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.

Yesterday, as it turned out, was one of those really momentous days in British politics. It all kicked off, as it were, at 6.00am in the morning when Angela Raynor let it be known that the tax authorities had cleared her of deliberately withholding tax on a second home and this cleared the way for her to make a leadership bid should she feel so inclined. Then Wes Streeting actually did resign from the government as Health Secretary so that, he too, could make a bid for the Labour Party leadership although as things stands, it is doubtful whether he actually has the numbers at this point of time to support his bid. But the really momentous political news came late in the afternoon when the Labour MP who holds a seat adjacent to Andy Burnham’s old seat of Leigh in Lancashire agreed to resign to make way for an Andy Burnham return to Parliament. But there is one big problem which is in the local elections held recently, in every ward of the soon to be vacated seat, Makerfield, Reform had won every single ward. On the face of it, this seems to indicate that Andy Burnham has a massive fight on his hands to win this Parliamentary seat. But I would concur with the opinion of some analysts that Burnham may prevail quite easily and this for two reasons. Most importantly, many of the Labour voters who did not turn up to vote in a local election would be energised to vote in such a crucial by election where, in effect, a Prime Minister was being chosen.But secondly, there will be a huge personal vote for Andy Burnham and some who voted Reform may be more than happy to vote for Burnham, particularly as the seat was then won by Labour at the last General Election held two years ago. If, and when, Andy Burnham returns to the House of Commons, then an actual challenge will still have to be mounted against Keir Starmer but one could almost see a situation where no one apart from Burnham actually puts up against him allowing him to be crowned as a new Prime Minister almost by acclamation as the returning ‘king from over the water’ (first said of Bonnie Prince Charlie of course) So there will be lots of feverish speculation over the weeks ahead but at least the Labour Party may have a new leader around whom the party can unite. I have a very interesting thought about Andy Burnham which no commentator has yet mentioned and that is the simple fact that if Prime Minister makes it to be Labour Leader (and Prime Minister) this will be the first northerner since Harold Wilson resigned in 1976 which is, of course, half a century ago. It seems a fairly self-evident fact but perhaps the fact that voters in the north who have traditionally supported the Labour Party feel left behind, forgotten and taken-for-granted is that the Labour party has been led by Celts or a London metropolitan elite for decades. So major transport investment has been made in the transport infrastructure of the South whilst HS2 which was meant to link the North to the rest of the country has foundered. One does not have to be a professional northerner not to give voice to this fact and I am wondering how long it will be until it is mentioned by any of the current crop of political commentators.

As here we are at the end of the week, I went down the hill to park the car and pick up m newspaper before I set off to the ‘Gifts of Love’ outlet which I frequent on Friday mornings. But I had a particular mission which was to go along the High Street and pay a visit to Boots, a store I tend to avoid since most of the profits that they declare are to a US private equity firm, Sycamore Partner, and this raises the whole question whether they pay the appropriate amount  of tax which would be paid if they were owned by more conventional UK owners. I was in search of a bristle hairbrush (my principal one having been lost over the weekend) and was delighted to find a bristle brush at a very reasonable price with the opportunity to purchase a second at a 50% discount. So I was pleased initially with my purchases but when I got them home and examined them closely, the bristle tufts surrounded a longer nylon ‘spike’ which, admittedly, leave one’s scalp a pleasant tingle when brushed. Nonetheless, I had something akin to buyer’s remorse when I discover that the brush advertised as ‘bristle’ was actually ‘bristle and nylon’ so I might wait until my hairdresser next calls around to get a more expert and professional opinion on my purchase. After I got home, I cooked myself a risotto lunch and then later in the afternoon, my American friend called round with one or little goodies as delayed birthday presents. In return, I had a portion of risotto left over which I heated up for my friend. We discussed some of the arrangements that we have made for a week’s time where once my friend is free of her virus we shall go to Harvington Hall in the morning and then go and have a good lunch in the afternoon.  The hotel is one in which Meg and I used to eat often on special occasions such as birthdays and anniversaries and I know it well, so after we have dined we can have extensive walks around their grounds which are so extensive that you feel as though you are walking in the open (Worcestershire) countryside, so that is a treat in store for both of us. The evening before last, I saw a fascinating interview with an American military exert on a YouTube liberal podcast, who divulged the contents of an American intelligence report that suggested that Iran may still be in control of as much as 70% of its mobile strike capability. The Americans had evidently bombed the sites of which they had become aware but not with the enormously expensive ‘bunker busting’ bombs which would have been an excessive strain on America’s military resources. So the Iranians having hidden their missiles deep inside caves and mountains were now extracting them and using them in other locations The American military expert made the startling revelation that he did not believer a word of the propaganda made by the Iranians – but neither did he believe the Trump military regime either.

I have got so fed up with waking up to quite cold weather that I turned to the BBC weather app on my laptop to get some commentary on current conditions. Yesterday  in particular, there was quite an icy blast and even today I read that that I can anticipate a day filled with heavy showers and quite a sharp wind. In fact, yesterday I noticed a pile of hailstones lodged in my rear garden gate and it looks as though this bad spell of weather may well persist for a few days more, The temperatures are definitely below the average for mid-May and I am finding this particularly frustrating because I am anxious to go out and get some weeding and general garden tidying-up done but I don’t intend to do this if I m subject to icy blasts the whole time. The last thing I could  do with is a bad back induced by gardening in adverse conditions but I may have to wait for the best part of another week until the weather starts to rise to conditions which are average for mid-May. We will have to see what the afternoon brings for us but although the days seem to start bright enough, clouds and rain soon seem to sweep over us. The political scene is dominated by suggestions that the Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, is poised to resign and to attempt a challenge against the Prime Minister. Ny prognostication is that this would be a terrible move by Streeting although he may feel as though he is being swept along by a media surge and feels powerless to resist it. There are two reasons why a Streeting strike at this time may be ill-judged although he probably feels impelled to make his bid before Andy Burnham has the chance to re-enter Parliament. The first of these reasons is to ignore one of the first rules of contemporary politics which is to ensure that you can count! Although the best part of 100 MPs might have signed a letter indicating that they  think that Starmer’s days are numbered, it would be folly in the extreme to assume that this will translate over into the 81 firm votes that Streeting needs to have to mount a leadership challenge. Signing a letter is one thing but an actual vote to de-fenestrate an existing leader is quite another. A second  factor is a simple reading of political history. The  candidate who proffers the first blow in a contest rarely emerges as the ultimate winner and Streeting, on the right of the party and a good media performer, is probably is not a good judge of the depth to which he is disliked on the left of the party, not least because  he seems open to letting the private sector rip open the body of the NHS. I have a small but indicative reason why people may feel discontent with the NHS. I was asked to apply for a routine diabetes monitoring but the app (sourced to a third party) told me it could not process my application at this time. So I phoned my surgery which told me in the introductory blurb that there are very long waits for hospital appointments at this time and therefore do not pressure the GP service at this time because there is nothing they can do about it. I was offered a routine appointment, eventually, but this was in three weeks time for, admittedly, a non-urgent appointment. But if you multiply these instances up, there is no wonder that the population feel that ‘their’ NHS (reportedly, the nearest thing that we have to a national religion) is actually crumbling around us.

After my Tai Chi session this morning, I spoke with two of my fellow class members both of whom seemed to be having a torrid time with ill and failing relatives. My bank manager friend was experiencing a situation in which his mother-in-law was failing fast and whilst  some members of his family were being cooperative others were not to add to his distress. And another class member seemed to be surrounded by failing relatives at the moment so naturally I was very sympathetic to their respective plights. With the UK’s ageing population we now have a situation in which the aged are looking after the extremely aged, raising, of course, the interesting question of ‘Who cares for the carers?’ After an extended chat, I left and called in at a couple of shops but, as so often happens these days, neither  of them stocked the items for which I was searching. So I came home and cooked myself a meal of chicken pieces, heated up in some onion gravy and supplemented by a type of stir-fry of onions, tomatoes, garlic and a few mange-tout peas. As I turned on the TV news when I was sitting down to eat my dinner, I see that the Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, has resigned in order to challenge the Prime Minister  followed by the customary exchange of letters. But Wes Streeting now has to demonstrate that he ‘has the numbers’ of others supporting him and I suspect this may well be not the case. So now the Labour Party is entering a period of complete turmoil as despite the unhappiness of many Labour MPs, any leadership campaign might be protracted, messy and possibly leading to a narrow victory which is inconclusive. In the meanwhile, Keir Starmer remains in office and, as yet, nobody has yet to challenge him directly. So I am reconciled to a fairly damp and gloomy afternoon, in which if I had hoped to get the lawns mown, then this hope is dashed as the grass will now so wet as to make mowing  a rather messy business. My American friend phoned up to tell me how her cold is progressing and, very sensibly, she has decided that she had better stay out of direct contact with me so that does not pass her cold onto me, which of course I appreciate. On the first and the third Saturday of each month, there is a more general meeting in the Methodist Centre which goes by the acronym of ‘Cameo’ which initials stand for ‘Come And Meet Each Other’ in which the unattached (generally widows and widowers) meet for a coffee and then we have a talk or a communal activity  of some kind. Next Saturday will be the third of the month so I shall turn up and see what is on offer. As might be expected, the numbers of widows far exceeds the numbers of widows by a ratio of about 10:1 from what I remember of the last meeting but the ratio in UK society as a whole is about 4:1. Perhaps women are better joiners than men in their widowed status and hence they are more likely to turn up to these communal events than are men.

I awoke yesterday to a beautiful bright day but there is still quite a cold wind around to lower temperatures a little way below the seasonal norm. Last night, I watched one of the Simon Scharma ‘History of Britain’ programmes and this was concerned with the Jacobite rebellions and the gradual incorporation and union between England and Scotland at the start of the eighteenth century. Right at the end of the programme, reference was made to Robert Adam who designed houses in neo-classical style, one of the most famous of which is Kedleston Hall in Derbyshire. There were just a few shots of the glorious interior and what was so interesting is that this is the National Trust to which the U3A group have organised in a week’s time. So naturally, I am looking forward to that trip as well as to the town of Bakewell in Derbyshire. This is my next trip ‘out’ as it were and these trips are always worthwhile as the cost of the coach trip is even less than that of the petrol cost if you were to make the journey as independent travellers. The war in the Middle East is in a kind of abeyance or even a stalemate as Donald Trump goes off to visit President Xi of China in a visit already delayed once because of the war. I saw a very interesting analysis on Sky news on what is going on in the Middle East at the moment. The state of Qatar is heavily reliant upon LPG (Liquified Petroleum Gas) exports which can only be conveyed by tanker. There seems to have been a tacit deal whereby one tanker (and possible three more)  has left Qatar and has been granted passage around the Straits of Hormuz in order to offload to an oil terminal to Pakistan from whence the rest of the Asian market can be supplied. As of early 2026, Pakistan Army Chief (and appointed Field Marshal) Asim Munir has been central to managing energy security and geopolitical volatility, acting as a key intermediary in a US-Iran ceasefire following rising hostilities. Munir has brokered deals, including potential investment in Pakistani oil and mineral sectors, to secure economic stability after Iran-related disruptions. So according to the analysis I have seen, although Iranian control of the Straits of Hormuz is contrary to international law, it is quite possible that Iran is settling up several side deals from which Iran can benefit and which can only act to the long term detriment of the USA. Trump hoped to go and see China’s President Xi with the war already won but it is not which puts Trump in a weaker position in terms of being able to negotiate better trade deals with China. Of course our attention is diverted by the shenanigans at home which will probably resume in earnest once the Kings Speech has been delivered in Parliament and a six day debate starts on the contents of he King’s speech. The latest situation is that 86 MPs have signed a letter expressing no confidence in Starmer whilst another 100 have signed a letter of support, leaving the stock exchange in rather a nervous condition (which always pushes up our borrowing costs).

Yesterday was the morning in which I normally go to the Methodist Centre to have a chat with whoever is available.I had promised to take my Italian friend with me as she has lived in Bromsgrove for decades and was bound to run across some people that she knew. We both bumped into the person who had introduced me to the Methodist Centre and was a volunteer serving teas and coffees to the rest of us. Anyway, we three of us had a jolly good chat and I think it was a good strategy to take my friend there to see what friendships she could recreate. Whilst I was there, I was approached by someone who knows me by sight and he as telling me about an organisation which was in effect ‘North Worcestershire friends of the National Trust’ which organises trips and other activities. So I said I would do some research and see if this another network of friends and acquaintances that I might  join. I eventually dropped my Italian friend off home and it was so late by this stage that I cooked myself a lunch of quiche and beans and then set forth to my weekly shopping. This I did after lunch trying not to buy too much but making sure I had plenty of fruit and vegetables. Then I sorted out some newspapers as I need to get them into our green recycling bin as this is the week when the green and brown lidded bins get emptied. Then I had a long telephone call with my American friend who is trying to fight off a cold and a virus – we are both hopeful that we might be able to meet for a cup of tea or something a little stronger when she is feeling better. In the meanwhile, I am roaming the airways in search  of some comedy. There is a fairly obscure channel (65) called ‘That’s TV (UK)’ which is showing some classic 1970’s and 1980’s British comedy including ‘Rising Damp’ This used to be broadcast at 6.50 in the evenings but I thought I saw a glimpse of it on one of the TV schedules early in the day. I tuned in 16.20 and got about one half of a showing on ‘Rising Damp’ so to get my daily ‘fix’ of comedy, I probably need to tune in at about 6.05 each day (which I intend to do from now on) Most, if not all of the episodes I have seen before but the humour is pretty timeless and always worth another  viewing. I am going to treat myself to a science programme on ‘Temperature’ later on this evening followed by a regime of ‘early to bed, early to rise’ before I go off to ‘Tai Chi’ the following day. After the texts, emails and messages of goodwill I have received over the last few days, I sent off several messages this morning hoping that we can arrange to meet up with each other in the weeks ahead. One has to say that now that the summer months are almost upon us, it is much easier to arrange these meetings as we do not have the dark, cold and wet evenings of autumn and winter with which to contend. Having said that, it is unseasonably cold at this time of year with icy blasts of rain – and worse. As I was putting the wheelie bins out ready for collection, I noticed that lodged in the door frame of our backdoor gate was a collection of small hailstones which is not normally expected in mid May!

Yesterday, the whole country is in a strange position, politically, as the number of Labour MPs calling for, at the very least, a timetable for Keir Starmer to step down has now risen to 83. In theory it takes 81 Labour MPs to have their demand for a new PM to be put into effect but even this takes us into unknown territory because it is quite possible that some of those signing a letter might still stop short of an actual vote. Apart from the ‘usual suspects’, it appears that it is many of the younger MPs swept into power at the last general election who are acutely aware that their majorities are quite small and it quite likely that they could easily lose their eats in the next general election to be held in three years’ time. In this case, they would occupy their posts as MPs for just one term of a Parliament and this is not what they came into politics to do. The atmosphere outside Downing Street is apparently both chaotic and confused In a cabinet meeting held this morning, no cabinet minister came out publically calling for the PM’s resignation and, had they done so, convention dictates that after such a display of disunity they themselves  would be forced to resign. The really massive problem for the Labour Party s that the candidate most likely  to be able to unite the various wings of the party and to mount a successful challenge to Keir Starmer – Andy Burnham, the mayor of Manchester- is not himself yet an MP and no vacancy will be forthcoming until an existing  MP sacrifices himself for Andy Burnham and, without the promise of a peerage which the existing  PM will not grant, then no one is likely  to cede their seat. I think that in the six days of debate on the King’s Speech, due to be delivered on Wednesday, there will be plenty of time for machinations and other forms of Parliamentary plotting. One rather gets the impression, rather like the Shakespeare of ‘Julius Caesar’, that the senators are circling with their daggers concealed within the folds of their togas, all wanting to deal a fatal blow to the Prime Minister but nobody wanting to be the first. There is a certain logic in all of this because, historically, the person who first manifests an act of disloyalty  does not typically inherit the crown that he seeks. One is reminded, also, of the quote  attributed to one of Napoleon’s generals in which the sentiment expressed that ‘I shall be loyal to my Emperor always – until the time is right for treachery’. Three junior ministers have resigned with the most prominent being Jess Phillips, the Shadow Minister for Domestic Violence and Safeguarding. One can only hope that a Minister who has campaigned so long and hard for abused women as has Jess Phillips can quickly be found a role in a reformed or reconstituted administration.  The current political situation  is so volatile at the moment with No 10 attempting to muster a similar group of MPs who are manifesting loyalty to Keir Starmer and is probably changing by the hour as (junior) ministerial resignations are starting to mount.

Now that I have the interesting trips associated with birthdays behind me, I am starting to re-think my whole approach to holidays. When I was at work, and there were two of us (my wife and I) then the pattern evolved over the years was at least a week away somewhere either in this country or latterly abroad. To draw the sting of the winter, Meg and I used to avail ourselves of a 2-3 week holiday in the middle of the winter, generally provided by Saga and generally also in the south of Spain where the weather was nearly always like a good English spring and  there was an abundance of good company with people that we could rely upon seeing year after year as good holiday friends. So Meg and I often to used to holiday in Salobreña and was facilitated by what was termed the modular pattern of modern degrees in which students studied eight modules a year divided into two semesters of four modules each with a break of a week or so (for examinations, marking, assessments) between the two semesters. So we could often utilise this mid-semester break for a winter holiday and this pattern persisted for many a long year. Then a variety of factors helped to break this pattern, The Salobreña holidays we enjoyed so much came to a natural end when the hotel in which  we used to stay could no longer accommodate us for the low prices paid to them by Saga and from which we benefitted as customers. Then of course, we had COVID which put paid to holidays for several years and hard on the heels of COVID came various financial crises and then, of course, with the passage of time Meg became too ill to travel so the whole pattern of holidaying changed dramatically. Now that I am on my own, one is faced with new dilemmas – for example, I saw a pretty good coach holiday organised for a couple of weeks in Southern Spain which was offered for a price of about £2,000 but the sting in the tail was an £800 supplement if you happened to be a single person. Now, I am having to rethink holiday plans in the light of my changed circumstances not to mention affordability when I am having to fund holidays myself rather than relying upon the funding opportunities offered to a couple. I need to see my family in Yorkshire at least 2-3 times a year so this necessitates hotel stays and I am rethinking what holiday pattern now suits me best. I am beginning to think that a pattern of several breaks of only a few days scattered across the year and more confined to this country than hitherto might be the best way forward and of course it goes without saying that going on holiday with a really good companion (in the absence of a wife) has a lot to commend it and I know that many people do adopt this pattern as well. I might start to explore other parts of the UK with which I am unfamiliar. For example, the web tells me that Suffolk offers idyllic holiday spots featuring dramatic coastlines, medieval towns, and peaceful countryside, with top destinations including the seaside charm of Southwold and Aldeburgh, the historic charm of Lavenham, and the nature-filled Dunwich Heath. Ideal for relaxing breaks, visitors can enjoy sandy beaches, quaint villages, and scenic walking trails.

So the night after the party, I enjoyed a beer with one of my University of Winchester colleagues  who, like me, was resident in the gastro-pub and then we retired to our respective rooms. These were very small but were well appointed with an en-suite and were of course just designed for one-night stayers for people like us.  Perhaps because the mattress was too soft or it was a strange bed or I was a trifle cold despite extra blankets but it took me an enormously long time to settle down to sleep. I tuned the TV to a very low volume ClassicFM to play in the background and eventually got off to sleep. In the morning, my University of Winchester friend and I met up at a breakfast table and struggled to get our respective laptops to connect to the internet. We both kept getting the message that we were connected to the network but had no accessto the internet which sounds bizarre. We both succeeded, eventually using our own iphones as HotSpots and then we were joined by yesterday’s birthday girl and another guest to make up the foursome for breakfast (which was my treat) So we enjoyed our Eggs Benedict and lots of good and interesting conversation. When this was concluded I had brought along my laptop and managed to show the sequences of 67 photos that illustrated the stages of Meg’s life after which we bid each other fond farewells and started off home on our respective journeys. I decided to return home by a slightly different  route but which meant that I proceeded along the M4 for a few miles and then picked up the A34 dual carriage way towards the M42 and hence home. I know this route very well with my journeys from the Midlands down to Winchester and although it was some 15 miles longer the roads were much faster so I made the journey home, without a stop and pretty quickly.

I had a quietish afternoon, but my son texted me to say that he would be over in the early evening bearing a gift of lasagne and salad for a sort of birthday tea.  We both had a lot to chatter about as he has had his school reunion up in York whilst, of course, I had been away in Berkshire. Needless to say, we both wanted to share the good times we had both had with friends and I explained how I both recited the ‘Grace before meals’ (especially composed for the occasion) as well as the second  verse of ‘Danny Boy’ to commemorate Meg’s anniversary. Now that these special events are successfully completed, I have my trip out to Derbyshire with the U3A group to which to look forward in just over a week’s time. Meanwhile, I am catching up with the global news and it looks as though the USA/Iran peace deal is practically dead, or at least on life support. Trump is due to make a visit to China shortly and the Chinese have been tacitly supporting Iran. But China has spent the past few months adopting that old maxim attributed to Napoleon: ‘Never interrupt your enemy when they are making a mistake’. The Chinese know that Trump’s Iran adventure has clearly been a self-inflicted wound and must secretly be laughing up their sleeves at the Americans for having got embroiled in the Middle East in  this way.

As my son and daughter-in-law arrived late in the afternoon, they brought in with  a fairly large parcel which had been left on my doorstep by my Irish friends as a birthday gift. This contained  six cans of low alcohol lager which is particularly welcome now that the summer months are approaching and two large bars of that absolutely delicious high grade dark chocolate. This is a pleasure that will unwind over the days ahead but I must be careful to limit my chocolate consumption  to a maximum of four  squares per day. I also received a birthday card from my Leicestershire friends of yesteryear so I really must make some efforts to arrange a meal within the next week or so as they indicated that they had some news to impart. So particularly after the winter is over and Easter well behind us, my social life seems to have intensified which is surely a good thing but I have to remind myself that I also have a house and garden to keep maintained and should  not be spending too much on these excursions and social activities and I need to keep a balance in all things. But I am equally conscious that it is a good thing to be engaged with the world and not to withdraw from social contact which some do after a bereavement. The rest of the week is clear of U3A engagements for me but the following week appears to be a lot busier.  The number of MP’s calling for an end to the Starmer premiership is now 70+ and four ministerial aides are reported to have resigned. It may well be that even the Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood are among those urging Starmer to go. Of course, Starmer could instantly sack her on the spot for such a gross act of disloyalty but these would trigger his own downfall even more quickly. Once the figure of dissident MPs arise to 81 then a call to remove the PM can fall within the rules. Boris Johnson when he was Prime Minister made reference to these great changes of mood with parliamentary parties and his graphic words are still remembered to this day. Boris Johnson, in his resignation speech on July 7, 2022, said: ‘As we’ve seen at Westminster the herd instinct is powerful and when the herd moves, it moves’ This phrase explained his forced resignation, blaming the rapid loss of party support for making his position untenable. It seems that as I write this situation is occurring  this evening and Parliament is not even in session at the moment. MPs return to the Chamber on Wednesday ready for the King’s speech (government announcements of their legislative  agenda for the next session of Parliament) and this is followed by six days of debate. But I imagine that a ‘putsch’ of some sort will emerge in the next day or so. In order to get Andy Burnham back into the Commons (and there is no vacant seat just yet) I imagine that Keir Starmer will be forced to agree to a point when he will step down and, in the meantime, there will be severe impacts upon the  business of government until a new Prime Minister is in post.

The evening before yesterday, my American friend called round to hand deliver a birthday card to me before my imminent trip. We enjoyed a cup of tea together and chatted over what was going to occupy us in the next day or so. Sunday is going to prove to be one of the most interesting of days because after attending Mass at 8.30 in the morning (a Mass being offered for the repose of Meg’s soul) my intention is to drive straight off to Berkshire where I will be one of the guests at a birthday party organised to celebrate the 65th birthday of one of my ex-Winchester University colleagues. The journey is about 86 miles but I will take a flask with me to enjoy a coffee break if I find  suitable stopping place at approximately the half-way point. Some of my own good friends and ex-colleagues will be in attendance but there will be a range of people whom I shall be meeting for the first time. Normally, and particularly after a series of elections,  I would be closely following the political  interviews which have taken on a particular saliency as the storm clouds gather over Keir Starmer’s premiership. One Labour MP is already on record as saying that she will attempt to trigger a leadership contest on Monday if Keir Starmer has not made a clear declaration of his intention to quit by then. One feature of the current political scene I find quite puzzling is the way I which Keir Starmer is both portrayed and evaluated. According to several vox-pop interviews I have seen conducted, it would appear that Starmer generates a lot of marked dislike if not hatred. I can well understand these emotions when directed towards several of our political leaders such as the Corbyns or the Boris Johnson’s of this world but Starmer comes over as a rather boring bank manager or solicitor.  On a similar theme, it seems that the whole attraction of ‘Reform’ is that they are ‘not Labour’ and one does wonder whether those who vote for Reform are conscious of the great dearth of policies other than immigration. Nigel Farage for one is certainly in favour of completely privatised medicine and one can only shudder with horror at the thought at would happen to our NHS were Reform to form the next (national) government. The next general election is still some three years away but in may ways this gives Reform the chance to embed itself into the fabric of our body politic. If we are now entering a period of ‘patchwork’ or coalition politics, then who does the electorate blame is a coalition has a generally unsuccessful period in office. Will the electorate blame each of the members of the coalition electorate equally, for example? In the old days of ‘two party’ politics, one could always say (as a former boss of mine used to say ‘Let the other lot have a go’) but now the nature of accountability and connection with the electorate will become far from clear.

It is hard to indicate what a magnificent day this has turned out to be. Having had the Mass devoted to Meg in the morning, I then set off for Berkshire and fortunately I discovered a parking place just after the mid…way point to have some coffee and toast. Then I proceeded to the gastropub and arrived in plenty of time for the party. The hosts were wonderfully accommodating and I was not reunited with some friends and colleagues but made some new friends as well. We started with an ‘amuse bouche’ and then sat down to a long table where I had interesting companions, some new and some old on every side but I was soon called in to deliver my Grace Before Meals (specially composed) which I think was highly appreciated. We had a magnificent meal full of good food and conversation towards the end of which, our birthday girl had organised a musician to come and play melodies suitable for the occasion. A totally unexpected surprise was that our host had organised with the musician to play a special rendition of Mozart’s ‘Soave sea el vente’ (Softly blow the wind) from ‘Cose fan tutte’ which representing the departure of loved ones over the ocean and is one of the most appropriate arias it was possible to choose. I was completely overcome by emotion but one of my newly acquired friends came over and dried my tears and was consoling in the extreme. Then the party proceeded and I we had lots of delicious cake, champagne, maroons and coffee after which it was time for speeches. Our birthday girl gave a wonderful account of her occupational life and included every person who was present in her very pleasant and wonderful account. Then, at the very end of the speeches, I was given some minutes to say a few words so I told the assembled party the story behind the second, poignant, verse of ‘Danny Boy’ which I then recited from memory (only eight lines long but practised hard enough and delivered with gravity and emotion) So todays activities drew to a close but we had to make some practical arrangements for the birthday breakfast which is now scheduled for 9.20am tomorrow morning for four us altogether.

It is hard to indicate what a wonderful first anniversary of Meg’s death today has turned out to be. I was met with waves of love and sympathy and the guests were so thoughtful and interesting. A lot of todays proceedings have been captured on camera and on iphones and although I failed to take any photos myself, I am sure that lots of guests will share their footage with me. One of the birthday girls colleagues who had served with her in the Navy was incredibly supportive and sympathetic so it would be wonderful to meet up on future occasions – we always have FaceTime in the meanwhile. This evening is going to seem quite a quiet affair after the wonderfully joyous celebrations of the day but i am meeting up with a University of Winchester colleagues later on in the bar and we have a quiet chinwag. For once, it is rather nice to be cut adrift from the normal run of political discussion and to just enjoy the friendship of li

The day dawned bright and clear yesterday morning and I felt I had quite a lot to do in preparation for my weekend visit but, in truth, once the car has been washed and some money out of the ATM all I have to do is to pack an overnight bag. As I have two pieces of script on my kitchen table, I take the opportunity to practice the cadences in the ‘Grace Before Meals’ which I am due to deliver at my friends birthday’s party tomorrow and I also have the second verse of ‘Danny Boy’ which  starts ‘But when you come and all the flowers are dying’ which I am committing to memory to recite when the time is propitious over the next day or so. The evening before last, my American friend phoned to tell me that she had just had a scan and hope to get the results  of this from her doctor on Monday morning but, in any event, was feeling a bit better than she had been feeling for the past few days. Shortly afterwards, my Italian friend from down the road phoned and now that she has decided to stay located in the house in which has lived for the past sixty years and not move to be nearer to her daughter which had been her original intention. She knew we were approaching the anniversary of Meg’s death and hence the phone call but I was happy to be able to tell her my plans for the next day or so away with friends about which she was pleased.  I made an arrangement to pick her up in my car and take her to the Methodist Centre next Wednesday when we can sit at the ‘chatty table’ and having lived in Bromsgrove for so long I would be amazed if she did not run across some old acquaintances one way or another. But my Italian friend did convey some sad news to me. In the days when I used to walk Meg regularly up and down the Kidderminster Road, we often used to bump into an acquaintance who lived down the Kidderminster Road.  Now he and I had a joint interest in the Honda cars that we both owned at the time and he always managed to keep his garden in pristine condition as well. In fact, we shared a table at a joint social gathering which the French lady who used to live down the road loved to organise for neighbours and friends whenever there was a suitable occasion. But I was distressed to learn that my ‘Honda’ friend had actually passed away some three months ago and as I do not walk up and down the road as regularly as I used to do, I had no idea this had happened. So I must ensure that I take the opportunity to knock on the door and offer my condolences to his widow who, fortunately, has a daughter who lives fairly near by. The situation in the local election in Birmingham is complicated and the result has been delayed for hours. The Labour party’s 14-year leadership in Birmingham has come to an end after Reform, Greens and pro-Gaza independents made significant gains in the UK’s second-largest city. No party has yet won an overall majority at Birmingham city council, one of Europe’s largest local authorities, with the results reflecting wider political fragmentation across England. Labour was expected to take significant losses in the all-out elections in Birmingham, where 101 seats were up for grabs. The council has been plagued by a series of problems in recent years, from the declaration of bankruptcy in 2023, subsequent cuts to local services and the ongoing bin strike – images of rubbish piled on the city’s streets have made headlines across the world. The local authority, which is responsible for a £4.4bn budget, has so far lost more than 30 Labour councillors, and gained 21 Reform and 11 Green councillors. None of this is a great surprise but governing UK’s largest local authority will be a headache as it is certain that the Greens would never lend any support to the Reform party. I wonder whether the Greens may help to support a minority Labour administration  but the situation has yet to clarify and there may be tense local negotiations that lie ahead.

So, I knew that there was a certain amount of running about to be done this morning, but I got my newspaper collected, money taken out of the ATM and the car fuelled ready for the journey and given a jet-wash. When I returned home, I judged it to be prudent to give my fridge a good working over because  I was fearful that some foodstuffs might be going ‘off’ So I had a good throw away of all kinds of things in my fridge leaving it pretty empty but at the same time I gave all of the shelves and baskets a thorough clean. As the weather is getting warmer and I will be having minimal food from the freezer for the next 2-3 days, it seemed a sensible precaution to take. I ate up some curry that I had been storing for the last few days and then settled down to watch the Women’s 6-Nations rugby. The first match was England vs. Italy and after a poor start, the Italians made a better match of it but were no match for the English team. Then I started to do some packing in advance of my trip tomorrow but broke off to watch the Scotland vs. France game as well as having my feet done by the chiropodist who was scheduled to call around. This evening is going to be a quiet evening in front of the TV and then an early start tomorrow morning. I have to be careful, though, to take everything with me that I intend as I hope to show some photos illustrating Meg’s life on my laptop if a suitable opportunity presents itself probably some time tomorrow evening. The crunch match in the rugby promises to be England vs France next weekend and this will be very evenly matched but I think the French might have the slight edge over the England team. My chiropodist reminded me that the World Cup is starting on June 11th which is now only a month away. It will be hosted in a variety of venues across the three countries  of Mexico, the USA and Canada and as they are 6-8 hours behind us, I wonder when the transmission times might  be in the UK. No doubt, the Sunday supplements will shower us with timetables and transmission times in a week or so.

I had busied myself the evening before last in preparing the final version of a special ‘Grace Before Meals’ which my good friend in Oxfordshire has asked me to prepare for her own celebrations in a couple of day’s time. She evidently wanted something a little out of the ordinary and tailored to the occasion but I did find a template which I managed to extend and to convey exactly the range of sentiments that I felt were appropriate to the occasion. Then at my friend’s request, I transmitted them to a mutual friend who is going to act as MC for the day and thus has the words in his pocket in case anything delays me. To check out whether I had got the appropriate words and tone, I sent the completed article to my niece who is a stalwart of her local Anglican church and she gave me the reassurance that I sought. I was just on the point of going to bed when I got a rather unwelcome telephone call from my American friend with whom I was going to visit Harvington Hall down the road and then have a birthday dinner. But she was feeling unwell so the two engagements are having to be cancelled or at least put on hold for several days until friend’s health improves. These things happen so I am being philosophical and will probably now engage in a ‘normal’ routine for the end of the week where I see my friends in the ‘Gifts of Love’ horse sanctuary and peregrinate along the High Street. Today is the day when the local election results will continue to pile in during the day as only about one third of the councils were starting their counts yesterday evening. So later on today, I can slump in front of the TV and soak up some of the results as they come through. Last night, the Reform party was doing particularly well as had been anticipated and this was largely at the expense of the Labour Party which is already in the throes of a much extended ‘post-mortem’ analysis. At this hour in the morning, Reform had gained about 350 seats, Labour had lost about 250 and the Tories had lost about 160. The respected Sky political correspondent, Beth Rigby, is telling us to anticipate a ‘rainbow’ coloured set of results across the country as we can now expect some Reform led councils but many going to ‘NOC’ which is ‘No Overall Control’. My plans for the next day or so ahead are now a little fluid but I need to pack an overnight case, ensure that I have all of the photos of Meg and music in place so that I can display them when the opportunity presents itself and I also intend to give the car a good wash at the newly discovered ‘do-it-yourself’ car washing station in my local BP garage. In many ways, I will be more than happy when I get the one year anniversary of Meg’s death well behind me and of course this is fast approaching. But I am so relieved that on this first occasion I will be surrounded by supportive friends.

Later on in the morning after I had digested some of the election results, I received a telephone call from my American friend explaining that she had a doctor’s appointment mid-day. I was able to convey the really good news that having contacted Harvington Hall to cancel our joint booking, they were incredibly sympathetic and offered to give me a visit on the strength of the tickets for which I had already paid at any time in the foreseeable future and so my friend and I were delighted about this. By the morning’s post, I had received an invitation to tax the car using an on line system and thus proved to be an incredibly quick and easy process and must have taken me all of two or three minutes. Then I ran off the very emotional second version of Danny Boy which is often recited at Irish funerals. This I have committed to memory and like to say it in front of Meg’s photo and ashes. It is a remarkable piece of poetry in which the person who has died is calling from the grave to eventually be reunited with the person from whom they have been separated – and I can just about get to the end of the eight line stanza without breaking up emotionally. After I popped into town, I frequented my ‘Gifts of Love’ charity shop and then did the round of some of the other charity shops where I bumped into my Irish friend. As she reads my blog on a daily basis, she was fully up-to-date with all of my planned tooings and froings and we made an arrangement to have a coffee together some time in the forthcoming week.

The afternoon has been dominated by the election results. The most dramatic results have been in Wales where Labour has been relegated to the poorest of third places between Plaid Cymru, (the nationalist party) and Reform in a newly constituted electoral system. It looks as though the Labour Party will now only hold 10 of the 90- seats in the new Welsh Senedd (Senate) and the first Minister of Wales has lost her seat (Eluned Morgan) had lost her seat and has resigned. The results for the Labour Party are being labelled as beyond catastrophic, and it seems hard to think how they can claw their way back into power. In Scotland, though, the SNP (Scottish National Party) has retained power but has now has Reform snapping at his heels in many parts of the country with Labour a poor third and the Conservatives absolutely nowhere. In England, Reform has been sweeping up votes from Labour in the North and from Conservatives in the south. In the broadest of terms, Reform now has won about 1000 seats through England and goodly number of councils whilst Labour, Conservative and Liberal Democrats are all hovering about the 500-seat mark . Labour has lost power in Birmingham which has now moved to ‘No Overall Control’ We are now moving into a situation in which parties in councils where there is ‘No Overall Control’ have to decide who is going to go into alliance with whom. In many cases, no one will enter an alliance with Reform and sometimes Labour, Greens and Liberals stitch together an alliance to outvote Reform so the position is anything but stable.