Yesterday, I awoke to one of those of those wet and blustery days which, hopefully, may presage the end of this spell of cold and unseasonable weather for May. I often turn to Sky News to see if there are any major news stories that have emerged overnight and one item made be wonder whether it was April 1st, i.e. All Fools Day. The news story was to the effect that the UK is to resume production of the Spitfire but using modern materials so that the cost of each is £0.75 million rather than £3 million of the original. Given the propensity of the UK to live in the past, then perhaps this story has some legs as they say and I suppose that as the existing population of Spitfires must inevitably dwindle but air shows and military pageants remain popular then there may be a certain logic to produce ‘modern’ Spitfires again. I wonder if the ‘modern’ versions will be used as training aircraft before pilots are let loose on an original. I followed the account of Trump’s visit to China where it looks as though China ‘played’ Trump particularly well by heaping flattery upon the US President whilst maintaining a hard line over the status of Taiwan in private talks. Like the American liberal political media, I have been following the state of Trump’s evident cognitive decline with some interest. Over recent weeks, speculation has grown about US President Donald Trump’s erratic behaviour during the US-Israel war on Iran. While questioning Trump’s mental fitness for office, various commentators have suggested he has malignant narcissism, Alzheimer’s disease or fronto-temporal dementia, and is experiencing accelerating cognitive decline and a ‘profound psychological crisis’. The claim of fronto-temporal dementia in particular has stuck. This form of dementia can affect judgement, empathy, language skills and impulse control. Trump’s critics say fronto-temporal dementia explains his escalating threats, profanities and tendency to ramble. But is fronto-temporal dementia really the answer? Diagnosing someone with this condition from afar is not only irresponsible – it’s impossible. It may also inadvertently give Trump an ‘out’ for offensive but intentional behaviour, while increasing stigma for those who live with dementia. All world leaders live in a strange type of bubble, anyway, in which their knowledge of the world is excessively filtered by those around them and it is probable that they only read the media that reflects their own view of the world. One of my early jobs was as an office junior when I worked in the Central Office of Information in London was to distribute a range of the day’s newspapers to various staff in the department in which I worked. Thus every day I got to scan the whole range of newspapers from the ‘Morning Star’ on the left to the ‘Daily Telegraph’ on the right. My bosses used to tell me that the communist organ ‘The Morning Star’ which started off life as the ‘Daily Worker’ was always very well informed on constitutional issues on the basis, presumably, of knowing your enemy. My year working at the Central Office of Information was one of the most informative of my life and I would not have missed it for the world. Two huge stories dominated the media one of which was the death of Sir Winston Churchill, the other being the 750th anniversary of the founding of the first English Parliament under Simon de Montfort in 1215.
This morning I did not rush to get ready as I always look forward to a chat with our domestic help when she calls around. My son was due to pay a visit today but was having the morning in bed after he had been struck by a ‘lurgy’ (virus of some kind, no doubt) and had a headache and sore throat. I went into town to get a newspaper and upon my return prepared a cheese and beetroot sandwich for lunch. As soon as I completed my Pilates class in the middle of the day, I had my sandwich in the car in the car park and then made my way to the Methodist Centre where there was a monthly meeting and an organised talk. This was on the subject of why all political careers end in failure and although I was only there for the latter part of it, it seemed entertaining and well-delivered. I offered my Denis Healy story to the group as an end as a ‘non-political’ politics story and then we had coffee and biscuits afterwards. I am now in the situation where I know many of the members by sight if not their names and, hopefully, I shall be recognised now that I have attended several events. I was chatting with the lady Chairman over our post-talk cup of tea and she was telling me about a Philosophy group which is being run locally. This sounds to me as though it might be quite interesting and I am minded to get into contact with the person who is the Group convenor and see if I can attend just one meeting and see how it goes. But I am already committed to three groups as well as the day long excursions like to trip to Derbyshire tomorrow so am anxious not to over-extend myself. At the same time, the Chairman gave me a leaflet advertising he role of a Vice Chairman which they are anxious to fill and, no doubt, in the fullness of time would become the Chair of the whole of the local group. If I were ten years younger and had very few time commitments, I might have considered this (and I may just have pushing at an open door) but as things stand at the moment, I suspect that it is quite a lot of work and could well take over a large portion of one’s life. Turning to current domestic political issues, Andy Burnham has now been formally elected to be the Labour Party candidate for the forthcoming Makerfield by-election. The Reform candidate is a local plumber who has contested the seat before and evidently, the Reform party are pinning their hopes on the efficacy of a truly local candidate. But the amount of media attention this by-election is going to attract is enormous and the date of the election has yet to be formally announced. As soon as all of the candidates have been selected, we may well see our first opinion polls conducted and published. One opinion poll, recently published, indicates that Burnham would easily beat Starmer if there were ever to be a head-to-head contest.