The massive political news that dominated the airwaves yesterday was the shock resignation of our normally ultra-loyal Defence Secretary, John Healey, following a massive argument about the level of defence spending. Since the end of the Cold War, we and the European democracies have become used to much lower levels of defence spending which now hovers around 2.5% of GDP which is about a half of what it used to be. But under both governments, defence spending as been ‘hollowed out’ and we now live in a much more threatening and uncertain world. in theory, we should be increasing military spending to at least 3.0% by the end of the decade. But after months and months of wrangling with the Treasury, the Defence Investment Plan (budget) for defence was scheduled to rise from 2.6% to 2.68% by 2030 and Healey was of the view that this was in insufficient to keep our country safe from imminent threats and so resigned – the first Defence Secretary to do so over the issue of cash. One can see the problem ‘from space’ as it were. The Treasury is strongly of the view that money paid into the military is often wasted in projects that do not come to fruition and weapon systems that do not work and is therefore reluctant to disburse the money, despite the increasing threats to us from Russia and China. To the Tories, the answer is very simple which is to cut welfare budgets immediately and out the money into defence. But for newly elected Labour MPs, cutting welfare expenditures means taking money out of the mouths of the poor and disabled who need that money now in return for a rather vague level of increased ‘protection’ that defence spending offers. This represents a really hard dilemma to resolve politically at a time when the country appears to be desperately short of money for every single public service. A new Defence Secretary with an outstanding military service has been appointed (Dan Jarvis) but it is not clear whether he has argued successfully for extra money before accepting the appointment. In the meanwhile, the rest of the world saw the opening of the World Cup with the normal razzmatazz and with Mexico, one of the host nations, beating South Africa by 2:0. The South Africans were pretty abysmal and I think I counted only 3-4 weak shots at goal from them during the whole of the first half. Three red cards were issued and I personally feel they were all justified but, in the modern game, some of the ITV commentators thought that the referee had been over-harsh. They also argued massively whether the first Mexico goal was due to a goal keeping error, a defensive error or a combination of the two (which it was). I had great expectations of the this first match and wished South Africans, the under-dogs, to do well but I felt that the match as a whole was disappointing and did not give is a display of the levels of skill that a World Cup ought to showcase. It might be that given the lateness of the hour at which the World Cup matches are broadcast, I find other things to watch, if anything. Meanwhile we hear that the British economy actually contracted last month as we feel the first effects of the Iran war.
In the morning, I made my usual trip along the High Street to eventually land up in favourite ‘Gifts of Love’ coffee outlet which I usually frequent once per week- however, it is a fortnight since I last visited because last week my American friend and I were visiting central Birmingham. Yesterday, though, I was again greeted like a long lost friend and whoever comes into the outlet is similarly treated. In other words if you are a friend of the proprietor and her volunteers in the outlet, then you are automatically a friend of all. So it is no wonder that I keep going back week by week. Today one of the volunteers was telling me a tale so dire that she had been forced to complain to the General Medical Council about the way she had been treated by one consultant in particular at the Queen Elisabeth hospital in central Birmingham who subsequently denied having that member of staff on their books. I wondered to myself if she had been tried by an imposter as it is not unknown for some members of the public to don a white coat and to wander up and down the wards as though they were a consultant. After my coffee and avoiding the cake that was offered, I wandered down the High Street and bought some cosmetics before I returned home. As soon as I got home, I had a look at our back lawn and thought that it certainly needed a cut so I got to work straight away and gave it a mow before I decided to contemplate lunch. Then I made myself a mackerel salad as the weather had turned out quite warm, for a change, and I did not fancy preparing a hot lunch. Afterwards I sat outside the front of the house to enjoy some afternoon sunshine and to engage in a gentle reading of the newspaper and a ‘Fiendish’ SuDoku which I eventually solved completely. My pastimes were briefly interrupted b a telephone call from my American friend who has having great problems with her Sky TV setup. Never having had a Sky contract, it was a bit difficult to offer assistance over the phone but eventually I offered some advice (turn everything off, including at the wall, leave for a couple of minutes and then start up again) But her TV set whilst a good make (Panasonic) is 17 yeas old and not a ‘smart’ tv so its days might be numbered. I managed to get some resumption of service by my ‘turning it all off and then on again’ routine but suspect that I should probably assist her in buying a Smart TV, particularly as John Lewis seems to be giving out some good special offers at the moment, perhaps stimulated by the World Cup. This evening I may be tempted to watch another World Cup football match but I hope it a little more entertaining than the opening match. This evening, if I feel up to it, I may do a little more sweeping to prepare my paths before their (delayed) steam cleaning is due to take place first thing tomorrow morning.