30th September 2018

Yesterday Him indoors made a painful decision about his beloved, but ageing and now unaffordable Land Rover. Elsewhere in Bham, today begins the Tory party conference. Last week saw the Labour conference, where FB was awash with US WTF comments about images of a sea of Palestinian flags being waved!  Neither the average American nor I can understand how any country, at a major political rally, would be waving someone else’s flag. Par contre, we can expect a sea of Union Jacks at the Tory conference here, where they propose a new Festival of Britain, nearly 70 years after the original one. That’s the choice for voters:  one party which promotes someone else’s flag, never flies the Union Jack and believes in discredited Marxist policies or the party which understands that the only way to improve citizens’ lives is via free enterprise in the face of global competition and digital technology. Like Him indoors’ problem, are the Labour ideals now aged and unaffordable?  A decision will soon need to be made.

23rd September 2018

Feeling a little depressed. Is it the political impasse this country’s going through at the moment?  Theresa May in Salzberg looked fabulous in that designer red jacket, making Angela Merkel look very dowdy. However, the red jacket didn’t help the PM as she was summarily ridiculed and humiliated by the other EU leaders. What short memories they all have. Doesn’t Poland remember how we came to their aid 70+ years ago?  And France, as new boy Macron idly dreams of his future role as President of the United States of Europe - can it be they too have forgotten how they would have been caught forever in that no-man’s land of Nazi occupation if it hadn’t been for Britain and the US?  Well, as I stare out at this rain-sodden autumnal Sunday, I haven’t forgotten. My late father would be saying Germany’s already won, strutting the EU stage. And there’s poor, isolated Theresa in her red jacket....the hills are alive with the sound of Brexit.

16th September 2018

Is Corbyn another Petain - ‘peace’ at any price? My first impression on moving to France was how insular the French seemed.  What could have happened in the past to affect every single French citizen in such a marked way?  As a writer, I delved into original French texts to discover more. It soon became clear. A whole nation is guilt-ridden because of the actions of one man: Philippe Petain. This weak and old Vichy leader took the seemingly ‘easy’ route to peace by signing an armistice with Hitler. Corbyn too doesn’t see the point of war. But Churchill knew well enough.  Yes, try diplomacy with normal, educated world leaders but you can’t negotiate with tyrants and evil dictators. I’m not sure Corbyn can tell the difference! Voters beware: at general elections, make sure you vote for the one who fulfils the following minimum criteria: university educated, proven knowledge of national and global issues, balanced mental abilities, young and fit enough to deal with difficult global issues in a calm, measured way.  Petain was deficient in at least two of these criteria. Worried about the UK? Read my novel VICHYSSOISE to learn more about what went wrong in France. authl.it/52l

9th September 2018

I don’t make jokes. I just watch the government and report the facts.
         Will Rogers
Listening to BBC Radio 4’s Any Questions is always good for a laugh. What a choice for the British people at the next election if it’s Jeremy Corbyn v Boris Johnson. Extreme Left v Extreme Right. Everyone will want to tick the box ‘None of the above’. What we need is a centrist Macron-type party, but it seems our system can’t cope with that. Where are the Lib Dems when you need them? Nowhere!  On Brexit, a recent poll asking whether voters wanted a new referendum scored 59% yes, but apparently it’s much too late for that.  So what’s to be done? Compromise is the order of the day. I believe the way forward is to adopt the Canada+ model: solving the Irish border and trade issues in one. And the  Corbyn v Johnson, Punch n Judy pantomime?  I say get rid of them both, replacing them with educated, well-spoken ‘centrist’ members who are able to enunciate their policies clearly without any endemic racism or behind the scenes shenanigans. That’s the way to do it!

2nd September 2018

If I’d written that in a few months time all British customers living in the EU look like losing lending, deposit and insurance access to their own UK bank accounts, you’d think I was writing a new Orwellian fantasy. But I kid you not. The look on the face of new Brexit Minister Dominic Raab says it all really as he scratches his head and contemplates a ‘no deal’ agreement with the increasingly inflexible Barnier. It also looks like curtains for poor old Gibraltar. Brits there should start arming themselves against an increasingly hostile Spain, who historically always claimed ownership. And here, the UK papers headline aggressive ‘be prepared’ notices to one and all.  I almost expect posters going up in every suburb, complete with Lord Kitchener image and accusing finger, shouting “your country needs you”.  Next I expect posters of a woman wearing utility clothes urging us all to dig for victory. And here at chez-nous? Already I have a crate into which each week I stockpile essential foodstuffs for the oncoming armageddon. With my history, I have to be prepared.