As might be expected, the media is still completely dominated, if not obsessed, by the arrest of Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor as we are painfully being called to address him. Andrew was released the evening before but he will have had to ignore the normal indignities of being locked in a police cell for hours, given tea out of a polystyrene cup (a pottery one could have sharp edges if smashed and could be used to self-harm) and even one’s shoe laces removed for a similar reason. The graphic designers have been busily at work on social media and two were particularly apposite. On showed Andrew advertising jewelry but his hands manacled in handcuffs (incidentally, the Spanish with a certain black humour called handcuffs ‘esposas’ which translates as ‘spouses’). The second image showed a portrait of the old Queen as depicted on a 50p coin but with her head in her hands in a gesture of grief or despair. There has been an enormous amount of discussion of the future role of the monarchy with some saying that this crisis is even worse for the Royal Family than the abdication crisis of the 1936- the monarchy will certainly survive but living with completely new parameters and with a lot of the mystique associated with it stripped away. Actually, I felt a certain degree of pride in UK institutions because, even without a formally written constitution, it has been demonstrated that no one is above the law and the police have gone about their business carefully and methodically. This is sharp contrast to what is (not) happening in the USA at the moment where only victims seem to have their identities revealed whilst the rich and powerful perpetrators of the sexual abuse of underage girls have remained hidden and almost certainly un-investigated. One almost feels like shouting to the Americans ‘this is the way to do it’ and certainly some of this feeling is already being manifest in the USA. I think there is a growing realisation that we faced with weeks or months of this story dragging on and the Royal Family are having to live life ‘as normal’ despite it all. Evidence gathering may take quite some time but I suspect that a lot of it will be email trails. After the evidence gathering trail, the Crown Prosecution Service (what an ironic title!) will have to take time to decide whether the evidence is strong enough to mount a prosecution but this Common Law piece of legislation (‘Malfeasance in Public Office’) is rarely used and there are all kinds of technicalities ‘en route.’ For example, given the way that Andrew was appointed a Trade Commissioner was he given a formal contract, any kind of induction and/or training and was he clear what was or was not expected and permissible in such a new role? I suspect that these procedures were done in the most cursory of fashions if done at all and this gives scope for defence lawyers to mount a defence on the grounds of ignorance as to what was expected of a ‘Trade Envoy’?
Yesterday morning, I made a journey into town by car, calling first to pick up a copy of the newspaper and then called at the branch of my bank to see if I could alert them to the fact that I was due to pay off the mortgage next Friday and wondered if they required prior intimation of the transfer of large amounts of money. The branch were singularly unhelpful so I went on my way to pay my usual visit to the ‘Gifts of Love’ charity shop cum coffee bar for my regular end of week drink. There one of the assistants who I know well by sight and another regular customer popped by so we had a conversation mainly centred around pets (particularly dogs) that we had known. I then popped into a cosmetics store to buy some cosmetic and cleaning products whilst I was in that part of town and then finally made it home, fairly late and cooked myself a risotto, utilising some mackerel I already had in the freezer. I then made a couple of telephone calls to my bank and also my mortgage provider to make sure that all runs smoothly whilst my son and I make a trip into Worcester next Friday in order to redeem the small stub of a mortgage with which we are left. One would have thought this would be straightforward and it may well prove to be if I transfer money using the app on my phone in the presence of the mortgage adviser but nothing appears to be unproblematic these days and I am loathe to do things entirely in case the wrong key gets pressed and large amounts of money disappear. But redeeming a mortgage is not something that is done on a daily basis – it practice, only once or twice on a lifetime so I want to ensure that there are no hitches.
There is a wonderful German word, not directly translatable into English which is ‘schadenfreude’ generally rendered as ‘malicious delight in someone’s misfortune’ Now I have experiences a little of that emotion yesterday when I heard the latest news from the USA. The US Supreme Court rules on the legality of the sweeping tariffs imposed by Donald Trump on the world last year. The case centred on whether the International Emergency Economic Powers Act, which allows a president to regulate imports during a national emergency, authorises Trump to impose tariffs without clear limits on their scope or duration. The US Constitution grants Congress the power to set tariffs, and challengers argue Trump exceeded his authority. The Supreme Court, which has a 6-3 conservative majority, heard nearly three hours of oral arguments in November and gave few indications of how it might rule. But the court has now struck down the tariffs, meaning the administration could face huge financial consequences. Trump had warned the US will need to ‘unwind’ trade deals if it loses the case and warned of a ‘complete mess’. This could potentially cost the American economy some $175bn (about $150bn) which is a lot of money to reimburse American tax payers and one wonders how far Trump will comply. Given the Trump conservative majority in the Supreme Court, a ruling of 6:3 against Trump is quite surprising and, perhaps, having defied presidential wishes on this occasion, they may feel emboldened to do so again in the future when Trump seems to massively exceed the authority normally accorded to an American president.