What a week – two x ‘how the mighty have fallen’ in the forms of Trump and Brand (who has yet further criminal charges to face). Shame it took so long when so much damage had already been done and shame it couldn’t be a hat trick but the police continue to drag their cowardly feet on Andrew Mountbatten Windsor. Nevertheless, he has been summoned to appear in court as a witness (apparently this is compulsory so he can’t, as in all other cases, just refuse to comply) in a civil fraud case and a report has found he profited from sub-letting parts of his rent free Royal Lodge estate, so he will still be in the public eye, much to royal chagrin.
The mid-terms proved a disaster for Trump, losing control of both the Senate and House of Representatives, but after the initial euphoria and Schadenfreude in many quarters, the potential downsides are creeping in including the reaction of financial markets and the tech sector. Trump felt the need to remind Americans he is still their President and there’s a danger he could become more extreme as a result of his defeat. He’s now also appointed the sinister MAGA and ICE architect Stephen Miller as his new Chief of Staff following the ousting of Suzy Wiles, putting such a spin on it: ‘I wanted to make a change. I think Susie’s done a very good job … Stephen’s been great, and we’ve got to make moves. Stephen’s been with me from the beginning. He gets it. Very good politically and he’s a very good man. He’ll do a great job. Great manager.”
The master of twisted narrative himself said, just before the midterms: ‘He saved America from a corrupt political class. He saved America from open borders. He saved America from countries that want the American way of life to end, from foreign adversaries, from domestic adversaries. President Trump took a bullet for you, he bled for you, he faced life in prison for you. And what he needs from you tomorrow is your vote.” What planet? And the media are quoting commentators saying completely without irony how Miller will ensure Trump’s agenda gets fulfilled regardless of how appalling this ‘agenda’ is.
This appointment has been widely criticized by Democrats. ‘Chuck Schumer, likely to be the next majority leader of the Senate, wrote: “Donald Trump learned nothing from his historic defeat. Stephen Miller is the architect of the most barbaric, inhumane policies of this administration. Trump couldn’t have made a worse choice. Our Democratic majorities will fight him every step of the way.” In the meantime it will be interesting to see how the cracks in Trump’s alliance play out: ‘Secretary of War’ Pete Hegseth is in line to take the fall the Trump’s defeat, Marco Rubio has denied planning to resign in order to prepare for a republican 2028 nomination bid and Vice President J D Vance has made clear a new distance from his boss, citing the Iran war. The absolute hubris, when none of them are suitable for public office.
Back here the post-Budget shake out continues, with numerous right wingers predictably criticising it, saying major decisions eg about benefits have been postponed when there’s good reasons for that one because the Milburn and Timms reviews of NEETs and PIP have yet to conclude. I’m not saying it’s perfect or even great but it’s not bad in view of what the country is up against. One of the criticisms was around the large number of small measures eg money off electricity bills, scrapping the much hated standing charges on gas bills next year, freezing fuel duty and enabling the tax free cash ISA limit to stay at £20k rather than the planned reduction to £12k, but a number of commentators have pointed out that such decisions are exactly the kind of thing to improve people’s lives. Although defence spending will rise, most busy people up against the cost of living crisis care much more about these ‘small’ things than areas like defence.
I thought one of the best measures (and why didn’t previous governments tackle it??) was the removal of the unfair carer cliff edge, whereby earning even 1p over the amount enabling them to claim the Carer’s Allowance means losing the entire payment. So many were caught up in this, not through any deliberate intention to defraud the system, but through the stressful demands of the caring role besides working leading to difficulties in keeping on top of one’s finances 24/7. (In my view, it’s very unsatisfactory, though, that this won’t come into operation until 2030/31 and only a gradual reduction at that. This is apparently because ministers need to develop a new IT system for this purpose: surely it could be achieved quicker than that!). Another good measure is artisan brewers and cider makers getting £10m of tax relief, as such businesses are up and coming and need to be encouraged.
A journalist has written very compellingly about other measures outside the Budget which opponents may consider small but which have quite some effect on our lives, such as tackling loud music played on public transport without headphones, the plague of e-bikes ridden dangerously and littering streets and fly-tipping. ‘If anything, the prime minister has since doubled down on sweating the small stuff. In a week in which unknown forces have been disrupting food supplies and grounding flights across Europe, Burnham found time to weigh in personally over thoughtless idiots abandoning hire bikes in the middle of city pavements – a genuine problem for blind people and people trying to get round them with pushchairs or wheelchairs, but usually the sort of crackdown left to junior ministers – and on the attempt to save Poundland shops for the nation’. These are just the sort of things the Conservatives have been deriding, but this article, citing a new book (Control: How We Lost it and How to Take it Back by Claire Ainsley) draws attention to our impotence in everyday situations and the need to address it – something ignored by governments for years. We can’t do much about Trump, Putin or oil prices but we can do something about the ‘small acts of selfishness’ and anti-social behaviours that blight our everyday lives. Great stuff but my question, which always goes unanswered, is who and how will these ‘degradations of the social contract’ be monitored and policed? In many areas police presence is minimal and haven’t they long considered going after such things beneath them?
Regarding politicians and Parliament, Commons Speaker Lindsay Hoyle is in the news on account of his ‘frustration’ at the continuing degradation of the Westminster ‘estate’ and lack of progress on its restoration. ‘The Commons Public Accounts Committee this week warned it was “crunch time” for the ailing building’s restoration, which could cost up to £40bn and take 61 years.It said every additional year of delay cost taxpayers £420m, while its chairman warned the Palace could be left vulnerable to a devastating fire like that which engulfed the Notre Dame. Sir Lindsay said his “biggest frustration” with the Victorian building’s restoration was that “we’re not getting on with the work”. Apparently a key hold up is the need to agree a strategy for the entire site – Parliament must approve funding and strategy as a whole and not piecemeal but perhaps a sensible bit by bit approach would be better.
Two key issues must be the funding and the accommodation of Westminster occupants. A while back former Guardian editor Alan Rusbridger (since echoed by others) suggested decanting everyone into Buckingham Palace for the duration: the building is large enough and areas could still be used for ceremonial purposes. (The royals don’t actually live there and reportedly are not that keen on the place anyway). Regarding funding, it doesn’t seem to have occurred to the Speaker that the considerable parliamentary expenses claimed by various MPs (especially Kemi Badnoch and Helen Whately) and Hoyle himself add to the overall financial burdens when this money could be put to much better use. For years this issue has been under discussion and now it seems to be getting beyond urgent, though no debate has been scheduled yet.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cm89zznj21ylo
So here we are on another Remembrance Sunday, with broadcast media schedules altered in order to cover the procession along Whitehall and the laying of wreaths at the Cenotaph. I’m always struck by the lack of awareness in so many quarters of the 2 minute silence at 11 am (also taking place on 11 November): the number of times I’ve asked café owners, for example, whether they will facilitate it and they’ve just looked blank. Historian Max Hastings recently made a good suggestion that the Cenotaph event shouldn’t continue to include all former Prime Ministers but he lost me at mention of the royals, decorated as ever by zillions of unearned medals. Nigel Farage is once again in hot water for trying to make this key event all about him by planning to ‘release’ a documentary at 5 pm on Sunday featuring personal tales from WW1 battlefields which apparently he’s toured for years. This latest stunt (just as yet another Reform council leader has stood down after inappropriate comments he made were leaked online – seems to happen every week) has not surprisingly prompted numerous choice ripostes on X, eg ‘So desperate for attention you are now using the memories of soldiers who fought in the Great War. How dare you try and make Remembrance Day all about you, have you no shame? My father fought in the Great War aged just 15 years old, he fought against fascism and people like you’. (And this was just one of the polite ones – plenty weren’t). Farage was also lampooned for being wrong yet again in his predictions: his unquestioning support for Trump made him adamant that the pollsters had got it wrong on the US midterms, only to be proved drastically wrong, ‘an embarrassment of epic proportions’, as there will now be much more scepticism about his judgement. ‘Nige was the last true believer left. His political judgment increasingly at fault, unable to conceive that Trump’s legacy was already in tatters. Along with his supporters. Even the Tories have now realised that a close association with Trump is toxic’. This embarrassment will be an additional reason for his ‘documentary’, of course. Numerous viewers of BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg made clear their disapproval of his views and the BBC for platforming him yet again.
https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2026/nov/04/john-crace-nigel-farage-us-midterms?CMP=GTUK_email
The BBC has been making news again for all the wrong reasons – it seems as weeks pass more and more cuts are announced and radio seems disproportionately picked on, especially Radio 4 content which we don’t find on other channels, programmes which could actually foster essential critical thinking skills. But we know not all politicians want us to have these so it suits them for the BBC to be so dumbed down. On last week’s Feedback programme we heard heartrending clips of those who have live radio as their lifeline and some are devastated that Radio 4 Extra will also go. He kept trotting out DG Matt Brittin’s schtick about the availability of their vast digital archive which they can listen to whenever they want, when this totally misses the point. What many want (and more licence fee payers amongst this older age group) is LIVE radio. They don’t want to go hunting for things and another point: there’s a community of X users who respond in real time to numerous programmes: this cannot work if more and more is just made digital.
Presenter Andrea Catherwood repeatedly challenged Jonathan Wall, Director of BBC Sounds, who kept insisting that he got how people feel, that ‘decisions were being made by people who love radio, not bureaucrats’. What a sick joke trying to justify this cultural vandalism. I’ve repeatedly asked (as have some others) why the BBC doesn’t cut presenters’ obscene salaries and foreign trips. Last week was a case in point: the BBC already has a North American editor and numerous reporters over there but Justin Webb, James Coomarasamy and Clive Myrie also made trips to cover the Mid Terms and stayed on afterwards, too. Just why? It’s almost as if the BBC is almost asking to be defunded next year.
The King’s Caribbean visit attracted much attention last week and not for all the right reasons. While monarchists and the complicit media endlessly repeat the ‘hard working’ schtick, they also seemed to imply that the PM was wrong to change his stance on an apology for slavery because it would make things uncomfortable for the King. Extraordinary – it’s not the job of the PM to make things ‘comfortable’ for the monarch. It was crystal clear that these Caribbean leaders have had enough of fine words like the King’s ‘profound sorrow’: it no longer does the business, if it ever did. There appeared to be a complete irony bypass regarding the issue of reparations when British royalty benefited substantially from slavery and the King still does via his inherited wealth.
At the end of this visit Palace and media PR insisted it had been very successful but what will actually stay in many minds is what even one royal reporter called ‘Raingate’, the tantrum when an umbrella didn’t immediately appear (reminiscent of the notorious ‘inkwell’ episode and worse – the very poor manners of the ‘Queen’ throughout. Embarrassing.
Try as they may the ‘Firm’ can’t escape the flurry of bad publicity emanating from Andrew’s summons as a court witness; what looks like interference with police action following earlier disclosures about Thomas Markle, leading to the unfair narrative that the Duchess of Sussex was cruelly rejecting her father; continuing disquiet over William’s decision to evict some Duchy of Cornwall tenants and
the return of Sarah Ferguson and suggestions that (in addition to previous occasions) the King may be buying her silence in order to prevent unsavoury revelations.
Recently there’s been much media coverage on stockpiling – preparing for potential emergencies and the possibility of needing to survive for three days on stored rations and using items like torches, candles and matches and wind-up radios. I wonder where people stand on this: some seem to have stocked up pretty well (for example Lord Harris interviewed by the BBC, except he didn’t seem to consider that some would have insufficient funds and storage space to do so) and some regarding it as scaremongering. It’s alarmingly possible, though, that a number of situations could bring us to this point, including climate change related floods and droughts threatening food and water supplies, and cyber-attacks on energy and other infrastructure by hostile actors. I’m not a fan of Andrew Neil but do agree with his view that the government (but it’s previous governments, too) has some cheek issuing this advice when there’s not been real work on improving national resilience. Our dependence on food, medicine, oil and gas imports has made us very vulnerable to disrupted supply chains. There has to be some balance about all this because, as we saw during Covid, panic buying can lead to empty shelves and some people going without essentials. It’s then the task of retailers to monitor stocks and ration what a single customer can purchase at each shop. There’s also the danger that cynical suppliers will ramp up their prices to take advantage of this ‘opportunity’.
Finally, a pudding dating back to Tudor times is reported to be making a comeback. In days of yore these were made with exotic ingredients but during the last century it was completely bowdlerized in some quarters to consist of tinned fruit, jelly and packet custard and without the essential ingredient of booze-soaked sponge on the bottom. In contrast I always remember a recipe from the 1960s for Christmas trifle, which consisted of booze soaked leftover Christmas pudding, topped with real custard and cream. I can imagine such a thing being served in the kind of traditional restaurants originally catering for the claret tippling upper classes and also clubs like the Garrick. The kind of place Bertie Wooster would have patronized. It sounds like more a re making trifle at home, too, as supermarkets have noted an increase in the sale of the particular sponge fingers used for the bottom layer. I look forward to seeing more evidence of the real thing!
