I awoke to a Mozart Horn concerto and whenever I hear one of these, it always seems to remind me of the days when we were motoring up to York from Leicestershire taking our son to his boarding school (which he really appeared to enjoy) Later on this morning, I must give our newly installed washing machine for its first trial run but the exterior and controls seem very similar to the previous one, I am pleased to say. Yesterday, I did run off a piece of ‘care of washing machines’ which I really do intend to do with this particular model. In truth, Meg and myself always used to take meticulous care of our washing machines, cleaning the filter regularly and running through a washing machine cleaning programme every month or so. But in the latter stages of Meg’s illness, all of this got sadly neglected but now, of course, I have no excuse. The Donald Trump banquet seems to have gone off as planned and a day of pomp and the lavish display of Britain’s ‘soft power’ evident for all to see. But correspondents who are used to state visits of various kinds are remarking that this visit seems so very different because every effort is being made to ensure that there are no crowds lining the streets to jeer, rather than cheer, the president. Donald Trump is remarkably thin-skinned and the government have felt that they could not bear Trump’s exposure to a potentially hostile British crowd and hence the itinerary yesterday through Windsor was confined to the grounds of Windsor Castle and Windsor Great Park. The real political talks are due to take place in Chequers (not London) later on in the day and we all await and wonder what the press conference will reveal at the end of the day.
Meanwhile, all of the economic news in the run-up to the Autumn budget seems to get more dire by the day. The pound is sinking rapidly in the world currency markets and government debt continues to climb. Inflation seems to be embedded within the system, particularly as food prices rise and any growth appears minimal and measured only in tenths of a percentage point, if any is in prospect at all. This is not entirely a UK problem as many European economies seem to be displaying similar characteristics and, if it possible, the French economy seems to be in an even more parlous state than the British one. One phrase that runs round my head though is the fact that the economy is very much subject to international forces and investment intentions and, to that extent, any inward investment is subject to ‘the kindness of strangers’. Putting ones self in the mind of an international investor, then who would be tempted to invest in the UK economy at the moment? Some tax rises are widely predicted at the moment and some taxes on wealth may well be being considered. That having been said, apart from taxes on land which is fixed and very visible, many wealth taxes fail to generate the required income flows as the wealthy are generally in a position to move their assets around or even offshore in such a way that the effects of a wealth tax are often minimal. Personally, I would favour a move away from our current rating system towards a system based upon occupied land (bigger houses paying more as they have a bigger ‘footprint’) but this reform would take years to put onto effect before any benefits would be realised. As it is, even our current rating system is hopelessly out-of-date.
After breakfast, I made my way down to my Tai Chi class which is now my third. Although the class was a series of very gentle exercises, I did feel quite tense this morning so perhaps did not get the anticipated immediate benefits but nonetheless I will continue. Afterwards, I had a cup of tea and some chocolate cake (naughty but nice) and then made my way to the local Lidl. Although I had been into the store before, this was the first time I had done a weekly shopping trip there and evidently took some time to locate the items which is a part of my normal shop. However, at the end of the day I think the price of the shopping compared favourably to the prices of Aldi but I had bought a couple of bottles of wine and a weekend joint which made comparisons a little difficult. Bit I had downloaded the app and the check-out assistant showed me how to activate various elements which meant that I got my sourdough loaf and a bag of clementines at no charge which worked out as a sort of 4% discount. In the late afternoon I had a surprise and very welcome visit from a friend from Droitwich and we had an extended chat telling each other what we had been doing during the week.
The Trump visit to the UK has now ended and I am sure that Keir Starmer and the rest pf the Labour government must have expressed a huge sigh of relief when they saw Trump’s flight actually take off. There seem to have at least a couple of places where the USA and the UK have ‘agreed to disagree’ but neither side seemed at all keen to rock the boat so the final press conferences, which must have been feared by many in case it all blew up, with any disagreements kept within manageable proportions. On Air Force One on the way back to the USA Trump seems to have been somewhat more forthright with the American reporters on board but all of this will be directed towards American consumption and public opinion. Normally the weekends can be a little empty but this weekend we have two things to which to look forward. The first is the women’s rugby semifinals and the first match is to be played on Friday evening. On Sunday, I am taking a friend out to a meal for a birthday treat and I am sure this will make the day a nice one as well. So suddenly there is an intensification of social life and activities because I learned today of a sort of club for fairly recently bereaved individuals who meet twice a month on Saturdays at the Methodist Centre where I do my Tai Chi so I might just give this a go as well.