Sometimes when I wake up in the middle of the night, I am persuaded to go onto the web and to buy things that I need. So last night, I purchased six pairs of socks that actually arrived via Amazon ‘Prime‘ this afternoon. The socks have a toe and heel in distinct colours which is rather handy as it means that I can match pairs of socks up with each when they emerge from the washer and/or dryer. At the same time, I ordered myself a pair of new pyjamas which I felt I needed. I tried to ensure that these were not of the thin cotton variety but were advertised as ‘warm’ because in the middle of the night, one needs warm pyjamas whatever the season. Our friend who called round yesterday sent me a quick email to tell me of the time of the family concert which is due to be performed on the afternoon of my birthday and which Meg and I felt that we might attend. I did know about this concert but had temporarily forgotten about it but I was told about it by one of the lead violinists in a regional orchestra who had come along to the AgeUK club the session before last. Then I remembered that Meg and I had had our photos taken which ought to appear on the orchestra’s website. So, although it was late, I located the website and did actually find three photos in which Meg and I appear. So this was quite a delight to see so I proceeded to download them – at this point, I email myself with them with the photos appended as attachments. Then I open my email in my iPhone and I find that this is the easiest and quickest way of getting the photos that I want added to the main collection of photos on my iPhone. So after Meg had been brought downstairs, I showed the photos to Meg and the two carers who had called around on cue this morning. The carer who comes from Poland is called ‘Aliciya’ (in Polish) and she always seemed determinedly cheerful at whatever hour it is in the morning. So I made an imaginative leap and told her that if she had lived in Roman times, she might have been called ‘Felicia’ which may (or may not) be the Latin for a ‘happy or cheerful one’ As Thursday is my shopping day, one of the carers was due to return to sit with Meg whilst I went to do the shopping. Meg was feeling a little wobbly as I was on my way out so I was determined to be as fast as I possibly could. But this involves negotiating the roadworks, then getting some money out of the ATM, securing my copy of the newspaper and then whizzing round the (smaller) supermarket where I know where everything is. This week seemed to be a heavier week than usual as there were some bulky things of which I knew we had run out, principally ice-cream, but all in all I was absent from the house for about an hour. When I returned, I had eight bags of shopping to process and I felt absolutely shattered but I had a cup of coffee to revive myself and then afterwards, started on the process of a slow unpack whilst I was throwing together the kind of lunch in which I cook together various bits and pieces and serve it on pasta (for Meg) So lunch was a little delayed but after lunch, Meg had a doze and I started to watch some of the evidence from the Post Office ‘Horizon’ enquiry and promptly fell asleep myself. I had hoped for a period in which Meg was asleep and I was awake so that I could the back lawn cut but it was not to be so I will have to seize another opportunity when it presents itself.

After we had our fill of the Post Office enquiry, in which a senior executive who had worked at the Post Office for thirty years, is giving evidence, we are wondering what further revelations will occur tomorrow morning. Thinking about the organisational processes upon which the Enquiry is taking evidence, one is left to wonder how decisions about anything are made by anyone. This particular witness had previously testified to the High Court that the Horizon system was absolutely robust but today was presented with email evidence that she had been informed of some its shortcomings some years before. So this appears to be a clear case of a perjury having been committed. But under questioning from the King’s Counsel (KC), the executive seemed unable to recall or to realise the import of what she was being told in the emails. To my mind, it appeared that all of the various executives had been in a darkened room and were desperately trying to make contact with other with failing torches. Of course, memories are fallible but it does seem to be highly convenient for a plethora of excuses to be deployed such as ‘I was not present at all of the meeting’ or ‘I only attend some of the meetings’ or ‘I believe that someone else had responsibility for X’ and so on and so forth.

This afternoon, Meg started to watch a YouTube concert which was ‘Mozarts Great Mass in C’ held in a stunning modern concert hall I know not where. Sometimes the venue is flashed up at the start of the transmission but I am never sure of the nationality of the performers or indeed the actual venue itself. But I love watching the intensity of emotion and the concentration on the faces of the singers as they perform. The camera work takes in views of the orchestra and sometimes one gets a glimpse of an instrument such as what might appear to be a modern harpsichord as the performance progresses. Although I learned to play the violin which I had to give up at the age of about fourteen when I changed schools (to one with no musical tradition), I sometime speculate what kind of instrument I wish I had learned how to play. The way I feel at the moment, I suspect that I would settle on the oboe because there are stunning little pieces composed for this particularly by Mozart and, if I had mastered the oboe I think I would have liked to have gone on to play the bassoon.

Meg and I generally look forward to Wednesdays because it is the day when our domestic help calls around and we always enjoy a good chat with her. We had to make do with one carer this morning whilst the agency is having its temporary staffing difficulties but this worked out all right for us. After we had had breakfast, we started watching a YouTube offering and this morning it was the renowned pianist Horovitz giving a piano recital in Vienna. He started by playing approximately five pieces of Mozart which he did without having a score in front of him. Judged by his appearance, he appeared to me to be in his 80’s and so I consulted the web to find a bit more information. I discovered that the 82-year-old pianist Vladimir Horowitz played his first recital in 52 years, and music lovers said his reception was one of the most rousing they have seen in the Austrian capital. Horowitz delighted 1,700 fans who paid up to $250 each with a performance of works by Mozart, Schubert, Liszt, Schumann and Chopin in the Great Hall of the Musikverein. A standing ovation greeted the finale, Chopin’s Polonaise in A flat major (Op. 53). Evidently, Horowitz had escaped persecution at the hands of the Nazis which must explain his long absence from the Austrian capital. No doubt, he has been playing these works for decades but I still marvelled at both his memory by playing so much without so much as a score as an aide-memoire and also at the physical dexterity of his hands, which seemed unaffected by arthritis which must be quite common amongst 80 year olds. Our friend from our local church called around mid morning and we have a mini-service, followed by a chat. Afterwards, as the morning was fairly advanced, Meg and I decided to go down to Waitrose. As I was getting Meg out of the car, I had a slightly awkward moment as the spot where I had parked is on a slight camber and getting Meg into her wheelchair can prove a little problematic on these occasions. But suddenly a helping hand appeared just in the nick of time and apparently out of nowhere and it was our Irish friend from down the road. She explained that she and her husband had been off to Ireland and that explains why we had not bumped each other for a week or so but no doubt we will get together quite soon to exchange bits of news with each other. Once we got home, it was a case of finishing off our ham with a baked potato and some fine green beans. The ham tasted particularly tasty today and I think it must be the onion gravy that I make afresh and in which I heat up the slices of ham before it is all served up. Meg had a little doze this afternoon and then we amused ourselves with a catch-up of ‘Have I Got News for You?‘ followed by a David Attenborough wildlife programme.

This week is a fairly quiet week for Meg and myself with no appointments or other commitments in prospect. But on Friday we intend to pay a visit to Alcester which is a charming Georgian town with an excellent range of charity shops from which we rarely emerge empty handed. There is another attraction, also, because there is a very old fashioned hotel at one end of the High Street that offers a mid-day meal to pensioners at pensioner prices – as it is always home cooking at its best, we tend to always enjoy their offerings, even though the menu is necessarily limited. I managed to make a booking today and we anticipate that our University of Birmingham friend can come with us to enjoy the delights of the town. The highlights of next week for us is going to be the local election results to be held on May 2nd and then the following week is going to be intensely busy for us. We will be attending the funeral of Meg’s cousin in Derby on one day, followed by a family meal in Cheltenham the next, followed by my birthday when, quite fortuitously, there is going to be a concert in one of the local churches that we intend to attend. I suppose social arrangements follow the rules followed by buses i.e. nothing seems to happen and then at least two come along at once.

In the late afternoon, Meg and I casually turned on Sky News only to receive some of the latest news about the Post Office Horizon enquiry. Just when you thought that things could scarcely get any worse, there was revelation in the enquiry today that there were other accounting scandals concerned with other parts of the Post Office business. The news today was that the ATMs in Post Offices were subject to error on occasion and one case was highlighted where the sub postmaster had to fund the Post Office with tens of thousands of his own money. The convictions were always upheld by the Court of Appeal as there was always a presumption that the Post Office system was sound so the sub postmaster must be fraudulent. Because some of the cases are so dated, then some of the people affected have died and their families have had to live with the stigma of having a member of their family convicted and regarded as guilty of a criminal offence. I also read in the last few days that another arm of government, i.e. the Home Office is dragging its feet concerning the payments that it indicated that it would make to the victims of the Windrush scandal. It seems that Suella Braverman had instituted a policy of ‘going slow’ on the Windrush payments so here we have two parallel cases where past wrongs have been admitted but the State is proving to be exceptionally tardy in putting right the wrongs that have been committed.

Today has been one of those days which I describe as ‘chewy’ We did not get off to the best of starts where the carer, not the one I was expecting, turned up about 20 minutes late but I do understand that there are staffing difficulties. Nonetheless, we had our Tuesday crowd in Waitrose to which to look forward. Only one of our number turned up but as a 90-year old, I never cease to marvel at her energy and mental acuity and I constantly wonder if I can be like that if I ever reach that age. We popped around the store knowing that there were a few things that are only sold in the store and then returned home to wait for our carer before I went off to my Pilates session, which is a norm for a Tuesday. Meg was having a bit of a bad spell this morning and knowing that the allocated carer was the lady from Peru who had recently been taken by her husband to watch ‘La Bohème‘ on YouTube, we watched the first two of the four acts and then waited patiently for the carer to turn up but she did not materialise. So I went ahead and cooked our lunch of fishcakes and microwaved vegetables. We had just about finished eating all of this when the carer turned up, three quarters of an hour late according to the schedule on her phone and an hour and a quarter late by the schedule on our own spreadsheet. I had to (patiently) explain that as the sitting visit was timed in such a way that I could attend my Pilates session, there was really no point in turning up so late when she was not needed. Each carer has to file a report at the conclusion of each visit and so the latecomer duly filed her report but whether any action will ensue from this, I cannot say.

After Meg is put to bed at about 8.00pm, I generally do a few domestic jobs and then look in the TV schedules to see if anything watchable is being broadcast at 9.00pm. Incidentally, I have often speculated that there seem to be rubbish programmes in the schedules between 8.00pm-9.00pm because I suspect that BBC and ITV executives are busy putting their children to bed at these times and so good programmes, as well as the watershed, starts at 9.00pm. I have been watching ‘Pompeii – the new dig’ and today, searching the BBC iPlayer, Meg and I started watching the series from the very beginning. As it was the first programme in the series, several fascinating facts were revealed. The eruption, of course, was in AD79 and was observe first hand by the Roman historian, Pliny, which must be one of the few first hand accounts of an ancient disaster ever recorded. The ruins were discovered in the 1740’s when excavations were first started. Typically, the whole city was covered with five metres of a pumice/ash which descended upon the town and the weight of this ask upon primitive roofs caused them to collapse killing the inhabitants within. But about the third of the original site of the town has never been excavated so after years of planning, this ‘new dig’ has just started. For its time, Pompeii was quite an elite town and the excavations often reveal large villas decorated with frescos, workshops and other commercial buildings. It always amazes me that archaeologists manage to reconstruct the past based upon the most fragmentary of evidence but I wonder sometimes whether tiny bits of evidence are used to construct an elaborate theory or imaginative reconstruction that might turn out to be utterly mistaken. Nonetheless, the programmes are still worth watching again as it is the first time for Meg (but the second time for me). Meg and I went around Pompeii decades ago and even ascended the slopes of Vesuvius and, even then there were occasional fissures in the rock emitting clouds of sulphur dioxide and other volcanic gases. Some of the frescos that have been uncovered are portraits of an almost photograph quality that give the most accurate depiction of the faces and apparel of some of the inhabitants. I think that Meg and I may well watch an episode a day for the next few days and Meg found it especially fascinating – we both enjoyed Latin when we were at school and so Meg has a particular love for, and insight into, things Roman.

After the Rwanda bill finally passed through Parliament last night, a crucial concession having been made by the government over the treatment of Afghani asylum seekers who have assisted the British armed forces, the media is speculating about what happens next. It does appear that the Government are going to round up several migrants from wherever they happen to be and will put them in detention centres awaiting the final preparations for the flights to commence. I wonder, though, how many intended ‘deportees’ get wind of their intended fate and just disappear into communities around the country. I am not convinced that the government has got accurate records of exactly who is meant to be where, at this point of time. Meanwhile, it has become clear that in Rwanda itself, some or all of the housing originally built to house those being sent to Rwanda has actually been sold off. And all of this speculation has been overtaken by the very sad news that at least five bodies have been discovered in the Channel after a perilous journey has evidently failed. Journalists have been keen to hunt out would be migrants in the dunes on the coasts of northern France and it does appear that for the vast majority of them, the existence the Rwanda scheme is not going to have a deterrent effect.

Little snippets are starting to appear about the Trump trial in New York at the moment. Although it is early days yet, it appears that the Trump defence team is making a disastrous start to his defence. Meanwhile, Trump is sounding off whenever he possibly can through his own social media channel about the perceived inequity of the proceedings and vituperative attacks upon the judge in the case. As for judge himself, he still has to rule whether all of these outpouring actually constitute a breach of the gagging orders that have already been made but of course the trial has to run for weeks yet.

When our carers showed up this morning, we all commiserated with each other as, one way or another, each one of us had a disturbed night’s sleep. I finally get Meg settled into bed after a restless period at about 1.00am and actually got to bed myself at about 1.30 but one of the carers had been up until 2.45 with her one of her children who had a stomach upset after spending the day with his father (it was evidently something that had eaten) Our mood was not particularly improved as it was a grey and drizzly type of day and the bad weather seemed to set in for most of the day. It was a bit difficult to make plans when the weather was as wet as this – nonetheless, we delivered some letters (principally our voting ballots for the forthcoming mayoral elections) and called in to see if our friends happened to be at home down the hill. They were not in so we proceeded to the supermarket where we obtained some much needed supplies of requisites of which the other supermarket had sold out when we shopping last Thursday. Then we collected our newspaper and made our way to the Methodist centre for a coffee. We were quite glad that we did because we made the acquaintance of one of their activities organisers with whom I had previously been in correspondence by email. We had missed the opening session of the club they are starting off on the third Friday of each month so, armed with a leaflet, we will ensure that we make a calendar entry so that we do not miss it next month. We chatted with a ex-nurse and another lady, the topic of conversation being how long we had lived in Bromsgrove and why we had come to live in the town nearly seventeen years ago. Naturally, we availed ourselves of their tea and teacakes and we enjoyed the social chitchat in which we engage when we are sitting on what is termed the ‘Chatty Table’ One lady was trying to persuade us to go to an open afternoon in the local Salvation Army citadel but we declined the invitation, preferring to have lunch at home and then have a quiet and peaceful afternoon at home. After we had had a disturbed night last night, I was hopeful that Meg would have a longer doze after lunch because she (and I) are always so much the better for it. Lunch was the ham we cooked yesterday in which we heat up slices in a thick onion gravy, prepared yesterday, and complemented with broccoli and a baked potato.

The political news is dominated today by Rishi Sunak who gave a press conference this morning in which he stressed how he was unequivocally going to get his Rwanda flights scheme off the ground. It may well be that both the Lords and the Commons will continue to battle it out until the small hours of the morning. The Tories are blaming the Labour peers for prolonging the battle and although this is true to a certain extent, it is not the full story. Some of the opposition is coming from the cross benches (i.e. not party politically aligned members of the House of Lords) as well as some influential Tories. There is no doubt that in terms of ‘realpolitik’ and constitutional conventions, the House of Commons will eventually have its way. Apart from the damage that may be done to Britain’s international standing by breaking some of the tenets of international law, the Lords have other reasons to oppose the legislation. If there had been a clear mandate from the electorate i.e. the boats policy was part of a government manifesto, then the opposition from the Lords would have melted away more quickly. But as it stands, the Lords are saying that they are a revising chamber and this legislation is crying out for revision in the way it has been drafted and will be implemented. Rishi Sunak is saying today that commercial flights are standing by to process a whole stream of migrants but in view of the damage done to their reputation, I doubt this is actually the case. Small boat arrivals in the UK since the beginning of the year have increased by 24% compared with the according to Home Office data published today. Some 6,265 small boats arrived between 1 January and 21 April 2024, compared with 5,049 during the same period the year before. Vietnamese and Afghan arrivals were the main two nationalities, making up 40% of total arrivals during the period. Some 56,744 claims were granted and 36,597 were refused, representing a grant rate of 61%. Some details from the press conference which I have only fleetingly heard are the numbers (in their hundreds) of personnel who have been specially recruited to physically handle the migrants, many of whom will no doubt be dragged kicking and screaming onto the planes and then escorted all the way to Rwanda – one wonders if they will be manacled and/or physically restrained during the flights. All of this will be kept away from the prying eyes of the press and independent observers but I fear that eventually, if the policy works as the government intends, then all kinds of force will be used to implement the policy and I predict that some suicides will occur. One can only speculate whether the government will actually quite enjoy it to take place in order to placate their own right wing and the most illiberal of their supporters in the so called ‘red wall’ seats for whom the forcible removal of migrants is said to be a priority.

The other story abounding today is the Jewish activist who has forced an apology from the Met police after he tried to exercise his right to walk (confront?) a march organised by supporters of Palestine. There is a lot more here than meets the eye. One commentator who has seen the whole of the confrontation with the police filmed by Sky News and not just little selected clips from it broadcast has argued then an arrest would have been warranted for trying to break through a police cordon. This area is incredibly fraught for the police and sometimes they may get things wrong (as they may have done on this occasion) by telling the protestor that he is ‘evidently Jewish’ but I, for one, would not like to be on the front of the police lines trying to maintain the rights to demonstrate and also to keep the peace in an arena which is so emotionally and politically charged as this one.

We got up in plenty of time this morning aware of the fact that our carers were timed to appear at 8.00am this morning but aware that yesterday they actually turned up one hour earlier. So we we were well prepared this morning and I had Meg up and ready to receive their ministrations by the time that they turned up on time today. Being a Sunday, we normally watch the Lorna Kuennsberg Politics program but were more than happy to see Trevor Phillips on the Sky equivalent which starts half an earlier as the BBC slot was taken over with coverage of the London Marathon. In fact, I found it rather refreshing to hear Trevor Phillips say to a government minister ‘Yeah, yeah, we have heard this all from you and your colleagues lots of times before’ when the spokesman for the Tory party goes into the script which seems to have been prepared for them before they are unleashed on the media. I only wish that more interviewers would do this these days but of course both politicians and interviewers need each other and, almost deliberately, run interviews with an agenda known between the two of them. Too aggressive an interview means that no more interviews will ever be held with that interviewer. I think that the Tory party has a very ‘iffy’ relationship with Channel 4 hardly ever agreeing to be interviewed on that particular channel whose interviewers are judged to be too aggressive – or in other words, to the point. After breakfast, Meg and I mapped out how we thought we would spend the morning. We intended to obtain our newspaper, make a visit to a local Aldi store and then go and have our coffee in the park. Our University of Birmingham friend phoned up so we were delighted to make an assignation a bit later in the park. We were actually a bit later for our meeting in the park than we intended because calling in at Waitrose, we were surprised to see they had no copies of the ‘Sunday Times‘ Assuming that if Waitrose did not have a copy of the newspaper, then no one would would, we bought a copy of the ‘Observer‘. But then armed with this, we decided to call in at the local BP garage not expecting to see any copies of the Sunday Times but secured a copy (for which we already paid, via the voucher system to which we subscribe) Then it was off to the park where it was a beautiful day but a little on the cold side. We occupied our normal bench and our friend was there waiting for us, having brought along his own flask of coffee and we spent the most enjoyable hour of conversation enjoying the spring sunshine. Before we parted, we made some tentative plans to have a day out together in Alcester, a charming little Georgian town, quite accessible for us. When we got home, we had some ham cooking in the slow cooker but quickly rustled up our lunch which I think I made in record time. Then it was time for Meg’s afternoon doze which did not last that long but was better than nothing.

When we awoke from our semi-slumbers, Meg and I tuned into the second half of the film ‘Ladies in Lavender’ which we had actually seen before. ‘Ladies in Lavender’ is a 2004 British drama film directed by Charles Dance and is based on a short story actually written in 1916. It stars Dame Judi Dench and Dame Maggie Smith as two elderly sisters living in a small Cornish fishing village in 1936 who befriend a young Polish man who I think is washed upon on the beach and turns out to have a prodigious talent for the violin. The film is very emotionally charged and has some wonderful cinematography and although we had missed the first half, a lot of this was scene setting so we did not feel as though we had missed a great deal. On Channel 5, they followed this up with a detailed examination of the life of Maggie Smith who seems to have a penchant for acid one liners and an ability to play women of whatever age even from the earliest age. One of her finest performances was, of course, playing Miss Shepherd playing the part of ‘The Lady in the Van’ in the largely true story of the lady who camped on the property of Alan Bennett but latterly, she is better known for her performances as the dowager in ‘Downton Abbey’

Yet another Tory MP has had to resign in disgrace, after being kicked out of the party (i.e. the Conservative whip was withdrawn) Mark Menzies, the MP accused of misusing campaign funds has quit the Tory Party and will not stand at next election. A Conservative spokesperson says the party will now install a whistleblowing helpline and retrain MPs on how to manage certain financial accounts. This is rather a case of closing the stable door since the horse has bolted since the number of Conservative MPs seem to appear at the rate of one a month. 100 Tory MPs are standing down at the forthcoming general election, knowing that hey will almost certainly be defeated and a life in opposition, perhaps for as much as 10 years, means that their opportunities to take on lucrative second jobs will have diminished sharply. The argument is often made that MPs need to have second jobs in order to keep their current professional links alive and vibrant but this argument would have so much more force if after a modest amount of retained earnings, all of the rest of the money should be devoted to charities (and not a charity of their own choosing, either) Our local MP, Sajiv Javid, who is standing down at the next election has secured a remuneration for about 4 times his parliamentary salary for about a quarter of the work but this is not untypical for ex-Tory ministers.

Meg and I were slightly disconcerted this morning as we had woken up at 6.30am and at 7.00am, I went downstairs to make our early morning cup of tea. But then the doorbell rang and it was a couple of pleasant enough carers who we had not met before who had turned up one hour early. Well, the schedule on their phones had indicated a 7.00am start whereas the spreadsheet with which we had been provided indicated a start at 8.00am. Last night, the carer was scheduled to appear at 8.20 but was half an hour later than this. The upshot of all of this was that one way or another Meg was short of about two and a half hour’s sleep which I am sure her body actually needs. So this morning, we had plenty of time in hand but managed to get down to Waitrose in good time, taking in a feeding of the cat which opportunistically keeps an eye open for our front door and also makes an appearance if he/she feels we are on our way out. We met with three of our normal ‘Tuesday’ crowd friends today and kept each other entertained for an hour. Occasionally, I see other patrons of the cafe shooting glances in our direction whether out of annoyance or curiosity, I cannot say because we always seem to have a lot to say to each other and humour abounds. It was one of those days with brilliant sunshine but I imagine it might have been very cold first thing in the morning because we were all glad that we had put on extra clothing before we went out. When we returned home, we started to prepare lunch which was a simple half of a quiche with some primo cabbage and a peas/carrots mixture parboiled and finished off in the oven (and normally I add a dollop of syrup to this mixture but forgot today) After I consulted the TV schedules for today, I saw that it was the Six Nations Women’s Rugby fixture between England and Ireland starting at 2.15.I calculated that if we had lunch promptly and as the weather was fine, I could probably just squeeze in getting the front communal grass area cut and still be in time for the rugby. I put Meg down to sleep immediately after lunch and when she appeared to be in a deep doze, immediately started on the grass cutting. This normally takes about 40 minutes but I divide it into two twenty minute sessions and half way through each session (i.e. at 10 minute intervals) I need to shoot inside to ensure that Meg is OK and suffering unduly from separation anxiety to which she is prone. I managed to get the lawns cut and the mower cleaned up and put away only missing one minute from the start of the rugby match. To start off, this was quite an enjoyable fixture to watch but the English team were so dominant being several tries up and over thirty points in the lead at half time so the match tended to lose its power of attraction.

In the last day, I have received a couple of emails to which a response is required. Meg’s second cousin has written to give us the date of the funeral of her cousin and this is the best part of three weeks away. We will need to make a trip to the environs of Derby for the actual crematorium and no doubt we can SatNav this to get the precise directions. The funeral is to be held at 11.00am in the morning which gives us good time to get the funeral rites performed and then the traditional funeral bash following on from that. Hopefully, Meg and I should be able to manage that all right and it is always pleasant to see distant relatives, even though it is a sad occasion. It happens to be the day before we are due to go down to meet the same relatives in Cheltenham in any case, providing that the arrangement we have already made still sounds. The second email to which I need to respond was from the Secretary of the Church Parochial Council of which I used to be a member but I needed, with some regret, to relinquish as Meg’s infirmity increased. It was a delightful and touching email and it is always nice to know that one is not forgotten.

The latest Trumpism of which I have become aware is that Trump through his own social media website is attempting to put pressure on the members of the jury who have just been selected, after a long and arduous set of procedures, who are due to pronounce on his guilt or innocence. This has got so severe that the judge in the case is considering whether Trump should be fined for each attempt to make disparaging remarks about members of the jury, the judge, the court proceedings and anybody else even remotely connected with the case who comes within his sights. On this side of ‘the pond’ we observe these court proceedings with a kind of fascinated horror but it looks as thought the trial proper may start next week with opening statements from the prosecution and the defence. Six additional jury members have been selected to act as reserves in case any of the original members drop out. But if Trump is successful and puts all kind of pressure on jury members then it is is always possible that one or two may drop out and then there is a possibility of a mistrial being declared, in which case we have to go through the whole procedure of jury selection all over again. Some of the legal team that have previously advised Trump are of the view that Trump is almost certain to be convicted but if this were to be the case, it looks as though the penalty for a ‘first offender’ might be a fine and community service rather than a period of imprisonment.

This morning we had our carer from Peru who we saw yesterday so this morning, it was as though she had not been away. But we had a pleasant text first thing in the morning because our Italian friend from down the road texted me to ask if it was all right for her to call around at 10.00am this morning. When she arrived, she brought several cakes and goodies with her so we had a coffee and exchanged all of our news. Our friend had had a bout of sciatica from which she was recovering after some physiotherapy and we supported each other in the view that it was much better for the doctor to prescribe a course of physiotherapy on the NHS rather than doling out pills. So we had a very pleasant morning in, after which it was time for us to prepare and eat out our haddock fish pie, which is our typical lunch on a Friday lunchtime. After lunch, Meg and I made a quick visit down the road to collect our newspaper as the visit from our friend had precluded us from doing this earlier. Rather frustratingly, the internet access on my TV seems to be ‘down’ this afternoon although the laptop seems to be able to use internet access all right so I am not sure how to fix this particular problem. However, switching the whole unit off, leaving it for several seconds and then on again seems to have done the trick. There seems to be a common thread when problems occur and each group of professionals seems to have its own default way of dealing with the problem. In the case of IT and computer related problems, the answer always seems to be to ‘try a reset of the system’ and I suspect that medics also have a standard operation that they sometimes do to resolve problems.

Sky News is reporting today that former prime minister Boris Johnson has breached government rules by being ‘evasive’ about his links to a hedge fund that set up a meeting between him and the president of Venezuela, a watchdog has said. Mr Johnson raised a few eyebrows earlier this year after his spokesman confirmed he had flown to the country to meet its controversial leader Nicolas Maduro. But now, the chairman of the Advisory Committee on Business Appointments (Acoba) Lord Pickles, has highlighted further controversy around the meeting which was arranged by a company called Merlyn Advisors – a hedge fund. Under government rules, any minister leaving office must run new jobs or appointments by the Acoba watchdog before taking them up. But Lord Pickles said despite repeatedly being asked to clarify his relationship with the firm, Mr Johnson had not done so, nor had he denied the reports in the media that he had been working with Merlyn Advisors on a non-contractual basis. According to the Institute for Government, while Acoba can publicly say when a former minister has breached the rules, it has no power to enforce sanctions, and it is left to the government of the day to decide on any action to be taken. This is not the first time that MPs are shown to be either bending rules if not breaking them and there seems to be a process by which such transgressions are reported. But after the breach of rules has been identified, then nothing seems to happen. All that this does is to lessen the faith of the public with MPs as a whole. Conservative MPs are much more numerous than other kinds of MPs and they are also the governing party, so it is perhaps no surprise that there seems to a goodly number amongst them who seem to demonstrate a disregard for the rules. But there are examples of MPs from other political parties who demonstrate bad behaviour in a variety of guises so a party political point is not being made here. But when a Tory MP breaks the rules, there seems to be a collective sigh from the electorate who repeat the mantra that ‘they are all the same’ and MPs of all political parties get tarred with the same brush. I have sometimes modelled what I would do if I were the new Prime Minister of a recently elected government, having been elected on the basis of a reaction against the sleaze of the present Government. As Prime Minister at my very first cabinet, I would announce to the cabinet as a whole that ‘we had been elected as a reaction against the sleaze shown by the previous government and that if there is the slightest whiff of scandal concerning any government minister, then they should be in no doubt that their dismissal would be swift and immediate and that their feet would not touch the ground in such a case’ I would also announce this on the steps of Downing Street on the morning after the election, telling the electorate that faith needed restoring in the British political system and that their new Prime Minister would try to demonstrate this by his immediate and swift reaction to any emerging scandal. I do not expect to see anything like this if and when we get a new government later on this year but I can but have a dream that it could be so.

Rishi Sunak has made the shock claim that the current disability welfare bill is set to increase by more than 50 per cent over the next four years if left unreformed. He said:’More than 500,000 people have been unemployed for six months and well over a quarter of a million have been unemployed for 12 months’. 250,000 people have been warned benefits could be removed entirely with Prime Minister Rishi Sunak launching a crackdown on sick note culture. The PM warned that the current situation is economically unsustainable. There is an admittedly real problem with which an incoming government would have to deal as well as the present one. But complex problems require complex solutions and removing the responsibility to issue sick notes seems an excessively retrograde step. The replacement system is likely to be a private sector firm with non medically trained staff working through a pre-determined checklist and paid by the results of how many people they remove. I think that this might be a case where the ‘cure’ is far worse than the ‘disease’ it is meant to cure. Perhaps an alternative idea would be support people into work by having a transitional welfare payment to ease the transition back into work again.

We were almost in danger of oversleeping this morning but fortunately, when I looked at the schedule sheet provided by Meg’s care providers, I saw that the two carers were not due for some time, giving me time to shower before they arrived. In the event, they arrived a quarter of an hour late, one being the carer from Peru we know well and other one new to us. So we got ourselves up and breakfasted and then the pattern for the morning changed. The carer from Peru had been detailed to stay on when Meg was ready in order that I could go out and do the weekly shopping. This actually worked out fairly well and I left the carer reading stories and listening to some classical music whilst I ploughed my way through various sets of traffic lights (which all seemed to be at red) on my way to the supermarket and back again. As I know this supermarket pretty well, then almost all that I felt that I wanted or needed I managed to find complete with one or two extras. When I got home, I joined Meg and the carer in conversation, mainly about her forthcoming trip to Peru in July, before it was time for her to leave. Then it was time for me to prepare the lunchtime meal which today consisted of cooking some onions, peppers, peas and fragments of chicken which I serve on pasta (for Meg) and some cream crackers for myself. The idea of the cream crackers is to keep my carbohydrate count as low as practicable. We had just about finished lunch when the doorbell rang and it was our chiropodist, with whom I had just reestablished our patterns of appointments since Meg had been in hospital. When I described to her the various travails that we had with Meg in hospital and the fact that we were waiting for days for the ReAblement team to swing into action, our chiropodist explained that an almost parallel experience had happened to her mother-in-law. She had an episode quite similar to Meg’s and had been taken to the huge Queen Elizabeth hospital in the centre of Birmingham where she appeared to be stuck in the system until the NHS ReAblement bureaucracy had done its work. I do not know if this little story made me feel better or worse but it does illustrate that the experience that Meg and I have was far from being unique. I then popped Meg on the settee for an after dinner doze but it was not to be but I had the rest of the shopping to put away as well as getting the washing up all done. At this point, I realised that I had not had the time to get my daily newspaper but, as Meg did not relish the prospect of being left on her own, she was trundled into the car and we then made our way down to Waitrose to get a newspaper. You would have thought that this was quite a simple transaction but I got stuck in a queue behind a lady who could not get the system in the supermarket to recognise the vouchers on her mobile phone. After all of her packed shopping had been unpacked and rescanned, the app vouchers would still not be credited whilst the young assistant and her supervisor struggled to get things to work. Eventually I was allowed to get through the system quickly as all I wanted to do was to present my voucher and to get out of the store quickly.

Something rather strange is happening on the political front with consequences that be hard to predict. Normally when one party is extremely unpopular in the opinion polls, then the corresponding chief Opposition party hits a corresponding high. But today a polling firm has revealed that the Tories are on 19%, the lowest level of support it has ever recorded for the party – and Sir Keir Starmer also registers his lowest net satisfaction rating in his four years as Labour leader. So if the two major political leaders are unpopular, does this mean that third parties or nationalist parties will receive a boost? I suspect that one of the consequences might be a low turnout in the general election whenever it comes and this is never good for the democratic process. I suspect that part of Keir Starmer’s low poll results might be a combination of disillusionment with Starmer’s stance over the Gaza conflict where Starmer appears to throw his weight unequivocally behind Israel, thus alienating many Muslim voters. At the same time, some of Starmer’s policies seem to mirror those of the Tories and even the Tories themselves ‘stole’ the taxation of non-doms policy from the Labour Party. It does not bother me a great deal that Starmer does not appear to have instant political sex appeal as it were because I feel that modern political developments have been far too presidential for my taste. One of the most successful Labour Prime Ministers was Clement Atlee whose style was headmasterly rather than presidential. Today came the news that yet another Tory MP has had the whip withdrawn (the equivalent of being suspended from the party) for mis-allocating funds apparently for his own personal use. The Tory party at the moment does give the appearance of party that knows it is beaten, that its days in power are numbered and one is hoping against hope that ‘something might turn up’ This feeling is not completely irrational because it is not well known that Margaret Thatcher was regarded as one of the post unpopular Prime Ministers of all time immediately before the Falklands war but one of the most popular immediately afterwards. So ‘the something that might turn up’ certainly did in the case of the Falklands war and, of course, immediately the war was won it quite easy for her advisers to suggest that she call a general election so that she could immediately benefit from her new found popularity. And, of course, as Harold Wilson used to say ‘a week can be a long time in politics’

The latest news from across the pond, as they say, is the story that campaign for Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential bid has come up with a new way to raise cash — which involves calling on down-ballot candidates who use his name and likeness in fundraising pushes to give him a cut of the money they raise.’Beginning tomorrow, we ask that all candidates and committees who choose to use President Trump’s name, image, and likeness split a minimum of 5% of all fundraising solicitations to Trump National Committee JFC. This includes, but is not limited to, sending to the house file, prospecting vendors, and advertising’ Trump co-campaign managers Susie Wiles and Chris LaCivita wrote in a letter reported on by Politico.

Our friendly and hard working Polish-born carer turned up this morning absolutely on cue so we are always pleased to see her and it helps to get the day off to a good start. She is having a couple of days off now so we shall have to see what her replacement is going to be like tomorrow morning. This morning, we were absolutely delighted to see our domestic help back again after an absence of about 10 days, during which time she has to cope with the euthanasia of her pet Jack Russell dog which, at 17 years old, was part of the family. I am pleased to say that she was coming to terms with the loss of her pet which I think had struck her quite hard (and coming on the heels of the death of a close family member as well) In the middle of the morning, we were happy to see the Eucharistic minister who tries to call on us at weekly intervals if this is possible. She and I are both complete aficionados of Mozart but I told her all about the fantastic programme I had seen on Beethoven recently courtesy of YouTube so I hope she manages to get a sight of this. Although we had our mid-morning coffee at home, Meg and I still felt the need to get out this morning. I managed to find a car parking space fairly near to an accessible ATM and I was pleased to get our living money out as I am going shopping for our weekly shop tomorrow morning. We did whizz around Waitrose and I bought some things like milk that I really did need for today. After that, we got home and I got on with our lunch which was our last full meal of the chicken we had for last weekend, complemented with some mange-tout peas and baked potato. After a tasty lunch, I encouraged Meg to have a good long doze but it was not to be. By the mid afternoon, the weather looked quite sunny and Meg expressed the desire to go for a walk in the park. This we did but as soon as we got to the park, quite a bitterly cold wing sprung up which meant that we had to confine our stay in the park to the bare minimum. Needless to say, the minute we got back to the car, the sun seemed to shine brightly once again so we were just a little unfortunate in our timings.

As I write, the parliamentary game of ping-pong between the Lords and the Commons is still proceeding. The Lords has whittled down amendments to the last two which are deemed critical – one of them is trying to guarantee the rights of Afghanis with a substantial connection to the British Army should not be deported to Rwanda whilst the second is seeking to strengthen an oversight committee, designed to ensure that Rwanda really is a ‘safe’ destination. It is possible that many of the almost sleeping members of the Lords might be encouraged to come up to London and to vote in favour against any amendments but the results of this last ditch stand is a bit difficult to call at this stage. If the Lords does pass further amendments, then the Royal Assent night be delayed until Monday whereas if the two Lords amendments are not passed, then the Bill could actually receive the Royal Assent tomorrow. The news is developing as I write and it now looks as though the Lords have passed the amendment concerning Afghans who have assisted the British army which means that the final vote will be delayed until Monday. The Opposition estimates that the cost per refugee is £2 million pounds, that less than 1% of asylum seekers will de deported to Rwanda under the scheme and the costs are in excess of £500 million (0.5 of £1 billion)

Whatever one’s politics, the veteran Labour politician, Denis Healey, used to say ‘In war, the first casualty is truth’ and this seems to be true in the case of Russia and Ukraine. A recent report has put the number of Russians killed at 50,000 and when this figure is put to the Russian military they would neither confirm or deny it. The official figure is about 25,000 but the true figure has been compiled by counting up the number of new graves dedicated to soldiers across the country which is proof indeed. The American military when in a conflict in Vietnam were desperate to maximise the numbers killed in the conflict to try to sustain public support for the war. A strategy that was used was to look at the population of a village surveyed by the French in 1954, increase the number by the putative birthrate so that 500 became 750, for example, and then bomb the village. If 4 people were seen running away, the death toll was then put at 750-4= 746. Two assiduous journalists looked at the figures published in very small print in the ‘New York Times’ and concluded that the population of VietNam must have been killed about 10 times over. So this immediately blew the pieces the claims that were being made of the ‘kill rate’ and, of course, public support for the war drained away and eventually the Americans were forced into a humiliating withdrawal. I knew that Donald Trump had dodged the draft on one occasion but I did not know until I checked that this was done five times. On four occasions it was because of attendance at college and on one famous occasion it was because of his bad feet. Whether this fact is well known to his avid supporters is interesting to know but the American elite made sure that their sons did not serve by using one draft dodging ruse after another, leaving the unskilled and poorly educated to beat the ultimate costs for the war.

The day started with two of our favourite carers, one hailing from Poland and the other from Peru and, as it happens they are great mates with each other. The carer from Peru told us that in July she was going to visit Peru with her two sons and they were going to visit Machu Picchu which is one of Peru’s best known tourist attractions. The other would have liked to have gone back to Poland for some summer holidays but none were in prospect for her. And speaking for Meg and I, we have not started to think about the viability of summer holidays, just wanting to be on a stable keel for a week or so yet. Tuesdays are our regular Waitrose meeting days and we were delighted to meet up with a couple of old friends. Our conversations are always far ranging and we never quite know where we are going to end up but today’s topic of discourse was ‘Barns I have slept in’ Our veteran hiking friend was evidently used to making a billet in a Youth Hostel but if by any chance it was full or unreachable there were always the local farms. The farmer and his wife would let well behaved hikers spend a night if necessary in one of their barns and the hikers would typically purchase some eggs and milk from the farmer’s wife (who, in the remote areas would have these in abundance) and I dare say that if you were lucky, there might be a small loaf of freshly baked bread available. Whilst we were exchanging these stories, our chorister friend told us of a night she spent in a barn only to discover that a half door into the barn had been left open and their sleep was disturbed by a sheep also wishing to find shelter for the night. Needless to say, there were a lot of impromptu jokes about woolly jumpers and the like. We again had a very jolly hour as we spark each other off and then we all had to go our separate ways. Later on in the morning, I knew that it was my Pilates day and a new carer had been allocated to us who was new to us. She arrived a quarter of an hour late what with SatNav problems and we established quickly that she been in the care business since she left school although she now ran her own beauty salon. I put on a ‘Pilgrimage’ program on the BBC iPlayer thinking that this would help the first hour of the hour and a half session before my return to pass more quickly. When I returned, we got into conversation about walking activities and our carer had just returned from a walk up Snowden which we ourselves have walked on quite a few occasions. My Pilates class was the first that I had attended for about a month now and I felt that my body really needed the stretches which are a part of the Pilates routines. I had seen one of my Pilates class members in the park a couple of days ago so my return to the Pilates fold was anticipated.

The Government bill to establish Rwanda as a ‘safe place’ to which to deport refugees who are claiming asylum is returning from the House of Lords where the battle of ping-pong will continue. In six votes on government moves to throw out Lords amendments to the Safety of Rwanda (Asylum and Immigration) Bill, the majorities were 65, 71, 70, 70, 74 and 59. The Bill is now walked down the corridor to the House of Lords who will eventually capitulate as the government seems to be in no mood not to accept a single Lords amendment (which is often the case) Then the bill will receive the Royal Assent, become an Act of Parliament and then even more machinations come into play. The government will have to find a carrier to transport the asylum seekers, many of whom will be dragged screaming and kicking and will have to manhandled into the planes. Whether any of the press will witness any of this is an interesting question – the government will try to ensure that is not done before prying eyes. I even anticipate that a suicide might take place – not that the government will care. Then we shall start with all kinds of legal proceedings both domestically and in front of the International Court of Justice (which has just toughened its stance recently in any case) This will run and run and one shudders to think of the cost per migrant which is horrendously large. The government argues that once refugees are on a flight to Rwanda this will act as a massive deterrent to those wishing to cross the Channel in small boats but this seems like wishful thinking rather than based upon any hard evidence.

I am following the court appearances of Donald Trump with a kind of fascinated horror. Yesterday, Trump passed another milestone which is the first ex-President to be charged in a criminal court, the actual offence here being not to actually pay the porn star with whom he had a dalliance but to attempt to conceal all of this as a legitimate business expense. I keep reminding myself that Al Capone was eventually brought to justice on the subject of tax evasion. What I had not fully appreciated but did with a certain amount of ‘schadenfreude’ (what a wonderful expression in German – ‘malicious delight in another person’s misfortune’) is that Trump is going to appear in court every day for maybe weeks whilst the case is heard. It is also being said that if Trump is convicted, he will not actually be sent to jail but may be forced to do so many hours of ‘community service’ e.g. cleaning the streets, removing graffiti from city walls and the like. Of course, there will be appeals and appeals and there are several other cases along the line. Nonetheless, the face that Trump presented to the world last night was a kind of tired belligerence – one wonders, whether after some weeks of this, the fight might go out of him somewhat.