21st June 2020

On Friday Americans celebrated what they call Juneteenth, a celebration of the end of slavery. Yet, all week, minds have been heavily focused on continuing reports of racism, encapsulated in the police murder of black southerner George Floyd. Last night I watched a TV drama/documentary set in Selma, Montgomery, about Martin Luther King. I was struck particularly by his interaction with then President Johnson, with the objuracy by the President to King’s simple request that he change the law to allow all black people to vote. National leaders have the power to change mindsets at the stroke of a pen, so why are they so reluctant to do so? I wrote Vichyssoise about a very different country (Vichy France) but it exemplifed a leader with the same problem. Wherever you live, here’s what we, the people, can do: “..People in democracies all over the world, when casting their vote for leader, should choose the person who is the most educated of the selection. It takes brainpower in times of war and enormous reserves of mental control, critical thinking, rationality and good sense..” We should all remember this at election time. mybook.to/vichyssoise

14th June 2020

As I get ever older, my hair now iron grey with a Mallen streak, what do I think of my life? I look back over the decades from the 40s to now, but history books only tell one side of the story. Yes, they describe the things that happened in all their gory detail but rarely the mindset of the people who committed them. All over the world, so many people are driven by narrow viewpoints, fuelled and illustrated by the glory-seeking media. Life is never black and white but many-faceted. People’s skins are not black and white but are many-hued, born of diverse ancestries and ethnic makeup. When I look at statues, I don’t see a person but the historical mindset of the people living in that place, at that time and what they had to do to face the challenges present back then. So, what can we do to stop fanning the flames of extremism? A broad education is key, and media/social media controllers/police forces must be trained to give more balanced, apolitical stances of the world to stop the narrow-minded rioting which otherwise ensues from their actions. We are not black or white, divided by race/nationality, but citizens of the world

7th June 2020

Last night we enjoyed a bizarre game of Trivial Pursuit with friends via Zoom. Each couple had their own set on the table, and moved each other’s tokens accordingly across the ether. Lockdown madness. Yesterday, in Normandy, the usual crowds and bunting commemorations were eerily absent as a lone French piper reminded us of that day in ‘44 when Operation Overlord began the D-D landings. Elsewhere crowds massed in Washington and London in protest at the killing of a black man, totally ignoring social distancing rules, thereby putting hundreds of people most at risk of dying from the virus in real danger. And all the while, the country complicit in causing the global pandemic in the first place remains largely uncriticised by world organisations. Did the virus originate in that Wuhan market or via an incompetent Wuhan virus lab? Why hasn’t the UN brought a court case? It should be getting wall-to-wall news coverage. The whole world’s gone mad.

31st May 2020

June tomorrow. England in full bloom.  I look out onto another day of glorious blue skies and smell the exquisite perfume from a gorgeous yellow rose in all its glory.  And yet the papers are full of contradictions. A man called Cummings is heavily criticised for breaking lockdown, swamped by a mass of press photographers, each themselves breaking social distancing rules. Meantime, MPs from other parties like Neil Kinnock, Rosie Duffield, a Welsh cabinet member and Ian Blackford have all done the same with little press interest. In a time BC (before the virus), mass coverage of a girl called Greta who complained how man was ruining the planet. Yet, since the virus - when the skies, seas and pollution have cleared - there’s apparently been no appreciable difference in global warming. Polar regions are still melting at the same rate as BC, so why isn’t anyone saying that maybe, just maybe, global warming could after all be nothing to do with man but in fact be part of natural planetary activity, just as happened millions of years before man arrived on this planet?
Sometimes I think it’s better to ignore the media and smell the roses.

24th May 2020

I’ve always believed in the innate good sense of people in this country. It’s the foundation stone of our jury service and election systems:  when all else fails, leave it to the people. In a few days time, a campaign will be launched which has received little publicity. The Campaign for Common Sense (CCS) will champion free speech and oppose the intolerance of hardline activism. 77% of the public want our politicians to focus on public services rather than PC concerns like transgender rights. 65% are fed up when union-driven protests disrupt ordinary workers’ lives. 64% believe there should be harsher sentences for young people involved in crime. And me? I wish for more respect for those in authority and for our elders to be taught in schools, and for international organisations like the UN and the WHO to crack down on terrorist-driven and corrupt, non-democratic countries. Wishful thinking? At least this enforced lockdown of the whole world has given us time to think and to re-evaluate society. Let’s clap for common sense.

17th May 2020

It’s now three years since we returned from our long adventure in France. How do I feel when I look back on our twelve years of living in another country?  There’s no doubt that the first ten years in France were idyllic. The sunshine, empty roads, good food. But I now realise it wasn’t real. We were English people experiencing a wonderful, long holiday in the south of France.  When I read facebook comments from British expats, they all seem to criticise the UK. Whether it’s Brexit, the prime minister or lately the Coronavirus response, comments show how comprehensively they’ve been following the ups and downs of UK life. Yet, not one stops to analyse what they’re doing. Why are they not analysing to the same fine degree the happenings in the country in which they now live? Shouldn’t those in France, for example, be on FB in French, commentating on French life? Truth is, newcomers rarely are as attuned to their new country as those born there. In 2017, my brain finally cleared from my ‘holiday’ fog and we came home. Why did it take me so long?
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10th May 2020

It’s only now, after a week of analysing my own writing, that I realise how much of myself is contained within those pages. It’s similar for all artists. Whether you paint portraits, act on stage, sing or dance - all these are not only useful ways of expunging your inner angst but also reveal how desperately we seek acceptance and applause from others.  During this global lockdown, other things have also emerged.  Starved of physical contact from outside the home, we’ve all migrated to 100% digital contact with others.  It reminds me of that old Star Trek episode from the 1960s, where a terribly-disfigured man is given the option of living as he is and contending with the disgust of the general public or living the rest of his life in a digital, dream-like world where no-one can see his deformities. He chooses the latter. When the Corona virus is finally over, how many of us would choose not to return to our old lives?