So it looks as though having ‘survived’ probably the hottest May day on record, we have just endured the hottest May night as well. The upstairs of my house was like a furnace so I took the precaution of falling asleep on the sofa in our lounge which was one of the coolest parts of the house. It is true that I woke up after a couple of hours but by this time my bedroom had cooled down sufficiently for me to spend the rest of the night sleeping upstairs. Whilst we all enjoy a spell of good weather, these temperatures are extreme and I think that most of the population are doing their best to keep hydrated  and to avoid the really excessive temperatures we are currently experiencing. In the evening before last, I had the most pleasant  of surprises which was a text followed by a phone call from one of the quarter of young carers who looked after Meg so well in her declining weeks and days. This quartet (two boys, a fiancée and a young Asian lad) were a very cohesive group and they rally loved both caring for Meg and we all held each other in mutual love and affection. Naturally, they attended Meg’s funeral a year ago and the celebration afterwards and I ensured that they had a special round of applause for their efforts. Now none of us have forgotten each other and the Asian boy was communicating the good news that he had actually proposed to, and been accepted by his partner, to become officially engaged  after they had bought a house together and moved in with each other. He told me that he had actually got down on one knee to propose to his partner in a very traditional way.  The purpose of the phone call was both to inform me of his good news and also the act that he wanted to organise a little ‘get together ‘in my house as soon as work commitments would allow. It would be delightful to throw a little garden party for the four (now five) of them and, as my American friend was still staying with me, I encouraged them to introduce themselves to each other and to explain the nature of our mutual friendship. What is so nice is not to be forgotten about when ‘so much water has flowed under the bridge’ as a year flashes by for us older people but time seems to elongate for these younger people. Both my American friend and I love to be in contact with the younger generation so this will be a wonderful social gathering to which to look forward as soon as it can be arranged. Later in the day I have a routine hospital investigation  later in the afternoon so I am having to ensure that as well as abstaining from food and drink I do engage in anything too stressful during the early part of the day. So I am particularly  pleased to have got the front grassed area mown yesterday morning. Later in this week, I have a couple of festive events to which to look  forward. Once a month, some members of the émigré  Ukrainian community put on a special day of Ukrainian food and cooking at the Methodist Centre. Members of the Ukrainian community will cook their specialities and the rest of the community can come along and enjoy food which is out of the ordinary whilst the funds raise evidently go towards alleviating the suffering of the sick and injured in the Ukrainian conflict. So all of this is going to happen on Friday whilst on the following day, my immediate next-door neighbour is celebrating (outdoors!) her 75th birthday so this will be another nice event to which to look forward. 

The day today was always going to unravel in rather a strange direction as I was not allowed any food before a routine (every three years) gastroscopy procedure. My daughter-in-law took me and my son brought me home from what is not the most pleasant of procedures  although I did avail myself of the available sedation, delivered through  a cannula. I also took along an old iPhone with approx. 200 music tracks recorded on it which I use a de facto MP3 player so at least I had some Mozart to accompany me.The staff were very through and professional in their procedures. The minute I got home and in view of the fact I had not eaten for hours and the weather was still unbearably hot, I treated myself to some ice cream after which  I promptly had a doze and then I cooked myself some scrambled eggs with grated choose, followed by even more ice cream. I rescued the washing which my domestic help had put on the outside line and was now ‘crisp’ after hours in a baking sun and then my American friend and I had a telephone conversation where we exchanged notes on the day. I suppose I ought to explain that what I refer to as my ‘American’ friend is not really American at all as in her youth she lived in both Sutton Coldfield and the later in Staffordshire. But she did them escape to Florida where she worked for decades as well as several other countries and thus ‘American’ friend is just a kind of shorthand description albeit not a very  accurate one. Se is a pronounced ‘Trump hater’ and actually registered to vote. as part of ‘Democrats Abroad’ which is one of the world views that we happen to have in common. As this is a half term week, some of my regular routines are a little disrupted there is no Pilates class and the Methodist Centre is closed but I dare say we will cope somehow. Later on this evening, there is a repeat f some of the Simon Scharma programmes on the ‘History of Britain’ and the repeated episode this evening devotes itself to the impact that the French Revolution had upon British political and social life, so this will be well worth a watch. Although I still have to get my had around some of the latest political news from America, it looks as though some of Trump’s diehard supporters from MAGA are suspecting that whatever Trump negotiates with the Iranians  could be interpreted as a sell-out. In the context of Donald Trump, the slang acronym TACO stands for “Trump Always Chickens Out”. This term was coined by financial commentators and Wall Street traders to mock his negotiation style, which frequently involves announcing aggressive economic tariffs or political threats, only to delay, reduce, or reverse them later. The same could equally be said of his frequent statements and changes in policy announcements with regard to Iran.

Yesterday when I awoke, it was to the most glorious of days and, no doubt, the temperature will climb to about 27° which I think is practically 80 on the Fahrenheit scale. I have a busy morning in prospect this morning because after church (and the necessary coffee and biscuits) I need to hit the road to get my newspaper and wash the car before a friend calls around to collect my old TV. I am going to take along my laptop to the coffee morning because I have taken a photograph of the Lowry print of the Whit Walks and then emailed it to myself so that it displays well on the laptop. Here in the Midlands, they are probably unused to the Whit walks traditions in the Manchester and Lancashire areas but there are a few émigré northerners, like myself, who might remember the tradition. Meanwhile, we must get acclimatised to that most rare British phenomenon which is a heatwave coinciding with a Bank Holiday weekend. There are already some who have tried to make a quick dash to enjoy a continental holiday but the entire new border checking systems could not cope the other day and queues of up to five hours were reported at Dover. All of this would have played so much havoc with the ‘normal’ operation of the border that the French reportedly abandoned the use of the new system to clear the huge backlog. Even when the new technology  works, it relies upon face recognition and other biometric procedures and is slower to process each passenger compared with the previous system. The system, which became fully operational in April, replaces passport stamps with a digital registration to make the EU’s borders more secure, more efficient and stronger against irregular migration, according to the European Commission. Non-EU passengers and some transport providers have raised concerns about the new system — especially in Britain, which left the EU in 2020 under Brexit. On the diplomatic front, it does appear that Iran and the USA are edging every so slightly towards a deal. We do know that Trump is actually quite desperate for a deal but the two sticking points are likely to be the issue of the non-pursuit of nuclear weapons in the first place and control of the Straits of Hormuz in the second place. The nuclear issue can be fudged in several ways but whether Iraq will give up strategic control of the Straits of Hormuz, given their proximity to the Iranian mainland is another matter altogether. In international law the Straits are an international waterway and I do not know what wiggle room there might be for international negotiators to argue around this. Some parts of the relevant UN convention may be a somewhat ‘grey’ area but I am unsure that Iran could try and argue for increased rights given  the recent conflict with the USA. So this may be the absolute stumbling block n the attempt to find a solution.

On the political front, Donald Trump has announced that an Iran-USA peace deal is ‘close’ but, of course, we have no idea what this actually means given the American president’s tendency to dissemble. But it is undoubtedly true that domestic pressures at home such as rising petrol prices at the pumps and the unpopularity of the Iran war in the USA may be impelling Trump to whatever exit he thinks he can maintain. Whatever happens, or fails to happen, Trump will declare a resounding victory in any case and at least a small proportion of his MAGA supporters will believe whatever he says. In the  morning, I went along to church at my normal time but I went along equipped with my iPad. When it came to the coffee and biscuits afterwards in the parochial hall, I showed some of the people  sitting near me that Lowry print showing the Whit walks and explained  how these was a regular part of Christian life in the Manchester and nearby cotton towns since the start of the nineteenth century. The gentleman on my right knew all about these traditions as his home town was Chester whereas the person to my immediate right (we were travel companions to the trip to Derbyshire) knew nothing of the as she was originally from Kent.  In the car park I chatted briefly with a parishioner who was assisting her very elderly and disabled father making the transition form a wheelchair into their car. I sympathised and offered her any help that she might need, explaining that I had ‘walked down the same road’ as I was caring for Meg and making the transition from wheelchair to car until it became impossible. So we did not have a great length of time in which to chat but I think that next week, if we have a bit more time over a coffee, there may be some practical things that I can impart. After we had all dispersed, I went and put some petrol in the car and picked up a copy of my Sunday newspaper. I then gave the car a jet-wash (with lances that you handle yourself) as the car seemed to have acquired a great deal of airborne dust and grit just in the last day or so. Then  got home and made myself a cooked breakfast before I settled down to watch the film of ‘The Railway Children’ – this film originally starred Jenny Agutter but this remade version still starred Jenny Agutter but now playing the part of the mother. The film has just about ended and I made myself a quick ‘fish-on-bread’ meal, after which my son and daughter-in-law called around and we spent a very pleasant afternoon together, but keeping in the cool of the house. Tonight I am going to watch some ‘catch up’ TV – my son had told me about a magnificent series on Channel 4 giving a vivid and in-depth account of the Suez debacle in the mid 1950’s so  am sure this is well worth a watch. The TV news bulletins are full of news of play-offs for promotion and demotion but surely on the luckiest teams of all mist be Hull which had gained promotion by virtue of the fact that although lying sixth in the lower division, they secured a winner in the 95th minute of their play off match and thus secured entrance to the very lucrative Premier division.

Well now we seem to have the cold snap in May behind us and there promises to be something approaching a heatwave as we approach the end of the month. I had forgotten that the TV I installed in the bedroom was a Samsung and as I switched it on last night it must have recognised that there was another ‘Samsung’ on the system newly installed last night and was initially a little confused but soon put itself right. So many of the modern TVs are ‘smart’ these days and installation is largely automatic with credentials picked up from one’s router, mobile phone and so on. The day promises to be a fine one which is just as well as I have a couple of trips planned for today together with my American friend. There has been some interesting commentary on the contemporary electoral scene in the UK, according to Harriet Harman, one time deputy leader of the Labour Party. Sir Keir Starmer’s achievements are being ‘completely blotted out’ by the political instability in the government, Harriet Harman has said. Speaking on the Electoral Dysfunction podcast,  Baroness Harman said despite the government turmoil, ‘the irony is that there are quite a few good things like good growth and inflation figures, improved NHS waiting lists, really astonishing figures on the cuts in small boats and in asylum hotels and the drop in legal migration The good things are just being completely blotted out by the turmoil.’ Baroness Harman said that as well as political instability in the UK, international instability such as the Iran war and Donald Trump’s presidency was also contributing. We also have the situation in which our Foreign Secretary is going to walk into a huge row with out NATO partners over the intended lifting of some of the oil sanctions against Russia. One gets the feeling that this change of policy has not been properly thought through and it might be that for a very small change in the oil price, the Government is walking into a mass of political trouble that will run and run. Perhaps it might be better for the government to quickly think again and reverse its policy against Russia to the ‘status quo ante’ but as things stand we seem to be handing quite a boost to the Russian war economy in their fight against Ukraine. Given the hostile acts by Russia against the UK (spy ships, poisoning on British streets) now seems to be absolutely the wrong time to do anything that appears to reward Russian malevolence but not the first time the Labour Government seems to have adopted an ill-thought through change of policy. One does get the feeling that there needs to be some wise and experienced senior figures with well attuned political antennae who can spot and give due warning about the impact of policy changes but it is evident that the government are desperate to do anything that seems to attack high energy prices and the subsequent impact upon both business and the cost of living. Hence we are having a plethora of government announcements (lower VAT on attractions at leisure venues during the summer, free bus fares for children during the summer) that seem to be eye-catching but in the event cost the government only a smidgeon in actual foregone revenue.

Having collected my newspaper, I then picked up my American friend and we made our way to Harvington Hall, about seven miles distant and famous for the number of priest holes (used, in the time of Elisabeth I,  to hide Catholic priests , then regarded as traitors) all seven of which remained undiscovered. We got to within about 5 minutes of the Hall when the whole of one of the access country lanes was blocked off whilst a gas leak was repaired. We tried to navigate a route around and failed and then resorted to a SatNav by which  means we eventually  discovered a whole new route to the Hall but arrived about 10 minutes late. In the Hall, they were not surprised by our late arrival and my friend and I were taken around together with two more visitors on a tour that was absolutely fascinating for both of us and must have lasted for a couple of hours. After that, we enjoyed a coffee in the grassed area near a beautiful Elizabethan walled garden and then eventually made our way to the hotel where I was being treated to a birthday lunch. The staff here were delightful and the cuisine generally excellent and my friend and I drank a bottle of a local English white wine which  was grown and bottled in the locality of the Hall. Although my dinner was excellent,  my friend had needed to complain about an overcooked burger which was really not at all pleasant, The staff were excellent and the staff cooked a piece of chicken similar to mine which proved excellent. Then my friend and I went on a long walk in the grounds of the hotel where you would imagine that you were lost in the middle of the Worcestershire countryside. Then we called back into the hotel and had a cooling drink before making our way home to my house where we arrived just before 6.00pm. We were fortunately greeted by our next-door neighbour who has very kindly invited us to her 75th birthday party to be held in her garden in a week’s time – needless to say, we were delighted to accept this invitation. My friend stayed in the evening whilst we drank tea and looked at a little TV before making plans to see each other again on the afternoon of the forthcoming Bank Holiday. When we reflected on the events of the day, many of the artefacts associated with Harvington Hall were sort of plundered and used to adorn a much larger stately home called Coughton Court which has some quite extensive connections with the Gunpowder plot. As the latter is a National Trust property of which I am a member, then this looks as though it will be high on our list of other places that we wish to visit in the vicinity and use our National Trusts memberships to the full. We are indeed fortunate that appear quite a lot of interesting places to visit in our area and there are the delights of the Severn Valley Railway to experience and we can probably go on a day before the summer holidays start for the school children when the railway might be very busy.

I received some sad news in my text messages as I had been informed of the death of the wife of one my contacts from dementia a short time ago. I had to think hard who the contact was and then realised that it was someone that we used to meet at a club organised by Age UK for dementia sufferers and their carers, but I have not seen him for probably the best part of two years. Naturally, I sent the contact my condolences, informed him about the fact of Meg’s passing of which he would have been unaware in all probability and then told him how I was making a new life for myself via ‘University of the Third Age’ activities. The day promises to be a quiet one as I am expecting a delivery later on today which entails me having to be in the house for most of the day until the delivery arrives – I was promised a time slot by text last night but it failed to arrive. If the weather improves somewhat, I may be able to get outside and get some weeding and lawn mowing done. According to the BBC weather app, the day today shows a light cloud over most of the country but there is a huge high pressure zone across France which is slowly to going to edge northwards which means that we may be due for a heatwave in a few days time. I wonder if there will be a run on ice cream and soft drinks as we head towards a Bank Holiday over the weekend and next Monday. I must confess not looking forward to any particular relish to Bank Holidays these days as it seems to impact on normal routine activities and one never knows whether the shops are going to be open, closed or restricted to Sunday opening hours.  I know from bitter experience that things like routine medications have to be thought about so that one does not run out over a Bank Holiday weekend. However  a spell of really fine weather means that I will have no excuse for not getting outside and getting some routine gardening activities undertaken. The foreign news seems to be universally depressing so I am giving myself a break for a couple of days although I am always tempted to see the latest speculation over the health of Donald Trump. Yesterday, on my trip out to a National Trust property, chatting to one of the other U3A members I was told that it might be possible for me to take along a companion to a National Trust property as a ‘carer’ and so I have in mind whether to enquire of my American friend whether I might make an application on her behalf to become an official carer for me. To be truthful, although Meg and I had a joint membership in the last year or so of Meg’s life, we did not utilise our membership for probably a couple of years as Meg’s health was declining although  we did employ deploy our membership to gain access to National Trust gardens (but not houses) in the later stages of the COVID epidemic. But as the summer beckons, so does the prospect of many interesting places to visit in the vicinity.

Yesterday was my Tai Chi morning and this went to plan except that I needed to have a lightening cup of tea because I needed to be back inside the house for 11.00am. Some days ago, I had read a selection of ‘Which‘ Best Buys, reproduced by permission in ‘The Times’. They made particular mention of a particular 50″ smart Samsung TV that they reckoned had a picture and a sound quality well in excess of its selling price and given several ‘superior’ models a run for their money. Out of interest, I decided to see if John Lewis were selling this model which they were and they also offered a five year warranty on it as well (a manufacturer’s warranty os typically only 12 months) I think that my existing Panasonic is as least a 12-15 years old and of course the technology has come on in leaps and bounds since then. So I reckoned that my existing TV did not owe me anything and offer like this might sell out very quickly s I made an impulse buy and bought it from John Lewis. Today was the day when they came along to deliver and to install it. John Lewis had offered me a general delivery  time of 11.00am to 5pm but yesterday, I received an email telling my time slot was now 4.00pm-6.00pm. Thinking I had an hour to get the back lawn cut, I was just on my out at 3.00pm when the John Lewis van turned up one hour early. But the old hand and his young apprentice got things set up and running pretty quickly the new Samsung quickly found my internet connection. I managed to get my YouTube account linked in (which is important to me given the amount of classical music videos and liberal American political podcasts that I play) so I am relieved to get things running smoothy. The delivery personnel who installed TVs regularly were full of praise for Samsung (and LG) TVs which they reckoned really led the field these days whereas the Toshiba was regarded as old and clunky and they hardly installed any these days. My previous TV is now in the box in which the new one was delivered and is being passed onto my domestic help where she will fortunately be in the position where her husband and boys can watch the football World Cup on one TV and my domestic help can utilise the other. I managed to get all of sticky labels with model numbers and serial numbers detached from the box and stuck inside my own record book which is very valuable to have these all safely secured. Now the TV was working to my satisfaction, I did go and get the back lawn cut about which I was pleased, needless to say. The garden remains somewhat overgrown but at least I am keeping the lawns tidy and the patio in good condition, although in the fullness of time it will require a professional re-grouting and steam cleaning. When this has been completed,  I will give it an annual ‘maintenance’ professional clean.

When I awoke yesterday morning, it was after one of those nights in which one has rather jumbled dreams. In this case, I seemed to have two dreams that merged into each other and they both involved being in a meeting somewhere on the continent with lots of negotiations over this and that and one of the involved lots of discussion that seemed to take place in an airport somewhere.  When I was fully awake, though, I scanned the sky to see what kind of weather lay in store for the day ahead for our U3A trip to Bakewell in Derbyshire. I turned to the BBC weather app which informed me that it will be breezy with variable cloud and a few further, generally light, showers. So one could have wished for better weather but it looks as though we may avoid the showers if there is a modicum of luck. Some of the news being reported this morning is that the UK is lifting sanctions on Russia’s oil products to attempt to ease the pressure on petrol prices at the pumps. There seems to be a particular irony in all of this in that American  activities in the Iranian conflict has the indirect effect of assisting the Russian economy. Right at the start of the war, the Americans acting on out-of-date intelligence bombed a school killing scores of schoolchildren, most of them girls. The Americans are supposedly conducting an in-depth investigation into this atrocity but now, all of this time later, are really dragging their feet over releasing parts of a report that would pin the blame squarely upon the Americans. Immediately after the event at the start of the war, Donald Trump blamed the Iranians themselves for blowing up their own school with precision-guided missiles thus indicating that he had no idea what was really going on. Meanwhile, we have our own home-grown scandal. A high-speed train line between London and Birmingham will be more expensive, take longer to make and go slower than previously announced. The HS2 project will cost between £87.7bn and £102.7bn (in 2025 prices), with the first train services not starting until at least May 2036 and possibly not until October 2039, Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander told the Commons on Tuesday. The project was said to be the most expensive high-speed rail line in the world, according to researchers at the Transit Costs Project. Part of the problem at least seems to have been the desire to make the high speed the fastest in the world. HS2 trains will run slower than originally planned, in an effort to keep down rising construction costs. The Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander told MPs on Tuesday that the new maximum speed of HS2 services will be 320km/h, down from the intended 360km/h (224mph).

The news that broke yesterday and reported by Sky News was that police will confirm who is being charged over the Grenfell Tower fire by the 10th anniversary of the disaster The inferno was the UK’s deadliest residential fire since the Second World War. Seventy-two people were killed when the blaze ravaged the north Kensington building on 14 June 2017. At Scotland Yard today, the Metropolitan Police said up to 57 individuals and 20 organisations are so far suspected of criminal offences. One person was arrested and released under investigation, and others have been questioned under caution but not arrested. Potential charges include corporate manslaughter, gross negligence manslaughter, fraud, serious health and safety offences and misconduct in public office. The final charging decisions will be revealed by 14 June 2027 – exactly a decade on from the fire. It may be an urban myth but it is reported that the day after the fire, the shredders in the offices of several organisations (planning departments, architects, building supply companies) were working overtime as several key individuals realised what was going to hit then further down the line and all kinds of potentially incriminating evidence was destroyed. It is always hard to prove liabilities  after a gap of ten years when memories fade, personnel may have retied and so on. Some of the convictions involving 2o organisations may be for Corporate Manslaughter and securing a conviction for Corporate Manslaughter is generally considered very difficult. While the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007 made it easier to prosecute large organisations, establishing the offence to a criminal standard involves overcoming several demanding evidential hurdles.

Yesterday was the long anticipated visit to Derbyshire. U3A members are always absolutely on time and, in practice, we were all aboard and set off at two minutes before the appointed time. I had an interesting travelling companion because  we had met in the parish hall attached to our church last Sunday and had quickly established that we were both U3A members and going on the mid-week trip to Derbyshire. I had not fully appreciated what a truly beautiful county Derbyshire happens to be and the weather appeared to be fairly benign to us today.  When we arrived at Bakewell, the coach soon dispersed in search of coffee shops and particularly those that had a copious supply of Bakewell tarts and Bakewell puddings (there is a slight but subtle difference) I enjoyed a coffee and a sausage roll and bought a Bakewell pudding to be enjoyed later by myself and family members. 
Then suitably refreshed we made our way onto Kedleston Hall which was about an hour and a half’s drive away. We arrived there at midday and then had the whole of the afternoon until the Hall itself closed at 4.0pm. Kedleston is all about the power of art and design – and the art of power. Built in the 1760s to designs by the celebrated architect Robert Adam for Nathaniel Curzon, 1st Baron Scarsdale, the house was intended to evoke the grandeur of ancient Rome. In 1916 the house and estate were inherited by George Nathaniel Curzon, Marquess Curzon of Kedleston and Viceroy of India. Lord Curzon refurbished the ground floor and planned a museum with more than 1,000 objects from across Asia. Many of us went to the tea rooms to refresh ourselves before the visit and in practice I contented myself with a simple ice-cream. We then set off to explore the Hall which was relatively easy to do on one’s own. I availed myself of an informative 3 minute video and then set off on a voyage of exploration. This was quite easy to do because you could follow a circular route through the house, stopping as long as one wanted to explore the features of any of the rooms. Each room was supplied  with information guides which explained the features  of that particular room and there were two or three ‘human’ guides strategically placed in the various rooms who would answer any questions that you might have. In a music room, I was intrigued by what appeared to be double manual harpsichord whilst in the library, my attention was directed to a printed copy of the ‘Domesday book’ although I did not ascertain when a printed copy was made. The house as a whole displayed 18th century opulence and is probably one of the finest tributes to the architect, Robert Adam. After I had taken several pictures of the interior, I made my way to the tea room where I had a cup of tea before we started off on our homeward bound trip at 4.00pm, arriving back in Bromsgrove just before 6.00pm. My son, although not feeling very well, came along and gave me a lift home, which I truly appreciated and once inside the house I was able to bestow him a gift which  had bought for him (a bottle of beer labelled ‘Grumpy Old Sod’ which I think he will enjoy in the fullness of time)

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.

Yesterday being the start of the week, I always ensure that I have detached the week’s worth of vouchers for my copy of ‘The Times‘ which I then put into my wallet for the forthcoming week. I was a bit dismayed, though, that one of my precious artefacts associated with Meg – a card signed by all of the members of a European linguists group  of which Meg was a member as part of her ERASMUS (European Action Scheme for the Mobility of University Students) role, was missing and not in its usual place where I always keep it in my study. Then I remembered that I must have put it in a file to take down to the birthday celebrations a week ago and indeed that is exactly where it was. So it was rescued and out back into its rightful place together with a large photograph of the Lincoln memorial in Washington with Meg and I photographed (as fairly minute figures) standing at the base of it. We must have asked a passerby to take the photo for us which dates back 20 years and was probably at a time when smart phones were not part of our everyday scene. I re-discovered this photo when I was tidying up the study shortly before Meg’s death and this too is one of those ‘We were there!’ type photographs well worth preserving. The week ahead promises to be one of quite intense social activity so I am going to have to ensure that I have a domestic day in which jobs have to be done (clothes to be washed, grass to be cut) whilst I have the opportunity at the start of the week. My American friend and I were scoping out some of the activities which we might undertake jointly  and one of these is to ensure that I make a visit to Yorkshire for my sister’s birthday at the end of August. This, of course, sounds a long way away but the months seem to be rolling by at a great pace these days so I need to think about making a hotel booking before summer holidays overtake us. I was thinking that we might spend more time than normal in Yorkshire and as well as showing my friend Harrogate (not to mention seeing the members of my family) there are also interesting places to visit such as Ripon to the North and York to the East. Although my friend is very well travelled across the globe I think that Yorkshire is a relative unknown to her so this might be a little mini-holiday for us both well worth anticipating. In domestic politics, Wes Streeting has reopened the European issue making it the subject of a major campaign speech and this has the potential of opening up great rifts in the Labour-voting electorate many of whom voted for Brexit and have been siphoned off by Reform. I happen to think that it is right that we should develop closer inks with the EU and develop much better relationships but I think this is one of those issues best done not under the spotlight of politics and certainly not in the middle of a quasi-election campaign. So, the question arises whether Streeting was consciously trying to destabilise the Andy Burnham campaign at its very start and this is hard to discern. Naturally, some opponents of Wes Streeting are discerning malevolent motives but I think the whole issue of relationships with Europe has to handled with sensitivity and tact.

Later I the morning after quite a slow start to the day, I popped down the hill by car to pick up a loaf of sourdough bread and my daily newspaper and then ensured that I was back n the house by 12.00 to watch the daily Politics show. Evidently there is a lot of speculation about the likelihood of Andy Burnham being successful in the Makerfied by election in which the seat has been been vacated specifically to allow him to reenter Parliament. The optimistic voices think that Burnham may count upon his popularity and visibility as Manchester mayor to storm the seat whereas more pessimistic vices point to the success of Reform in the local elections held within the last ten days and the charge that Burnham is deploying political opportunism and may neglect the seat if he is elected as  Labour leader. Some Labour sources are putting Burnham’s chances at less than 50:50 but this itself may be part of a political strategy to ensure that complacency does not take over. No doubt an opinion poll may be taken in the next day or so and the results of this when published will be illuminating.  I made myself a lunch of chicken, broccoli and roast potato and then became quite absorbed in some Congressional hearings where several of Epstein’s victims gave evidence. Democrats tore into government’s handling of the Jeffrey Epstein abuse scandal last Tuesday – revealing new details of the scale of his international sex-trafficking ring, and warning Donald Trump not to grant a presidential pardon to the late sex offender’s sidekick Ghislaine Maxwell. Several survivors of Epstein’s abuse also gave tearful testimony at a congressional field hearing in Florida of their experiences as teenagers in his orbit. Some spoke of being re-traumatised after they were ‘outed’ by the justice department’s failure to redact their names from the so-called Epstein files. These hearings were quite dramatic and particularly in the cases when a victim’s identify had been revealed (contrary to the legislation) and thus personal details including address and telephone numbers were revealed to members of the public including members of the victim’s own family and, in some cases, spouses and children. But with Trump occupying the White House and the Department of Justice hollowed out to be nothing more than an extension of the Trump political regime, it is unlikely that these traumatised victims will ever get any redress until the Republicans are swept from power, The whole of this scandal reveals that how the rich ad powerful can continue to protect themselves in contemporary America. Tonight, I have scheduled myself to watch a Lucy Worsley programme which investigates the turning points that led to America’s declaration of independence from Britain in 1776 and asks whether this explosive split could have been avoided. These programmes are always a good watch, and I suspect that Lucy Worsley quite enjoys being iconoclastic and presenting some slightly divergent perspectives upon historical events.

The evening before last, having watched the Gary Oldman depiction of Churchill, I tuned for the later stages of the European Song Contest. This was won by Bulgaria in a nail-biting finish in which it looked as though until the last moment, it was possible that Israel might win the contest. If this had happened there might have been a riot as the displeasure felt amongst some sections of the crowd was manifest when Israel topped the leader board. Five nations (Spain, Ireland, Slovenia, Netherlands, Iceland) had already  boycotted the competition but in the event Bulgaria pulled it off with a typical European song (‘Bangaranga’) which captured the popular vote. Sometimes I do not watch this competition but the counting of the votes is always quite exciting because sometimes the favourites of the bookies (this year, Australia and Finland) get overtaken by the popular vote. In the afternoon, I had to exercise a degree of will power to go out and get the front greened area mowed and it really needed it as the dandelions has started to run amok but the cold weather had militated against an earlier cut. But I was fortunate to get it done as it rained just after I got in so fortune had smiled on me. I watched the last quarter of the Cup Final which was Manchester City vs. Chelsea where I did not really care who won but would not have minded if Manchester City did not sweep all before them,  But City scored  a goal which exhibited some footballing brilliance and thus won the final but I could not bear to watch the excessive celebrations that would have taken place afterwards (it might have been different if Leeds had not been beaten by Chelsea in the semifinal) The day has dawned to quite a nice, bright day and, according to the weather forecasters, the cold air sweeping across Britain should be replaced by warmer air from mid-week onwards and we shall start to get something approximating to some spring-like weather. I was pleased to note that after the huge couple of demonstrations in London yesterday the police had done a good job in keeping the two ‘sides’ well apart but it is a sign of the fragmentation of UK politics that these protests draw upon well springs of opinion that are not represented in our major political parties. But the organisers of the Palestine demonstration were keen to point out that their march is not anti-Semitic and indeed there are some Jewish voices, even including Holocaust survivors, who take their place on the march. Somewhere within the hierarchy of the police, decisions have to be taken as to which placards are judged to be anti-Semitic and the slogan ‘From the rive to the seas’ (Jordan to the Mediterranean) is judged to fall into this category. But I noticed one placard in the ‘Unite the Kingdom’ (far right) demonstration which read that ‘Anti-Zionism is Anti-Semitism’ but this is itself is contentious. A Google search reveals the following contribution to the debate: Whether anti-Zionism is inherently antisemitic is a subject of intense and ongoing debate, with no single consensus. Broadly, it is viewed as a complex intersection of political discourse and prejudice, where the line between criticising a political ideology or state policy and expressing hatred toward Jewish people can often blur 

So after attending my normal church service, I took myself off to the  Parish Hall to enjoy coffee and biscuits as is my wont. I sat myself next to a lady who recognised me from a U3A meeting so  am now in the happy position of ‘wheels within wheels’ She, like myself, had lost her spouse about a year ago so we talked to each other about the ways in which we were both using U3A ventures to fill the evident  gaps in or lives. I shall  probably bump into her again on the day trip out to Derbyshire next Wednesday as well. Then whilst  was on the road, I tried to buy some roasting bags for the chicken I am about to cook for my American friend and I. Having tried three retail outlets and not finding any of these, I gave up the search but when I returned home and searched Google, I got the message that these bags are readily available and sold in al of the big supermarket chains (which did not accord with my experience) I got some of my living money out of an ATM, filled the car up with petrol and then returned home to cook the chicken dinner. Whilst things were cooking, I saw the Italian women’s rugby team demolishing the Welsh. When this had concluded, I finished off my cooking and my American friend called round. I opened a bottle of Asti Spumante which I have not drunk for years but at which I was pleasantly surprised. Then after lunch and an extended chat, my friend and I watched the concluding moments of the France v England rugby and were more than happy to see that the Red Roses (England team) had built up an unassailable lead and beat the French, whilst securing the championship as a whole. After more chat and some light tea, we watched the concluding sections of the Margot Fonteyn/Rudolph Nureyev performance of ‘Romeo and Juliette’ made in 1966. So all in all, we had a very pleasant  day together eating some good food, enjoying the wine and particularly happy with the TV that we watched. There is a meeting and talk of the U3A group which I shall attend (late on Tuesday as my Pilates commitment rather clashes with this) after which I have the Derbyshire visit on Wednesday and the postponed visit to Harvington Hall on Friday  next. My friend had brought a delayed birthday present for me which is an illustrated history of the first 100 years of the National Trust. I lent my friend a copy of ‘Watching the English'(by Kate Fox) which I trust my friend will find both fascinating and absorbing as the book is an anthropological examination of the characteristics and quirkiness of the English at home and at play. I have bought several copies of this book and generally given them away to friends who can fully appreciate what an odd lot the people of England can turn out to be. For example, the English generally love in peace and harmony with their neighbours, but when it comes to boundary lines, hedges and fences, then English neighbours can fall out with each other and escalate matters as far as the courts.

I woke up yesterday morning to a prospect of quite a brighter day with the weather hopefully on the turn a little. Moreover, my social prospects look quite bright in the week ahead. Yesterday will be the third Saturday in the month so there will be a meeting of the CAMEO (Come And Meet Each other) at the Methodist Centre where will be coffee and biscuits followed by a talk at some stage. Then the following  day, my American friend and I have decided that we are going to cook a Sunday chicken lunch together. Our cooking lunch coincides with the final set of fixtures in the Women’s 6 Nations rugby competition in which the crunch match will be England vs. France (the two top teams by far) late on Sunday afternoon. It is also the English football cup final afternoon which I may watch as well as undertaking some lawn mowing. Later in the week, we have a general meeting of U3A (University of the Third Age) followed by a talk on politics (‘Why all political careers end in failure’) but I shall have to turn up late for this as Tuesday is my Pilates day. Then we have our much anticipated ‘day out’ to Derbyshire (Bakewell, Kedleston Hall) on Wednesday and then on Friday my American friend and I are going to visit Harvington Hall (already paid for but a postponed visit) followed by a delayed birthday meal. My American friend and I were discussing how we were both were involved in a range of social activities that add their own weekly rhythms  but we were pleased that although we enjoyed each other’s company, it was not going to be at the expense of our other social engagements i.e. life has to be a balance of our social and domestic commitments. We both happen to be more or less in a sweet spot where we are happy enough in our various ventures  but both of us are having to keep a careful watch on our activities to make sure that we do not over-extend ourselves which, paradoxically, might be quite an easy thing to do. On the political front, I notice with a degree of pleasure that the what has been cleared by the Labour National Executive Committee for Andy Burnham to contest a parliamentary seat – one has to say that ‘Thank God’ that the Labour party does recognise that it has a potential saviour in the offing! Trump has now returned from China and with the Iranian war in a state poised between stalemate and abeyance, I wonder whether attention will turn once again to the Epstein affair where there is certainly a lot more to be revealed. In the meantime, American food prices and petrol prices are rising and Trump’s personal popularity is waning. A quick Google search revealed to me a website that I may well bookmark which charts and documents the President’s popularity. This has been a consistent downward trend and the latest data reveals that 481 days into the presidency,  the president’s net approval rating is -21, down 0.3 points since last week (36% approve, 57% disapprove, 5% not sure) After I had bookmarked the site and copied over the graph and headline statistics, there was quite a lot of further commentary in which the figures were broken down by issue, state and various other demographics so that you could track exactly where Trump was losing popularity. One of the expressions associated with President Bill Clinton was ‘It’s the economy, stupid’ and nothing much has changed since it is the 50% rise if gas(petrol) prices and the general inflation in food prices which is hurting Trump even more than the Iranian war.

I made sure that I breakfasted early and went down early to the Methodist Centre to secure a car parking space and then had coffee with diverse old ladies, including one from my (Catholic) church. The we had a talk which I did not think I was going to enjoy but turned out to be very informative. It was given by an employee of AbilityNet which is an organisation, partly funded by BT itself, which is set up to provide free digital skills training for older people and disabled adults. The point was well made that the (4-bit) technology that put men on the moon in 1969 and in which the astronauts were incredibly well trained was now replaced by technology  which was millions of times more powerful and was now in the hands of most of us wit no training whatsoever. The talk that was given was well delivered, sympathetic and reassuring in nature and very informative. The instructor handed out a leaflet which detailed  for us a free weekly newsletter from Which which alerted one to the latest scams, the specialised 159 number to report fraud and scams, the AskSilver website to check out whether a suspicious offering is in fact a scam or not and a website enabling one to ascertain enabling the spotting of AI fakes. So I actually learnt quite a lot about services of which I was previously unaware and I must say that I was impressed by the range of help (including in one’s home in selected cases) for these members of the population for whom this was an important need. This afternoon I am going to divide my attention between  gardening, blogging and the FA Cup Final depending on how the mood takes me. For lunch, I decided to cut up some already cooked him not quite small squares and then fry these off with onions and make a Spanish ham omelette. this turned out to be a lot bigger than I had anticipated and I ended up throwing half of it away. For my TV viewing this evening, I shall probably the repeat of the Churchill biopic ‘Their Finest Hour’ which had recently some pretty positive reviews (which I have already seen but probably worth a re-viewing). Meanwhile, in London this afternoon there are two rival demonstrations to keep the police well and truly busy. Tens of thousands of protesters have descended on London for two rival marches – the Unite the Kingdom rally, organised by far-right figure Tommy Robinson, and a pro-Palestinian demonstration. More than 4,000 police officers have been deployed to the capital, and they are managing a so-called ‘sterile zone’ between the two marches. Officers are also using drones, police horses and dogs, and have armoured vehicles on standby. The Metropolitan Police has called it one of the most significant policing operations in years. Protesters attending the Unite the Kingdom march gathered in Kingsway, before heading to Whitehall and a rally in Parliament Square Many could be seen waving Union flags, and chants of ‘we want Starmer out’ could be heard. Protesters could be seen wearing ‘Make England Great Again (Mega)’ red hats, with others draped in Union flags. Reporting from the scene, BBC correspondent Tom Symonds said people there had a wide range of views – including those who want to see the end of the current government, and others who feel that white people, in particular white working class people, are being discriminated against in the UK today.