Yesterday, I had allocated myself some viewing time for a series on BBC on ‘The Great Philosophers’ which I thought would be both illuminating and instructive. But the whole programme of 45 minutes was a conversation between two talking heads on a sofa (both eminent philosophers) which was not what I thought I was going to view. In practice you had to know at least some of the elements of the philosophy which was the subject of discussion before you could make head or tail of the programme and, even so, I fell asleep during it. So the programme was a bit of a disappointment and I may try just one more in the series (the first being Plato, the second Aristotle) and may then abandon this little project in favour of a return of the Alice Robert’s paleo-anthropology programmes which I find much more interesting. Yesterday, I also typed up a series of notes I had made of a video presentation I had seen on YouTube, the theme of which was how to live longer by adopting the correct series of routines with which to wake up each morning. Some of this sounded sensible (rotating ankles for example), some wacky (using coconut oil to rinse out one’s mouth first thing) and some even bizarre (such as drinking a pint of water laced with some pink salt and lemon juice) Again, I am trying some elements of this but will probably end up with a subset which seems a lot more sensible. I am still continuing with my little snippets of reflections each day and am posting these on the web and have utilised one of those web-names shortening routines to a version which is not copy protected but whose name is adapted in such a way that people and even web-bots are unlikely to come across it by accident. I follow what the political commentator Beth Rigby has to say because she is often ‘spot on’ with her analysis. Later on today there is going to be an announcement the net effect of which seems to be to soften us up for imminent tax rises and income tax itself seems to be the simplest fiscal tool to raise large amounts of money even though it has a ‘totemic’ status and the Labour Party in opposition pledged not to increase it. As Beth Rigby reports there is no need to tell you how difficult and contested this is going to be. Only a year ago, the chancellor unveiled the biggest tax-raising budget since 1993 and said it was a ‘once in a parliament event’. MPs will be fearing a massive backlash should manifesto promises on not raising income tax (and VAT and national insurance) for working people be broken. Government figures know how hard it is going to be but argue the chancellor has to level with the public about the hard choices ahead and what is driving her decision-making. In fairness to the government, the world financial scene has altered so much recently not least with the Trump administration of tariffs left, right and centre and the slow growth experienced by the UK seems to be the same across all of the other major European economies.
In the morning after a long and customary char with our domestic help, I walked down into town and had a coffee with my elderly chorister friend. One of our usual number is in hospital and although she went in with a chest infection, it now looks as though she has other problems that they are attempting to resolve. My friend and I are a little fearful as to what the future holds once she is discharged for what prospects may be in store for her. My friend rather ruefully remarked to me that it was not so long when we used to be six in number (my friend and her husband, Meg and myself and two more regular friends) and now we are reduced to just the two of us to chat away as or numbers are diminishing. My friend’s husband had dementia, and this has progressed to the point where he doe does not recognise his wife any more which is always a painful realisation. Earlier in the morning, I had looked at my watch and realised that it had stopped and needed a new battery so after coffee I took myself to a local cobblers to have the new battery replaced – and the price for this seem to have shot up in the last year or so. Whilst I was waiting for the new battery to be fitted, I idly browsed through a display of what were probably dog tags and I found a plain, oval dog tag which I promptly purchased. This has been in my mind for some time so asked the shop to engrave it for me with the inscription ‘Meg (“Sunshine”)’ and this will be ready in about a day’s time. Then I intend, possibly with the assistance of my University of Birmingham friend, to go down to our local park and when the opportunity arises to affix it with superglue to the back of the iron bench upon which Meg and I used to sit regularly in our trips to the park. Here it will not attract undue attention but I will know that it is there and hopefully it will remain for some time to come. I walked home and then after a brief rest went and had my usual Pilates class, after which I returned home to a lunch of mackerel fillets spread with some seafood sauce and eaten upon a bed of salad leaves which is a lunch quick and easy to prepare after my Pilates session each week. Then I typically have a restful afternoon after which I know there are a couple of vintage comedy programmes for me to enjoy (episodes of ‘The Good Life‘ followed by ‘Yes, Minister‘) which is always broadcast at this time in the week. I know that today there are some important local elections in the USA but because of time differences we may not get the results until tomorrow. The Democrat candidate for the mayoral race in New York is DeZohran Mamdani who calls himself ‘Donald Trump’s worst nightmare’. They are the words of a man living the dream. It is because the 34-year-old is the headline act in Tuesday’s referendum on Trump 2.0. A statement night in US politics, as Americans – some, at least – deliver a verdict on what they’ve seen so far. Of four electoral contests across the US – including in California, New Jersey and Virginia – the race to be New York mayor is the most compulsive and consequential. The polls have Mamdani, the Democratic nominee, as the frontrunner. If he wins, it would signify big change in the Big Apple. This would be a wonderful launch pad for a Democratic candidate to challenge Donald Trump in about 2-3 years time.