Some very strange things are going on with the US-Iran conflict at the moment. According to Donald Trump, the Iranians are refusing to submit to core demands of the USA. But the American Vice President, J D Vance who was actually in charge of the US negotiating team is painting a rather different picture. US vice president JD Vance has claimed ‘a lot of progress’ was made during talks with Iran over the weekend, despite the two sides failing to agree on a resolution. Speaking to Fox News on Monday, Vance – who led the US delegation in talks in the Pakistani capital Islamabad – said Washington had communicated to Tehran where it ‘could make some accommodation’ and where it would remain inflexible. He insisted that Donald Trump was adamant that any enriched nuclear material must be removed from Iran and a mechanism put in place to verify it is not developing nuclear weapons. Vance added that Tehran ‘moved in our direction, which is why I think we would say that we had some good signs’ but he claimed ‘they did not move far enough’. His comments come amid reports of ongoing talks between the US and Iran, with Trump saying the US has been ‘called by the other side’ and insisting ‘they would like to make a deal very badly’. All of this does imply that the talks have not broken down irrevocably but that there is still quite a lot for which to play. But the Americans are claiming that their navy is, in effect, preventing any ships from entering the traits of Hormuz whilst the Iranians are claiming that it has the right to send any ships that break through the blockade to the bottom of the sea. But much of this is little else but political posturing. Despite Trump’s claim that the US navy is finest in the world, it would appear inconceivable that Trump would countenance sinking a Chinese ship, China being a member of the Security Council and a nuclear power in its own right. Whilst the USA may be trying to bring pressure to bear on Iran, the rest the world in general and the Gulf oil states in particular will be bringing pressure to bear upon the Americans. So a massive game of ‘chicken’ is being played out in front of us all. Returning to footballing matters, I am not a great fan of football these days but I still retain a sort of lingering affection for Leeds United who I used to see play in the early 1960’s. Leeds’ fortunes have not played out particularly well in the intervening years with spells in the 2nd Division (Championship) league but there has been a remarkable turn around the fortunes of the club in the last couple of weeks. For a start, Leeds fought an exciting match against West Ham to win an FA Cup match on penalties and to reach the semi-finals of the FA Cup for the first time in 45 years. And in the last day or so, Leeds have actually beaten Manchester United (deservedly so) at Old Trafford for the first time since 1981. So we have two instances where Leeds have pulled out their best results (in the FA Cup and against Manchester United) for the first time in practically 4 decades which one has to say is noteworthy. Leeds have never had great success in the FA Cup matches over the years but perhaps the year is ripe for a change in fortunes as the final is now only one more win away. But Leeds have to play Chelsea who are third in the Premier division at the moment whilst Leeds are languishing towards the bottom so a look at the form book would indicate that Chelsea should win this match quite easily. That having been said, strange things happen in semi-finals which are held on neutral grounds in any case.
Having got up at 4.30am and breakfasted early, we set off in our coach for the journey home just after 7.30am. I had not slept very well the night before but did not worry too much about this as I knew that I could always have a good doze on the coach. Once we got beyond Glasgow our first stop was in the small town of Moffatt where many of us, including myself, made for the woollens and household goods in which the local store excelled. Although I was not specifically looking for it, I was delighted to purchase a sleeveless slipover because I have had to throw away two others recently that have gone into holes. The jumper I purchased was a lovely petrol blue and I snapped it up at a good price, delighted because even John Lewis do not stock this item any more and the cost in John Lewis seems to have been about double the price I paid. My friend bought herself a woollen hat and some fruit (which she shared with me) and then we proceeded on our way until our next stop was a service station north of Manchester where the choice of food outlets was terrible with nearly every outlet selling a version of junk food and I could not help but make comparisons with the excellent food and drink available in the service stations in the Spanish road system. Eventually, I settled on some stir-fry and noodles sort of dish but I would never normally consume rubbish like this. Our final pit stop was a service area in which we have a change of drivers and a brief toilet stop whilst the driver was encouraging us to contribute generously to his driver’s tip to which my friend and I failed to contribute once we had calculated how much we knew that our driver was making in his unofficial guiding activities as well as other benefits to the stores to which we were delivered en masse. Once we got to Bromsgrove, we said our goodbyes to each other and then I caught a taxi home and started to think about a minimal degree of unpacking. In our domestic news, it has been reported that yet another Albanian gang has been successfully pursued and then prosecuted by the police. As the media asked the question why so many of these crimimnl gangs originate from Albania, I sought the explanation from Wikipedia. This is what I have learned. Albanian gangs are highly prevalent in organised crime due to post-1990s structural instability that fostered crime, combined with a reputation for reliability, discipline, and direct links to South American cocaine suppliers. They dominate via tight-knit, clan-based networks that are difficult to infiltrate and utilise ‘poly-crime’ tactics, including drug trafficking, human smuggling, and money laundering across Europe and the UK.