The ‘Andrew’ affair rumbles on in the media after the extraordinary event of the last few days but now a more sober analysis is awaiting the nation. It is becoming painfully clear that the examination of Andrew’s affairs may take weeks or even months, not least because  some records will have to be requested from the FBI in America and they are having enough troubles of their own. Even after evidence has been collected, there is still the difficult decision for the Crown Prosecution Service whether this will stand up in a court case which itself may be months away. I would not be surprised if despite the one email that indicates that Andrew shared information with Epstein whether this meets the bar for ‘Misconduct in Public Office’. The one development overnight is that the Government has let it be known that as soon as the police have done their work that they are considering legislation to remove Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor from his position as ninth in succession to the throne. Such a move would meet with a lot of public support with a recent opinion poll indicating that some 80% of the public would agree to such a move – of course, it is highly symbolic rather than practical but expresses the feelings of outrage in the population as a whole. On the subject of investigations taking a long time, it is now evident that the FBI are sitting on a mountain of evidence and it will require a gargantuan amount of effort to sift through it all. Recent investigations and the release of documents from the Jeffrey Epstein files have confirmed that the convicted sex offender utilised a widespread, discreet, and often hidden, network of recording devices to monitor his properties, with evidence suggesting he recorded himself with victims. Analysis by Channel 4 News has identified emails within the latest Epstein files that suggest that the mountain of information released by the US Department of Justice could amount to just a fraction of the total – potentially just 2% of the information that the FBI retrieved from Epstein’s homes. We have multiple examples of hard drives and computers stuffed full of images as it appeared that Epstein secretly recorded many of the perpetrators of the sex crimes, no doubt as an instrument of blackmail and, perversely, often included himself in such footage. Of course, all Epstein would have to do is to  let it be known to the rich and powerful to whom he provided under-age girls for sex that he had records of their encounters and the mere threat of exposure might be sufficient for many to cough up millions of dollars in Epstein’s direction. Only after the Congressional elections will there be the political will to devote the massive amount of resources needed to sift and evaluate all of this evidence and, at some point, even after a change in government even the Democrats may say that ‘enough is enough’ several years down the line.  Meanwhile, Donald Trump has reacted with fury to the fact that the Supreme Court voted 6:3 that his tariffs were unconstitutional and is fulminating to the effect that he is going to find other ways of imposing a 15% tariff on almost everybody. Also, the question arises as to how the American consumers who have had to pay higher  prices since the imposition of tariffs can be compensated (and the answer, knowing the Trump regime, is that they will not be) As a diversionary tactic, Trump is threatening military action against the Iranians but the UK government  is so far resisting the call to assist the US military in their efforts although I would not be surprising if refuelling facilities were not offered to the Americans. 

Yesterday morning was somewhat out of the ordinary as well. The last time I was in the Methodist Centre, I noticed amongst the various leaflets on display one headed ‘Bereaved’ and inviting people along to a meeting on the first and the third Saturday of each month. So I decided to give this a go imagining that might be half a dozen attendees but instead found myself in a large group of about sixty people (nearly all elderly female) An illustrated talk was to be given  by a local historian on the subject of ‘Plague, Pestilence and Pox’ and evidently this is why the audience was so large. When I first arrived, I chatted with someone I knew who used to attend my local church but who helps out with dispensing tea and coffee one day a week in the Methodist Centre. So, this talk took the best part of an hour and I new realise is one of a series of events that are organised on alternate Saturday mornings, The next one in a fortnight’s time is just labelled ‘DVD’ so this could be anything really. When I got home, I reheated something prepared a week or so ago and popped into the freezer and then settled down to watch the England vs. Ireland 6 Nations rugby match. I thought that the outcome of this match might be a little difficult to call and that England might want to prove a point after their defeat at the hands of the Scots last week. But the Irish comprehensively defeated England in every single department of the game and the final score of 42:21 indicated the highest number of points that Ireland had every scored at Twickenham as well as the largest margin of victory. The match that follows this is Scotland vs. Wales and I dare say that my sympathies  will be with the Welsh as they are so much the underdogs and are in danger of losing every one of their matches in this season’s competition. 

After his defeat in the US Supreme Court yesterday, Trump has responded with a show of petulant fury slapping a 15% tariff on every nation (i.e. the rest of the world) trading with America. This is almost certainly illegal but Trump has scant respect for any legal niceties that he seems to brush away as through they were irritating cobwebs.  It is probably the case that this action of tariffs will slow World Trade and will only invite reciprocal tariffs all round but Trump is convinced that only by imposing tariffs can he ‘save’ America. Trump is renowned for his economic illiteracy in any case and a general imposition of tariffs all around benefits none of us in the long term.

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.

Two particular issues have arisen yesterday morning as a by-product of the release of the Epstein files by the FBI in America and they both throw the spotlight on British institutions. The first of these issues are an examination of the role of Private Protection Officers whilst Andrew Windsor-Mountbatten was away, paying visits to Epstein on his private island.  At least nine police forces in the UK are examining their records to ascertain what these protection officers either knew or recorded of Andrew’s comings and goings. According to a Newsnight interviews, detailed logs should and probably  have been kept of Andrews’s peregrinations including the night when he was said to have assaulted Virginia Guiffre but do these records still exist and are they accessible? My guess would be that these records have been lost, mislaid or destroyed and with the passage of time, yet another of the rich and powerful have ‘got away with it’ Of course, I may be mistaken but I would imagine that the police investigations into their own records will reveal practically nothing and the British authorities may have to rely upon the memories of past protection officers which evidence will not stand up in court. Speaking to LBC a former Met protection officer claimed Andrew’s protection team travelled with him to the private island on at least two occasions, including travelling on Epstein’s private jet on one of those occasions.  The unnamed former officer said there were real concerns in the late 1990s and early 2000s that the royal protection team became too close to their principals, and staff were terrified of being demoted. Under the rules governing how police forces are held to account, the Independent Office of Police Conduct (IOPC) would carry out any further investigation should the initial Met assessment identify concerns. In the next few days, we may know the answer to some of these questions but I would be amazed if usable records still exist. The second issue concerns the young women allegedly trafficked into the UK to be abused by part of the Epstein empire. Even private jets have to go through immigration and customs clearance but this is often cut to a minimum of about 15 minutes and is not the long and drawn out process to which the rest of us mere mortals is subject. Now the interesting question arises as to whether any of the details of the trafficked young women and girls is retained by the British authorities – did they all have passports for example? This is yet another murky area in which the police are examining their own records but given the way in which the state has cut back on its monitoring of passengers entering and leaving the UK in recent years and the special privileges accorded to those who utilise private jets, I have a shrewd suspicion that these visits of young women to the UK was either not recorded or the records have long since vanished. As in the USA, there is a lot more yet to be revealed as journalists trawl through  the 3 million documents/files that have been released so far and, quite apart from the Epstein case, there is also some indirect evidence that the former Prince Andrew was abusing his position as a ‘Trade Envoy’ and releasing confidential information to their parties, probably for his own private gain (rather like Mandelson) but this is yet another twist to the emerging story.

In the morning, I had the most entertaining time. Firstly I attended my Tai Chi class as I do each week and afterwards had a coffee with my friendly bank manager with whom I often ‘chew the fat’ as it were. When he left, I joined the couple I had met last week who had been married for well over fifty years and who was always entertaining, and another of the regulars. They were joined by a friend with whom they had been to a talk the night before and then it emerged that at least three of us had all left school at the age of 15-16, largely for economic reasons. It transpired that the elderly  friend had actually trained as a nurse in Pendlebury Childrens Hospital. Pendlebury Children’s Hospital was a pioneering paediatric facility in Pendlebury, Salford, England, with roots dating back to 1829. Known as the Manchester Children’s Hospital from 1873, it was a major institution for sick children before eventually merging and relocating to the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital on Oxford Road.  I enquired of the old lady what dates she had actually been in Manchester but she predated my stay there by about 5-6 years but we knew some of the same institutions. We were discussing the first wages we were paid but back in those days nurses lived in an adjacent home at a reasonable rent. In the 1950s, nurses’ homes (residences for nurses attached to hospitals) generally provided food as part of the board and lodging arrangement. Nurses often ‘lived-in’ with meals provided, and their wages often included a deduction for this accommodation and food. So therefore, the amounts we were paid each week were not really comparable with each other, but I also wondered why the nurses’ homes had to be abolished when they were because there was already a pool of adjacent labour upon which to draw in times of emergency. So after an entertaining morning, I returned home and cooked myself a curry. For the rest of the day, there was an absolute feeding frenzy in the press as we all digested the news that Andrew Windsor-Mountbatten had actually been arrested by Norfolk police earlier in the day. As this is the first time a member of the Royal Family has been arrested since the days of Charles I some 400 years ago, one can imagine the outpourings of the press. There are some suggestions from the liberal British media podcasts that find their way onto YouTube that this might have ramifications as far as the White House itself. It seems the ultimate irony that the ‘wash’ from the Epstein files should engulf first Mandelson and then Andrew but their transgressions are miniscule compared with the revelations of the transgressions of the rich and powerful on the US, not one of whom has actually been investgated let alone charged. The cover-up of incriminating material is off the scale – according to some FBI figures who had to give an estimate of the total volume of Epstein material in the possession of the FBI, it could be that the 3000 files so far released are only about 2% of the actual material collected.

I have not been an avid follower of the Winter Olympics and, perhaps, for good reason. Every time I have tuned in to watch the curling matches in progress, the GB team seem to be in the process of being beaten – as they were last night by Norway, So last night, I watched a biopic on the life of Kenneth Williams, the amazing comic, who turned out to be a very tortured soul. He is probably best known these days for the many times that he appeared in the ‘Carry On’ films but although he appeared in practically one of them and they thus provided him with a regular source of income, he was nonetheless filled with a degree of self-loathing for the part of himself which is displayed in them. Williams was actually a self taught and very erudite man and desperately wanted to be known as a serious actor in which he was successful on only a few occasions. He died on April 15, 1988, at age 62 from an overdose of barbiturates, with the coroner recording an open verdict rather than suicide. While his final journal entry, ‘- oh – what is the bloody point?’, suggested despair, his death followed chronic health issues and dread of impending surgery. I flitted in my TV watching between watching this and the curling which was rather an exercise in masochism. The day today may turn out to be a fuller one than usual as I shall venture out to the Methodist Centre to show if there is anyone interesting with whom to chat on the ‘chatty table’ and then this afternoon here is a dentist’s hygienist appointment to be attended and the weekly shopping to be done.  Although the weather threatens to be quite cold and chilly for the next day or so, some milder weather will follow on all as a result of the jet stream being pushed a little way northwards and of course, March is not too distant now. We were greeted yesterday morning with the welcome news that inflation had recorded quite a sharp fall down to 3% mainly as a result of lower petrol prices, cheaper air fares and food prices drifting a little lower.  The one thing that lightens my gloom a little in the months of February and March is that it the months in which the monthly payments of rates to the local authority have ceased until the new rates kick in in April. But at that time we are in for a severe shock as Worcestershire County Council has been given government permission to raise council tax by 9% for the 2026/27 financial year, one of the largest increases in the council’s history. Facing an unprecedented budget crisis, the Reform-led authority is expected to finalise this rise, which adds roughly £145 a year to Band D bills, on February 26. The ‘cap’ on rate increases is generally 5% but Worcestershire have been given 9% to help the (Reform led) council tackle an enormous projected budget deficit, nearly all of it attributed to the enormous cost of social care to which it is committed by statute. In fact, it seems that Reform-led local authorities  are increasing the rates at the same rate as other authorities and if they do not, it is only because they have raided the reserve funds held by all local authorities.

Later in the morning, I popped into town by car, picking up my daily newspaper and then making my way to the Methodist Coffee Shop near the centre of town. Here  had a brief coffee with one of my ex-Waitrose crowd but after she left, I was left on my own outnumbered by females in the ratio of 8:1 but the other two males were here with their wives, so it was one of those unfortunate days  which occur from time to time when social contact was minimal.  I decided to visit the nearby store which sells toiletries and household goods of every description. Here I had in mind about five items which I wished to purchase when I was next in the store but found that not one of them was in stock. Stores like this are full of the stuff where manufacturers have evidently excess production and have off-loaded them to the discount stores but if you are looking for specific items, you are destined for disappointment (as I was this morning).

One would have thought that making a journey from the outskirts of Bromsgrove to a neighbouring village where my dentist is located would have been straightforward. But the lane onto which my road opens is cut off half way down where, no doubt, utilities are being installed for the masses of new building going all around us. Soo I had to go through town in a really massive diversion only to discover that the road leading to the dentists was itself completely closed. A diversion was in place for about three miles and it was a minor miracle that I arrived at the dentist only about one minute late. I was due to see the dental hygienist who I would normally see once every six months but who I had not seen for about a year and a half during Meg’s final illness. I was relieved that my teeth and gums seemed to be in pretty good condition despite this year and a half without a hygienist’s attention but I asked for and received some very good advice about a routine of regular flossing. After this I went to my regular supermarket for a weekly shop and it was so quiet that no manned ills were in operation but only self-service tills, which I tend to avoid. So I had to wait until they could find one member of staff to provide a normal service through a manned till. Although it is a bit of a gloomy day and very cold, at least I managed to get home, the shopping unpacked and the wheelie bins located by the kerbside whilst it was still fairly light. 

In an important case currently through a court in the USA,  Mark Zuckerberg is to appear before jury for first time where he is scheduled to give evidence in a watershed trial. The CEO of Meta, which owns Instagram, WhatsApp and Facebook, is expected to answer tough questions from lawyers representing 20-year-old plaintiff KGM. Zuckerberg previously tried to argue that an in-person appearance at the trial was unnecessary but Judge Carolyn Kuhl ruled in October that he must testify, saying his evidence is ‘uniquely relevant’ to the case.

The evening before last there were some good TV programmes which engaged my attention but I had to ensure that I was in bed by 9.00pm so that I could watch them on my bedroom TV and fall asleep during them if need be. The first of these was a science programme about the end of the universe as we know it in about 7 billion years time. Ay that time, the sun will expand greatly in size becoming a ‘red giant’ and swallowing up both Earth and Venus, also providing more life as the sun’s generated heat now spreads out to Saturn, Neptune and even Pluto. Some of Saturn’s moons, now frozen may be able to sustain life as we know it  before eventually our sun transitions from a red giant to a white dwarf. We know that this is the fate of our own sun by the astronomical observations of thousands of other stars visible to our telescopes and radio telescopes. The other programme started at 10.00pm and was a programme about Mozart, the entrepreneur. This programme detailed the ways in which Mozart broke free from his being engaged as a court musician at the age of 17 in Salzburg under Prince-Archbishop Hieronymus Colloredo. Here he felt his pay was far too low and he was treated as  a mere servant so he broke this period of employ and became what we would nowadays term ‘freelance’ in cities such as Paris and particularly, Vienna. Here he would organise subscription concerts as the concert hall as we know it today simply did not exist. In the subscription concerts, Mozart would perform the pieces that he himself had written for a fee and the venue would be the largest rooms available  in a private house. Thus we have Mozart the entrepreneur and whilst being innovative in purely musical terms, Mozart assisted the transition to the more public form of concert with which we are familiar today. So, this Sky Arts programme was interesting but cannot be recalled (unless one has a Sky subscription which I do not) when a programme like this broadcast, it has to be watched at the time of its first transmission. After yesterday’s news about Larry the Downing Street cat having his own website, I scoured the web to see f I could find it but actually Larry’s internet presence is in the form of ‘X’. Instagram, or Facebook accounts which are the species of social media to which, for a variety of reasons, I do not and will not subscribe so in the immortal words of Basil Fawlty in ‘Fawlty Towers’ this is ‘another avenue of pleasure denied’ However, there are enough stories about Larry that leak out into the more accessible media should the urge actually take me. Meanwhile, on the political front some local authorities are still having to come which are terms to reinstate the council elections that are due to take place in early May which is only about 11 weeks ahead. Elections take some to get organised not least with the selection of candidates and the printing of ballot papers and the hiring of venues so several local authorities will be having to engage in a mad, last minute scramble and both they and the local political parties have their work cut out for the weeks ahead. I happen to think that the original decision to postpone the ballots (as some councils would be in the throws of reorganisation) was not a sensible one although one could understand how the decision came to be taken. Nonetheless, it hands a massive propaganda victory to Nigel Farage and the Reform party and further reinforces the feeling that our present Labour government seems pretty incompetent.

Yesterday morning was the day when our domestic help calls round and this is always a chance to catch up on news. In addition, my son called round after his swim to have a chat. I pop down into town as I generally do to collect  a copy of my newspaper and get some cash out of the ATM.  Afterwards,  I attend my normal Pilates class and then returned home to make a lunch around bits and pieces I wanted to use up from the fridge before I engage in my weekly shop tomorrow. We have heard today of the death of Jesse Jackson, one of the towering figures of the American centre-left and nowadays remembered as the last of the great civil rights campaigners. Donald Trump gave a luke warm appreciation which told us more about himself than about Jesse Jackson. Jackson tried on two occasions to get the nomination to run for president and some say that campaign paved the way for the successful one offered years later by Barak Obama. As we are on the verge of Lent, it is traditionally the season when some Christians engage in the traditional habit of abstaining during the Lenten season from something they traditionally enjoy. The two favourites tend to be alcohol on the one hand (not a big problem in my case) and chocolate (which is a bigger privation) Actually giving up the latter makes the eventual consumption of Easter Eggs or the chocolate equivalent so much more enjoyable. I have often thought, with a wry smile, the tradition of Lent just happens to coincide with the period in Northern Europe when food supplies gathered during the previous autumn harvest were running short. Hence, particularly in mediaeval times, there was a theological injunction to engage in some abstinence which just happens to coincide with the belt tightening necessitated by the dwindling food supplies. Personally, I have always wanted to follow the advice of the great Manchester United and Northern Ireland footballer, George Best, who drank himself to death. A saying attributed to him was that ‘I spent a lot of money on booze, birds and fast cars. The rest I just squandered’ and I often think at this time of year that I do shall give up this same list of life’s pleasures (alcohol, birds and fast cars) for Lent as well. Nowadays, we are often enjoined not to give things up but to do something extra to gain a little theological credit. If I pop down to the Methodist Centre tomorrow  which I sometimes do to help to populate their ‘chatty’ tabl, I  shall try and spin out some of these ideas and see what reaction I get. I suspect, though, that given the age profile of those that attend the coffee morning are past the stage of giving up anything for Lent in any case.

The evening before last was an extraordinary one for team GB in the Winter Olympics because the team secured two gold medals in the course of a single day, the first time that this ever been achieved by a GB team. The first gold medal was in the mixed team snowboarding event. Charlotte Bankes and Huw Nightingale were the first pair to medal, delivering a stunning performance to take top spot at the Livigno Snow Park. The pair, world champions in 2023, beat Italy to the gold medal by 0.43 seconds in the final. It was then the turn of Matt Weston and Tabby Stoecker on Sunday evening to win the next gold in mixed team skeleton. Having been the dominant winner of the men’s title on Friday evening, Weston became the first British athlete to win two medals at the same Winter Olympics when he and Tabby Stoecker beat Germany by 0.17 seconds. To put this into context, the winning margin in the mixed team skeleton event is about the length of team for a single human blink to take place and so the differences in competitors can often be measured in hundredths of a second. The UK never does particularly  well in these winter sports events, largely attributable to the fact that as a nation we do not invest much in these facilities. Germany, by contrast, does invest heavily and this pays off in the number of medals that they subsequently achieve. Germany maintains a significant, high-investment winter sports infrastructure, particularly in southern Bavaria and regions like the Black Forest, driven by a strong, multi-billion euro economic impact. While facing climate-related challenges, investment remains high, focusing on artificial snowmaking and year-round facility adaptation. The week ahead is quite a light one for me because I have perused my white board of forthcoming engagements and there is nothing in prospect whereas the following week seems to be full of events. After an incredibly rainy day the day before, yesterday seemed as though it was going to be one of those clear yet cold days so there is no excuse for not undertaing another walk down into town. This week many of the local schools are having their half-term break so I shall expect to see many grandparents entertaining children as their parents are probably at work. This used to be particularly noticeable when Waitrose had their own cafe facility, now abandoned as a cost-cutting measure, but the passing of which is still mourned by many of us. I notice that today is the 15th birthday of Larry, the Downing Street cat. To followers of this blog who were used to my stories about Miggles, the local cat who adopted me before suddenly disappearing just before Meg’s demise last year, the cat was the spitting image of Larry who in terms of markings could well have been the father of Miggles. When the photographers are awaiting an announcement from  Downing Street, then the peregrinations of Larry are a constant source of amusement and many classic moments are recorded on film. One of these was the disdainful way in which Larry refused to be stroked when Liz Truss was entering Downing Street for the first time as Prime Minister. An entertaining journalist has even ‘recorded’ an interview with Larry who was asked his opinion about Liz Truss’s period as the UK’s most short-lived premier, the cat looked away disdainfully and then stalked off, thus accurately reflecting the mood of the nation as a whole. In fact there was said to be along-running feud  between Larry and Palmerston, the feline mouser whose domain was the Foreign and Commonwealth Office across the road from Downing Street but Palmerston died recently having enjoyed a period of semi-retirement in Bermuda.

Two surprising little events happened yesterday. The first of these relates indirectly to this blog as WordPress, the app that drives the blog was reporting that I needed to update a key file but there was no real indication how this should be done. So I got onto the lady running the company from Winnipeg in Canada who has rented me webspace very  reasonably for the past 15-20 years. I emailed her about my little problem which she fixed for me explaining how it was a little quirk n the WordPress app and then she added condolences on the death of Meg. I am not sure how she knew this but I sent her a link to Meg’s eulogy page which also has links to a series of photos and she sent me the most wonderful reply which reduced me to tears. She explained to how especially moving she found the eulogy to be, especially as in her own strict religious upbringing funerals were devote to sermons only and eulogies were not in their tradition. She ended her email with the thought that ‘We have known each other for years and my heart goes out to you’. The second  story is also a Meg-related one but it relates to an acquaintance that I know by sight as a regular dog walker up and down the Kidderminster Road. I explained how Meg had been dead since last May and she told me that she already knew. One of her friends from the street in which she lives had told her about Meg’s passing but I did not know this person at all. Mind you, I suppose that I had sort of become a well known sight in the area because  there were not many people in a hi-vis vest and an Australian bush hat pushing their wives up and down the road in awheelchair on an almost daily basis. So Meg and I must have become quite a familiar sight to all kinds of people over the months, (perhaps even a year and a half) in which we made our progress up and down the hill.

The latest government ‘U’ turn is quite a dramatic one. After the Reform party had brought a legal challenge to the government about cancelling local elections covering 136 local authority areas, the government has decided to proceed with these elections after all. I wonder whether the legal advice was to the effect that the government were likely to lose the court case in the High Court in any case so capitulation now was the most sensible course of action. The government has also agreed to pay the legal costs of Reform bringing the legal action so this is quite a turn-up for the books and brings the total number pf ‘U’ turns to about 15 in all.  Governments should listen to other voices if a policy is evidently heading in the wrong direction but the number of policy changes is making the government look indecisive and rudderless and lacking any real sense of purpose.

The weekends have started to take on a slightly different pattern. On the day before yesterday, my son and daughter-in-law called around to jointly watch the rugby together and to discuss some family affairs. In the first match, Italy were playing Ireland  and by half time Italy were actually ahead before they were eventually overhauled by the Irish in the second half of the game. The second match was pulsating as it was the oldest of rivals, England versus Scotland at Murrayfield Edinburgh) The Scots played out of their skins before their home crowd and deservedly won the match having outplayed England in practically every aspect of the game. They eventually won by 31:20 and the sports pundits have labelled their performance as outstanding – they are for the time being actually on top pf the mini-table of Six Nations results and have ended the England team  who have had a run of 12 games without defeat. In all honesty, like the preceding match, my family and I only paid half attention to the match as we were simultaneously discussing some of our own domestic affairs. As we progressed into the early evening, my son and daughter-in-law ordered a meal of fish and chips which we ate on our knees in front of the TV. The late afternoon was also punctuated by the arrival of my chiropodist who cares for my feet on a monthly basis and who has been coming to our house for at least ten years. As we know each so well, we always have a lot of experiences  and confidences to share with each other and although I was a little surprised to have a late Saturday appointment she had another series of clients who she could only see on a Saturday afternoon so this was a working day for her. Part of my new weekend pattern is to attend my local church for the early  morning service on a Sunday at 8.30 rather than attending the previous Saturday evening. This new pattern is going to suit me a lot better because quite apart from being late which assists parking in a crowded church carpark, there is the additional bonus of tea-and-biscuits in the parish hall immediately after the service. This, I anticipate, will allow me to participate more fully with my fellow parishioners and certainly last week I had some delightful conversations over a cup of tea. This week the most amazing coincidence occurred. I got into conversation eventually with a lady who mentioned that she had passed me yesterday whilst we were both on the Kidderminster Road – I was walking down into town and she was walking her dog. It transpired that she had remembered me walking up and down the hill with Meg in her wheelchair and not only remembered Meg but they had chatted briefly. Now this parishioner now only knew my two sets of friends from down the hill intimately as she used to clean for one set of friends and also knew the French lady who was a neighbour but has moved up to Cheshire to live near her daughter. But the connection did not end there as she also knew one of my ex-Waitrose coffee drinking group who is now living in one of the nearby residential homes in Bromsgrove. Now that this particular parishioner and I have got to know each a bit better and she is a regular dog-walker as well as attending church, we will probably bump into each other quite a lot. So my new policy of attending the service on Sunday morning and then having a cup of tea afterwards in the church hall is already paying dividends. After lunch, my son and daughter-in-law are due to call around  again and we are going to watch the French versus Wales match where we predict that the Welsh team will be slaughtered but surprising things can happen in rugby matches such as, after a transgression of the rules, we can witness  a temporary period of sending off (popularly called being sent to the ‘sin bin’) for 20 minutes. This can alter the whole balance and dynamics of a game and it was a feature of the England v Scotland game the day before and the Wales  team a week before.

After I had got home from church, I looked in vain for my little black purse from which I knew I had withdrawn some coins to pay for my tea and biscuits in the parochial church hall earlier on in the day. So I decided to return to the hall at the conclusion of the 10.30 service to see if it had been handed in. It only contained coins and not the credit cards and the like  which would be found in a wallet so I can just about grin and bear its loss. I decided to stay and and have another coffee and biscuits (and cake this time round as well) My purse had not turned up yet but there is a slight possibility that have been put in safe keeping for me by one of the 8.30 group of parishioners. After a little while I fell into a conversation (liberal politics) with a fellow parishioner and it was evident that our thoughts were very much aligned on a whole series of political issues. My new found friend is part of a discussion group of generally left-leaning individuals who love to talk about politics and my friend’s view is that I would find the group very much to my liking. They meet in a local golf club for breakfast about once a month or so and therefore it is likely that I will get an invitation to shortly to join them.

I cooked myself a slightly out-of-the ordinary lunch as I had bought a couple of frozen duck legs to be served with a tangy orange sauce. This was cooked n the microwave oven for 45 minutes and then served with some potatoes and broccoli and I had just about completed the washing up when my son and daughter-in-law called around as we had agreed to watch the rugby together. This was always going to be a very one sided contest pitting on of the strongest teams (France) against one of the weakest (Wales) We vied with each other to see if we could predict the magnitude of the defeat as it was evident that the French would completely dominate the Welsh which they did. My family had brought around some homemade mushroom soup so we all enjoyed this in the late afternoon tea, made the more enjoyable as we complemented it with a home-made tomato bread

So last night, although we have waited a week for it, GB has its first medal at the Winter Olympic games – and it was a gold. The winner, Matt Weston, had been leading throughout the competition and, in a competition where the difference between competitors is measured in hundredths of a second, he increased the lead over his nearest rival to 0.88 second in a near faultless final run. GB has done quite well in this event in the past but to put Weston’s achievement into perspective, Weston is the first individual male British competitor to win gold at a Winter Olympics since figure skater Robin Cousins in 1980. So it seems hard to believe that we have had to wait for nearly half a century to achieve  another individual men’s gold medal. Britain had high hopes of a medal in both the curling and also the ice dance events but we have nothing but disappointment so far.  In the political world, the Epstein affair is still yielding surprises. We now learn that Epstein had installed some spy cameras in his private office and some grainy film is now emerging of young women and Epstein alone in his private office. The survivors had always claimed that it was one of their fears that the activities in which they were forced to engage would have neen captured on film and their worse fears appear to have been confirmed. Some of the Congressional hearings n which Trump administration members are supposedly being held to account are turning into pure farce. The most notable person to give ‘non-evidence’ was Pam Bondi, the Attorney General, who when faced with survivors ,who were allowed to attend the Congressional hearing, refused to even look at them or to apologise to them, Instead she answered questions with a rant about how well the Dow stock exchange index was doing  under Donald Trump’s presidency or enquired why the questions that she was asked were not also asked of a previous (presumably Democrat) Attorney General. The extent of the cover-up is now becoming clearer day by day as absolutely none of the names of the rich and powerful (apart from perhaps one foreign sheikh) have been released whereas name, addresses and even photos of some victims has somehow escaped the redaction process despite the strictures of the Epstein Transparency Act passed by Congress. It is now being said that the scale of the cover up now exceeds the infamous Watergate. In the UK, ‘The Guardian’ has explained the massive asymmetry in the US political system where Trump and his acolytes lie repeatedly whereas his opponents who tell the truth are vilified. The key asymmetry can be spelled out simply. Trump pays little or no regard to the conventional bounds of truth or honesty. His documented tally of false or misleading statements runs into the tens of thousands: the Washington Post registered 30,573 such statements during Trump’s first term in the White House, an average of 21 a day. In a single interview with CBS’s 60 Minutes earlier this month, Trump spoke falsely 18 times, according to CNN. To hold him to account for this dishonesty is to cast yourself as an arbiter of truth, which creates the instant and obvious expectation that you yourself must be truthful. Here, then, is the asymmetry: he can lie, but his critics cannot. Later on today, there is an expectation that my son and daughter-in-law will call around to watch the England vs. Scotland Six Nations rugby match collectively to which I can look forward with pleasure. Scotland were beaten in their last match by Italy which the simultaneous ascendancy of Italian rugby and the parallel decline in the performance of the Scots. Meanwhile Welsh rugby is in a dire state. Tens of thousands of tickets for Wales’ three home fixtures in this year’s Six Nations have still not been sold. The matches at Cardiff’s 74,000-seat Principality Stadium usually sell out or reach high capacity for a tournament that has traditionally been a highlight of the Welsh sporting calendar. On Friday morning there were 15,300 unsold for Sunday’s clash with France; 6,700 left for Scotland and 27,000 for Italy’s visit in March, according to the WRU’s official ticket site. This is an almost unprecedented situation for Welsh rugby which have traditionally been regarded as one of the stalwarts of the game.

Life has a certain unpredictability and so it turned out this morning. Although cold, we had a clear blue sky and some sun shining for the first time in days so I decided to resume my erstwhile habit of walking down into town (avoided for the last week or so when it has been so wet) because although  my left knee is a little dodgy I feel that walking as a gentle exercise is a good practical therapy. During the course of my walk, my path happened to cross that of a post-lady and I was emboldened to ask her why both she and her maLe colleagues were often to be seen in shorts even in the depths of winter. She did not mind in the least answering my question and she explained to me that both postmen and post women in wet weather might experience wet flapping trouser legs and wearing shorts was the best way of avoiding this. All of this made absolute sense so there is a little mystery of life solved for me. After I got to Waitrose, I hunted out a supply of bran buds (not bran flakes) as I know from the past that the Waitrose product probably comes off the same production line as the market leader but at two thirds of the price. I had recently read an article on the importance of fibre to gut health but I could not find the ideal product but had to settle instead for wheat flakes, enriched with bran ad sultanas with which I will have to make do. As I had my coffee, I got into conversation with a young lady also enjoying her free cup of Waitrose coffee. We opened the conversation by admiring each other’s scarves (hers was that of an Arsenal supporter, mine the ‘de rigeur’ accoutrement for Manchester University undergraduates in 1965.) She was a graduate of Durham University but had studied French and German so we found ourselves swapping stories about our experiences of Vienna (in which she had a student placement) It will be fascinating to see if we will other chance meetings in which we can explore our experiences of other European cities.

Although you might have thought that we had had enough rain to last a lifetime, it is still remaining as I got up yesterday morning and the prospect is actually for more rain and for the weather to become colder. So although we are practically half way through the month of February, we still have some weeks of wintry conditions to endure. That having been said, I am relieved in a strange kind of way that Meg, my wife of nearly sixty years, died when she did last May because trying to push her out in the wheelchair in these wet conditions had she lived would have been miserable for both of us, As it was, I managed to push her out every day in her wheelchair protected by a huge Russian manufactured heavy weight blanket and we managed it several times a week so the weather must have been more clement at this time last year. In fact her last trip out was exactly a week before she died and she was asleep much of the time but when I look back  on events, I am amazed that we (both) managed to achieve these trips out. Although the weather is gloomy, I have a couple of social visits in store for the morning one of which is to reconnect with my University of Birmingham friend and we are scheduled to have a coffee together in my favourite little coffee bar which I frequent at the end of the week before I go to have lunch with my Irish friends. There is some shopping which urgently needs to be done in the morning so I have the prospect of quite a busy day. Yesterday, I pointed out the ‘cri de coeur’ that Sky’s political correspondent had made regarding the non-regulation of the internet to which her teenage daughters were exposed. But after the example of Australia, it does now appear that several European countries are now appreciating the potential harm offered to adolescents. I read this morning that France and Spain are promising laws to ban child access to social media as early as this year whilst Austria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Italy, and Slovenia have proposed similar legislation. So it now appears that a head of steam is building up in favour of a ban on the use of social media for the under 16’s (although, once implemented, no doubt a way will be found round it) Nonetheless, the signs of encouraging although I suspect it is a sign of ‘too little, too late’ After all, the combined financial power of big tech is enormous. As of late 2025 and early 2026, the combined financial power of top US tech companies—(Nvidia, Apple, Microsoft, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, Tesla)—significantly exceeds the nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of most nations. Together, these seven firms have a combined market capitalisation of roughly $22.4 trillion, which is about four-fifths the size of the entire U.S. economy and larger than China’s GDP. These figures are absolutely staggering once one stops to contemplate them and even if most nations on earth tried to take collective action against ‘big tech’ they would not be able to match them in terms of sheer financial muscle.

In the late morning, although it was pretty cold and miserable, I took to the High Street in order to buy two pairs of trousers, one of my trusty pair having a tear in on of the legs and I thought that the trousers 8-10 years old were not worth repairing. So I went to my usual outfitters on the High Street and was fortunate to buy two pairs of cargo trousers, one colour a kind of dark olive green which is officially described as ‘Moss’ and the other being black. I did have a cursory search for shirts but only found one in my size not worth purchasing Then I  popped off to the ‘Gifts of Love’ cafe where I was greeted as always by the proprietor and we exchanged some stories with each other whilst indulging in coffee and cake until my University of Birmingham friend turned up, all by prior arrangement. After we had engaged in an entertaining morning in which I brought my University of Birmingham friend up to date with all my news of my comings and goings and then went home. I had been invited out for lunch with my Irish friends and so I popped down the hill and spent a very happy time with them, having both a lunch and then an extended chat for most of the afternoon. We have not had the opportunity of an extended chat like  this since the Christmas  break and the bad weather that we are experiencing means that I see them less often by chance than I used to do when I was pushing Meg up and down the hill in her wheelchair.

The campaign group Palestine Action have had a victory of sorts in the High Court. The Court ruled that on two criteria the ban on the groups demonstrations could have been said to have been disproportionate. We did see the bizarre spectacle of the police having to arrest hundreds of supporters who were holding up signs saying indicating their opposition to genocide as such an act was said to be in support of a terrorist organisation. The sight of elderly and sometimes members of religious groups being labelled as terrorists and liable to up to 40 years of imprisonment certainly appeared to be disproportionate to members of the liberal population. However, the government will certainly appeal and the ban on Palestine Action’s activities continues until an appeal is heard by the Court of Appeal and this case will probably end up in the Supreme Court and will perhaps take months to resolve. One powerful argument is that the normal criminal law should be utilised for evident acts of violent protest and that therefore labelling Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation is itself disproportionate. But to many people, including myself, it seems odd that the state feels the need to label the holding of a placard as support for a terrorist group but this is the way that the legislation has been framed.  One is left with the distinct impression that the action taken against protestors seems to be an attack upon political opinions held by group members with which the government disagrees and evidently the Court judgement today indicates  that it had come to the view that the human rights of Freedom of Expression and Freedom of Association was threatened by labelling Palestine Action as a terrorist organisation.

After my long and very fruitful video-call with my friend in Hampshire the other night, I had texted a couple of friends down the road  suggesting that we might meet for a coffee in the next few days. The evening before last, my Italian friend replied apologising that she had not been in touch before, but she had experienced quite an arduous three quarters of an hour session with her local (private) dentist and felt rather unwell as a result of it all. I sympathised because this does sound a long time for a dental treatment session and I told her about my own recent experiences where I had been massively overcharged but managed to rectify the situation. My friend is still in the business of selling her house so that she can eventually live nearer to her daughter but she does not have a buyer in prospect at the moment. My Italian friend and I go back a long way and, of course, she knew Meg very well so  was appreciative of the chat and we will probably do it on a weekly basis from now on. Another wonderful surprise was an invitation from my Irish friends down the road for a lunch in a day or so and, as it happens, we have quite. lot to talk about with each other as we have not had a really good long chat since Christmas time which is fast receding into the difference. It is fairly well recognised that much of Donald Trump’s demeanour is due to an excessively narcissistic personality (as well as impending dementia) so I decided to undertake some internet researches to ascertain how common what is termed NPD (Narcissistic Personality disorder) might be in the general population. What I learnt was not only information about the condition itself but how toxic the condition could be for those caught up in relationships (marriage, friendship, work colleagues) for those interacting with persons who exhibit NPD. My internet researches revealed the following. NPD is estimated to affect approximately 0.5% to 5% of the general population, making it a relatively rare clinical diagnosis, although some studies suggest higher lifetime prevalence rates up to 6.2%. It is more commonly diagnosed in men (50-75% of cases) and often appears in early adulthood. While estimates vary, it is generally believed that 1 in 20 people (5%) may exhibit traits. In mental health clinics, the prevalence is higher, with estimates ranging from 2% to 6% of patients seeking help. Many experts believe the condition is under-diagnosed because individuals with NPD rarely seek treatment, often appearing only when co-occurring issues like depression or substance abuse arise. While full NPD is relatively uncommon, narcissistic traits are more frequently observed, especially among younger adults. In the same researches there was often practical help for those caught up in a relationship with those exhibiting NPD. The bulk of the advice was to get away from the person and not try to ‘reform’ them as such efforts nearly always ended in failure. Moreover, a failure to get out of a relationship could have severe adverse consequences for both the mental and physical health of those who were having to cope with relationships in which the other partner was exhibiting NPD. I found this quite fascinating material as I do not think it is widely appreciated (not least by myself) how toxic NPD could be for those who get caught up in its trail.

Later on in the morning, I made sure that I attended my Tai Chi class which I was glad to do as I had missed last week’s session. Afterwards, I was a little disappointed that my bank manager friend with whom I normally chat with over coffee had to dash off to transport his wife somewhere but today was one of the days in the month when a couple of police did their stint in the community centre by sitting down and having a coffee whilst making themselves available to anybody who might need the kind of advice that the police are able to give. I enjoyed chatting with them for the best part of an hour and they were explaining to me how decades or so they go to a shop lifting incident and they could get the whole incident processed within an hour or so whereas today the necessary bureaucracy takes up the rest of the shift. We exchanged quite a lot of stories about modern day police work and others from the ‘chatty table’ joined in. After they had left, I dropped into conversation with a couple who had married to each other for 62 years and who both had a wicked sense of humour which has, no doubt, kept them going over the years. We had some interesting conversations about the wife’s role in acting as a mentor/adviser in the local mental hospital in Bromsgrove. I had often heard people talk about Barnsley Hall and so did a bit of a search on it history. Barnsley Hall in Bromsgrove was a major psychiatric facility and mental hospital that operated from 1907 until 1996. Originally established as a county lunatic asylum to relieve overcrowding at Powick Hospital, it treated patients with various mental illnesses and epilepsy. The site was largely demolished in 2000, and is now a housing development.  After these interesting chats, I collected my newspaper and then came home and cooked myself a meal of salmon, potatoes and sugar snap peas.

I have always had a high regard for Beth Rigby, the chief political correspondent for Sky News. But today she had dropped out of her normal job reporting politics and wrote a personal piece how she was coping with overseeing the work of her two teenage daughters, as they were now part of the internet generation, replete with smart phones and social media in abundance. She writes that she is probably known best as Sky News’s political editor, but also a mother to two teenagers aged 13 and 16. They were babies born into the age of the iPad, the smartphone and social media and have grown up in what I call the digital Wild West. Like the Wild West frontier of the 19th century, this technological frontier of the 21st century is rapidly expanding, lawless, and lacking in institutional regulation. It is populated by some good actors and many bad ones. That’s why she could completely sympathise with the parents now screaming to the politicians that they want to turn it off and stop under-16s using social media. It is a conversation that has been turbocharged by Australia’s decision in December to bring in a social media ban for under-16s and a series of landmark trials brought by parents in the US to hold the world’s biggest social media companies responsible for harms to children. I found this whole story a brave one to write but she must have felt that the whole dilemma is one bursting with significance but one in which the politicians always seem to be several months behind the tech giants.