Yesterday turned out to be quite a ‘curate’s egg’ of a day i.e. good in parts. I had anticipated that in the middle of the day, my Droitwich friend and I were due to go to a nearby restaurant for a special birthday treat but some work commitments had reared their ugly head so we had to abandon this plan and come up with another. Knowing how difficult can be to find a restaurant that was open on a Sunday evening, we decided that I should go to Waitrose and buy some special food and then we should mount a little birthday party here in my house in the evening. This plan worked out beautifully and we had a really enjoyable evening together, first eating and then watching various video clips on YouTube. I also played my friend the precious video clip that I have of Meg and myself giving our speeches to our Yorkshire relatives on the occasion of one of our 50th wedding anniversary celebrations. Our friend had shared coffees with Meg and I several years ago as we had all first met walking up and down the road together and we quickly became friends with each other, all sharing the same, internationalist, perspective upon life.
Yesterday was only the funeral of the assassinated American polemicist, Charlie Kirk who recently was murdered at the hands of an assassin. The funeral was attended by 70,000 including President Trump himself and the whole event took on the significance of a Republican state funeral, which it was in a way. ‘I forgive him….The answer to hate is not hate’ These were the words, perhaps, the message America needs to hear most and the one it has heard least. In a stadium packed to capacity, Erika Kirk’s address to an assassin was delivered in tears and received with silence until the crowd grew into applause. I think it is no exaggeration that the mood in America is practically at a turning point and it would not take much for an open civil way to break out between Trump and is MAGA (Make American Great Again) supporters and the rest of American society. I was tempted to write the ‘centre ground’ of American politics but this is fast disappearing in the culture wars sweeping the country. In view of Trump’s failing health, it could be that the days of the current presidency are numbered. But the Republicans have done so much to grasp control of the levers of power, that a more likely scenario might be a vista of Trump policies without Trump but the future of American society is unpredictable in the extreme.
British politics rumbles on and we are left with the sequelae of the huge marches recently held in London. Police have appealed for help to identify an additional 18 people suspected of public order offences and assaults on emergency workers on the day of the Unite the Kingdom march. Between 110,000 and 150,000 people attended the rally in central London on 13 September, the Metropolitan Police estimates. Protesters heard a number of speeches, including from far-right activist Tommy Robinson, who organised the rally and called it the ‘biggest freedom of speech’ event in British history. An anti-racism counter-protest, attended by about 5,000 campaigners, also took place, with the two groups clashing on Whitehall and Trafalgar Square, separated by lines of police. Police previously said 24 people were arrested at the protests, 23 of whom are believed to have been involved in the Unite the Kingdom rally, while one was believed to be involved in the counter-protest. The force launched an appeal to identify 11 people last week, one of whom was identified. Officers now want to speak to a further 18 people in connection with a range of public order offences and assaults on emergency workers and have released 16 new images.
Later in the morning, I walked down the hill and into Waitrose to pick up the copy of my newspaper and then have a ‘free’ coffee. Quite by chance, I bumped into each pf the three friends I normally have coffee with on a Tuesday and then started my journey up the hill. Then my Irish friend was out in the autumn sunshine washing his car and that was an occasion for another, but more extended, chat. I have noticed that if I have several of these conversations, aways have a ‘feel good’ factor and am wondering whether these chats have the effect of some dopamine or endorphin release within my brain as I have some transitory feel-good moments afterwards. Then I made myself a conventional lunch with some ham, baked potato and broccoli knowing that I would have to prepare and eat this in plenty of time for the physiotherapy session later in the afternoon. The physiotherapist recommended some exercises with a tennis ball so that I could myself some self-massage to get rid of some knots of tension in my shoulder but did not think that I would need any more courses of treatment so I shall to ry to master and then complete these exercises once or twice a day (which is a little easier said than done) As it was such a beautiful fine afternoon, cut the grassed area in front of the house but need to cut the back lawns tomorrow as they appear much more in need of treatment. I haven’t had time to select any viewing options for this evening but I think the schedulers try to ease you into the week with quite a good range of programmes.
One of my favourite cosmetics stores in which I have shopped for the last 18 years – BodyCare- has now collapsed into administration, At the moment, Bromsgrove High Street is dominated by coffee bars, vaping and charity shops but I do not suppose this makes it much different from other High Streets up and down the country. A combination of low footfall during the week and high rents and business rates has probably contributed the downfall of BodyCare. In the domestic political agenda, I notice that the Reform party is suggesting that ‘Indefinite leave to reman’ for migrants should be replaced by a system of 5 yearly renewable visas. Given the rightward drift of politics both in the UK and across Europe/USA, I would not be surprised if this new Reform policy on migrants would be copied by the other political parties, keen not to be seen as being outflanked on the right.