone you've ever heard of and not liked very much is in the frame for having not only been to Epstein's parties but maybe also enjoying the company of young or very young girls in times past.

It becomes pretty obvious that Andrew really did know Virginia and did have sex with her a few times here and there and, probably, with several other girls too, although so far we have not been given anything to suggest any of his girls were 'under age' or that he broke any laws in that respect. So he starts to appear really rather stupid and even those of us who felt a bit sorry for him at first started to feel a bit frustrated that he could be so badly advised. Basically he looks foolish and very bad now and deserved to be dumped by the family, although I question the removal of his Prince title and his military honours. I thought that a son of a King or Queen was entitled to be called a prince, regardless of their character and he did serve and was respected at the time for his action in the Navy. 

If Andrew had owned up at the start to being with the girl he could have defended any wrongdoing or accusations regarding whether she or any other girl was forced to be with him without too much trouble. There would have been publicity and we might have laughed at his randiness and questioned why he would associate with the leary Epstein but that would largely have been that. Instead we have this circus of documents and commentators and girls who now wish they hadn't been involved and seek compensation. Some may deserve it but I am really not sure many would not have seen the whole thing as some sort of chance to lie back, think of Armenia or wherever and make some money quickly. If we do discover some girls were forced into all this then I accept it is all worth all the trouble of the investigation but one has to wonder why they stayed so long and made no effort to seek help from any of the people they encountered. Surely some of them would have helped if they had seen or been told about forced sex or compliance. It seems to me that those doing most of the commentating on all of this are forgetting that sex and the high life with a bunch of rich, maybe old, but probably clean and harmless men was a small price to pay for the returns they could receive. How many girls would jump at the chance of joining a rich group on a yacht for a few months, knowing full well what was expected by way of services other than some cleaning and cooking. Who wouldn't resist some fun times even if the blokes seemed a bit pervy, in comparison to whatever life they had at home. OK, many might run a mile but I still maintain that a good number would see it as an opportunity or adventure and I still make the point that, unless they really were physically restrained in properties and threatened with violence if they didn't perform as requested, escape if things went wrong should always have been an option. Looking at all the names of people with whom the girls were to be associated or, if not sexually, as company or decoration in the rooms, surely some of these men would have been willing to help any who needed to get away.

If it does transpire that some of these men were asked for help but ignored the requests then I am all for their being taken properly to task for that. But if they enjoyed sex with seemingly willing and cheerful girls who appeared to be older than some minimum legal age of consent then I am not going to be too bothered. whether president, ex-president, minister or prince, that's no big deal. I have to admit to being surprised at some of the names and smile at the rebuttal or assertions of innocence but that's all really.

What does trouble me, though, is the story we are now finding about where men have shared business or financial knowledge with Epstein inappropriately. By that I mean where the men have had access to information which they were duty bound not to disclose, either by law or honour. In the former camp one would place government members who knew when a new regulation or change in subsidy, for instance, might be being introduced but which was yet to become public knowledge. In the latter camp could be business people who had knowledge of forthcoming acquisitions, deals or products which a competitor might usefully benefit from knowing about. Andrew got himself embroiled in this as did several others we have read about. His involvement, though, is going to be his second most significant downfall. The first has to be the way he lied in the BBC interview, At least I was honest in mine and admitted to being foolish and trusting too much some American. He should have done the same.

So I can see Andrew's sharing of business and government information causing more trouble and outrage. He was for some time the Business Envoy for the Department of Trade. And here lies the rub; my brother Rupert travelled with the then Prince Andrew on several trips abroad. I learned of all kind of enjoyable times they had on these trips and I am sure my brother would have been more than happy with the company of some young girls had they been arranged to keep them company from time to time.

So I am now waiting to see if Rupert appears in the headlines one day! And then will my name reappear once again? I don't think I'll agree to be interviewed this time.

We need to do something about Donald Trump. Maybe ignore him completely.

 We live in strange times. There is hardly a day when I have not looked at the latest news and found myself getting annoyed, frustrated, dismayed or just a little bit sad. I really cannot remember when I read some good news about what is happening in the world and in this country and Ukraine particularly.

There is the problem that is Donald Trump, of course. I did have some passing respect at various times since his last election as there was some sense that he wanted to get things done. The problem was that I didn't always like what he wanted to get done nor am I sure that the majority of Americans did either and the fact that he appears to be operating effectively solo I find surprising and extremely worrying. I had read before he was elected that this was a possibility, that he would simply require people to do what he wanted without consultation with anyone and this could be enacted by some sort of presidential power that, mercifully, our top guy doesn't have. If parliament doesn't agree then it doesn't happen. Well, more or less - I'll come back to that later. Despite there being a whole raft of senators and the like elected at the same time, I have not seen any evidence that there has been any attempt by anyone to vote on any of Trump's actions or proposals. He just rambles on some weird Social Media outlet which no-one else seems to be a member of, so it's just Trump sharing a Trump online document, as far as I can tell, and does so in a way that would embarrass me if I were an American. whether I had voted for him or not. It is invariably quite childishly worded content. I accept that he often does get to the point pleasantly quickly in comparison to the dithering of so many other people supposedly in charge, but the phrases and grammar and general presentation leave a lot to be desired and are not what one would expect from the most senior team managing the world's most powerful nation. Except there isn't really a team. Trump appears to do much by himself or, at best, gets someone to do stuff on his behalf but they're instructed to do it exactly as he says and don't have either the nerve nor the ability to tidy things up or query the sense of some posts.

We currently have the crazy nonsense that Trump wants to 'have' Greenland. He wants Greenland to be a part of the USA. As far as I can tell from a great deal of intelligent people who know what they're talking about, the USA already has all the permissions it could possibly need to do whatever it is that Trump wants to do by way or increasing security, creating business or whatever in the country. There are agreements in place between all the appropriate parties to this effect. Disregarding for a moment the fact that Greenland is an autonomous territory belonging to the Kingdom of Denmark, and its citizens are citizens of Denmark, everything that Trump would appear to want can be achieved now. Announcing that the USA wants to 'buy' Greenland or, worse, that they might consider just taking control of the place was something I just smiled at when I first heard about it some months ago. Now it seems that Trump has got himself into a position where he has to get it as part of USA and all hell is breaking loose. It is sheer madness, totally unnecessary and surely someone needs to bring a halt to this ridiculous charade called the Trump presidency.

We have had enough. We have forgiven or put up with enough nonsense, enough announcements of this or that, or threats of this or that which never quite develop as they were going to. We shouldn't be part of this game. I wonder if the best plan for all the world leaders is simply to ignore Trump. Actually not pay any attention to him whatsoever. Sure, he'll rant and rave but he will not actually attack anyone and eventually people in the States will wake up and start finding ways in their Constitution to bring him back down to some form of democracy instead of what is perilously close to dictatorship in many ways.

I am amazed that so many otherwise smart and powerful men and women just sit and watch and do as they're told by this idiot. Maybe he is not an idiot but he is certainly a bully and an inconsiderate arsehole. He has lost the right to tun America and we need to stop paying attention to him.

USA is not about to invade Greenland. They may make an offer that residents find difficult to refuse but I don't see Greenland ever becoming a state within USA.

In the meantime people in USA will have to pay some extra duty on imports from a selection of European countries, including the UK. So be it. We may lose some sales or make less profit but I don't see it lasting long. If it does become permanent then we will retaliate and it will all get evened out after a while, to be rescinded completely by a new president in due course.

The other problem with Trump is his ridiculous treatment of the situation in Ukraine. USA is proving now to be hopelessly unreliable and that sense of untrustworthiness is not going to go down well with anyone over time and will be remembered. Ukraine is and will continue to get by without US support. It will be far more difficult for everyone there, whether trying to keep warm or defending towns and villages from Russian attack, but they will survive. Trump will be responsible for the huge number of additional casualties by virtue of his lack of real support and his stupidity in believing a lot of what Putin has told him. Putin should also have been ignored and, instead of rolling out a red carpet, Trump and, for that matter, every other country appalled by the Russian invasion, should have rolled out vast numbers of troops and equipment and shown that Putin stood no chance right at the very start. That would have ended the war there and then. It could be ended now too, four years later, if Trump and other leaders actually had the courage.

Here in Britain, I have been saddened at the continuation of the gender nonsense and the fact that staff are still being sacked for something they may have said or written in the past. We have Palestinian rights people marching in many towns and Palestinian flags flying left right and centre but display the English flag or support Israel in hammering Hamas, Hezbollah or whoever and you'll be in trouble. What I find really strange is why all the students are not out on the streets declaring how bad Putin and Russia have been and still are, demanding action not words from governments here and abroad. Why are they not supporting the uprising in Iran, not apparently upset that the Islam leaders are killing innocent people in the streets just for disagreeing with their government's policies and wanting change? Where are the Green Party on all this? The main parties may talk about how bad this or that action is but they really are not doing much at all, not have they done since it all began.

There was a Supreme Court ruling to the effect that you are either a man or a woman. Period. But this seems to have been ignored and organisations are still asking people for their preferred prefix and people are being dismissed if they even dare to smile at how nonsensical all this has become. I have no problem with men dressing as women or women dressing as men but I do object when these transvestites start asking for the facilities and rights of the gender they look like rather than what they are. There are also still schools that appear to be helping children get treatment to change the way they grow. I find this unbelievable. There maybe one or two children who genuinely do wish, and would benefit from being able, to have a physical body that more closely resembles their preferred gender but these are surely exceptions, in very low numbers and for whom special treatment is arranged only with the permission of their parents. It is nothing to do with teachers, headmasters or whatever, unless they discern that a child is being badly treated at home, in which case they should report the matter to Social Services and the Police as appropriate, step back and let experts deal with it.

You only have to read the reports each month from the Free Speech Union to see how many people are being dismissed, arrested or generally badly treated by their employers in ways that have to be regarded as grossly unfair and in contradiction to our basic laws. Unfortunately, in many cases there have been all kinds of new rules and regulations brought in, not so much by government as by ministers using Statutory Instruments to enact something that appears not to need parliamentary scrutiny. So stuff can happen that affects us all but which we may only hear about after it has been introduced.

I do accept that most of the woke nonsense actually arrived in Britain under the auspices of a Conservative government, one that I had voted for. I am amazed that they let all this happen and can only assume that most of the people at the top genuinely did not appreciate what was going on in HR departments across the country until it was too late. But when it did become clear and we started to see things like 'hate speech' incidents and worse, as well as a host of restrictions on what anyone felt safe saying at almost any meeting, that government did nothing. It deserved to lose the election but we did not deserve to get the awful apology for a government that replaced them. This lot are downright useless and don't seem to know how bad they are. Most are terribly inexperienced which means the Civil Service get to rule the roost and essentially do what they think best. Sadly, the civil servants are no better these days and many are more inclined to socialism than capitalism and to support Palestine than Israel and many Russia rather than Ukraine.

The whole place has gone to pot. I am so relieved that I have no reason to deal with schools any more or get involved in any of the disputes that I read about. I can hide away and put my head in the sand here in Bozeat in nowhereland, Northamptonshire. I am embarrassed by my country's government. Starmer may not take to social media with silly statements in capitals but he is still pathetic and, despite all the talk, seems unable to convince people to do what is necessary.

We should forget Trump and leave America to do what the hell it wants. By all means tell them what we think but let's not try and do battle with them. Soon enough the intelligent people there will work out how to rebalance the madness and Trump will be a joke in history.

We should act on our own in helping to defend Ukraine and I am sure our actions will be supported by many other nations worried about making the first move. We don't negotiate with Putin. We find a way to stop his advances and also get him arrested along with a bunch of other bad people in what passes for a government there. We deal with the opposition there and help it to gain real momentum.

We should maintain accurate records of who is actually in the country at any time. Those who arrive illegally get sent straight back to where they were last in a safe country. That will usually be France and France should be entitled to do the same, and every other country too, so that every single person planning to make an illegal trip here sees that we are serious about this and they will finish up back where they started. Now, I appreciate that the burden will then fall greatly upon Greece and Italy, being the first landing for many people wanting to move away from Africa or the Middle East. So a concerted EU venture needs to find a mutually funded place that these people can be help while their claims to be at risk in their own country can be decided.

Where someone is allowed to enter Britain then they should not be entitled to benefits or housing. If they choose to come here then they must be supported by someone or have means to support themselves. Why, otherwise, should they come? They come to contribute to British life not take from it. Once they start paying taxes then they begin to get their entitlements as the rest of the nation, health and education first and then other benefits can be earned later. No tax, no free healthcare or education. So think before coming to Britain. They may find other nations more attractive.

I cannot ask anyone to commit to any religion as I could find that hard to do myself. What I would seek, though, is an acceptance that they do not engage in action or activity that threatens anyone resident here. So those whose religion regards Christians as bad people or that regards Jews as people who shouldn't exist or, for that matter, wants to bump off anyone supporting Islam. just to keep things fair, they all get kicked out on the first offence. We don't want anyone here who will stir up hatred. We have enough here already that we can't get rid of. Obviously we have to respect rights of free speech and I am aware of my previous comments about 'hate speech' so I need to be careful. I am thinking, in the main, of supporters of extreme religious sects who preach or support the preaching of taking violent action against others because of their religious belief. Clearly I am happy to have people here who talk about wanting to get rid of Putin and various other evil people so the wording needs to be carefully selected. What we don't want are huge numbers of some religious sect who have as their basic premise the belief that some other group of our residents need to be killed or who come and live here but actually hate what we stand for. Defining what we stand for, though, is not as easy as it sounds. I may try one day. I will probably then get arrested.

Read All About It!

I have recently completed a couple of books. For The Love of Cooper, Friar Minor is a collection of letters that Harold Cooper wrote to my old friend Ugo Vincent in the 1920s and 1930s. Although it is mostly a one-sided conversation, it is possible to follow a lot of what was happening and it was the descriptions of the prairie lands of the northern territories that fascinated me and made the book worth preparing.

I also had another reason. I had inherited the papers from Mr Vincent when he died in the 1980s but had not done a great deal with them. I had been a little concerned at the many references to 'boys' in both the Church and Scouting environments in which both men spent a lot of time. I had always thought highly of my friend Mr Vincent and believed him to be of good character. His preference for male company was understood and, of course, quite acceptable in present times but I could see that this was most definitely not always the case. I was worried that I may find stories of deeds that I would be annoyed to read. Mr Vincent had had a tremendous influence on me in my later teens and over the years from the late 60s but it was his intelligence, lively conversation, challenges to authority that I liked. There was never the slightest hint of anything untoward through the time I knew him. Clearly, though, this may not always have been so.

I shall not say any more here but there are some surprises in this book.

The other is a revision of my own story up to Spring 1985. At this time I had been on a rollercoaster of life, fortune and emotions and really the whole of who and what I was to become in future was in the balance. It is difficult to write about how stupid one can be and it can be a tough read for me these days. Some of my behaviour was not good and I did feel that I needed to cut out some unnecessarily explicit detail and some rambling and repetition. 

I do mean to write the sequel and tie up a number of loose ends but I fear I simply cannot yet do that. I do think that someone could make a great film out of all that happened and one of the reasons for the revision was  so that I felt a little less nervous allowing others to read it, one colleague having good connections with a producer specialising in this sort of tale. Now that would make a good ending!

Both books are available on Amazon at the links available via the images.

My previous publications are also available and are shown below.

Finally, I have a series of Little Chick stories for children and I will summarise these soon in a separate post.