For many of us the world has never felt a more unsafe place, due to President Trump’s casual destruction of the rules-based international order and the resulting fall out. From his initial executive orders, to his Ukraine/Zelensky debacle, from his absurd claims to Canada and Greenland to his massive tariffs, we barely have time toContinue reading “Saturday 15 March”
Category Archives: Uncategorized
Sunday 23 February
‘There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen’ (Vladimir Ilyich Lenin) – a timely quote from the BBC yesterday considering we’re now at one of those historical junctures. Many were plunged into despond at the election of Donald Trump in November and, following a brief respite for the Christmas andContinue reading “Sunday 23 February”
Sunday 26 January
Phew – the first week of the Trump second term many of us have been dreading, with good reason. The 47th president declared: ‘Starting tomorrow, I will act with historic speed of strength and fix every single crisis facing our country’. The sycophantic media excelled themselves with their obsessive and excessive coverage of the inaugurationContinue reading “Sunday 26 January”
Sunday 19 January 2025
As 2025 gets underway, it feels as the last couple of weeks have been accompanied by a strong whiff of suspended animation, with endless media speculation about the responses of the combatants in the Gaza ceasefire deal and about what Trump will do when he takes up the presidential cudgels again. Agonizes one newspaper: ‘FacedContinue reading “Sunday 19 January 2025”
Sunday 29 December
So Christmas is over for another year and we’re now amid Twixmas, the travel industry invented name for that no man’s land between Christmas and New Year (therapeutic for some, possibly many) when it’s tricky to know what places and services are open and when. This lack of consistency can make it hard to planContinue reading “Sunday 29 December”
Sunday 15 December
Syria – what a dramatic turn of events which no one saw coming. Just a month ago, a Western diplomat was apparently arguing that sanctions should be lifted from Assad because clearly he had won the war and now we needed to ‘move on’. Although such a rebel operation (Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, HTS) must haveContinue reading “Sunday 15 December”
Sunday 1 December
‘This is a historic day’, the John Cleese character in the film Clockwise repeatedly intoned to himself as he rehearsed his speech while driving to a conference – a scene which has always stuck in my mind. Whether or not we approve of the Assisted Dying Bill passing its first reading (330 to 275 votes),Continue reading “Sunday 1 December”
Saturday 16 November
Having been buffeted by various political maelstroms in recent weeks, which can tax our sense of mental wellbeing, perhaps we’re now in a phase of digesting and adjusting to the effects of these key events including the new government’s first Budget and the election of Donald Trump in the US. Add to this the farContinue reading “Saturday 16 November”
Sunday 27 October
As the Middle East crisis worsens, the Sudanese civil war continues to be under-reported, as Putin boosts his flagging army with North Korean manpower and the US election is imminent, the world certainly looks a dangerous place. Meanwhile, there’s plenty going on here to occupy us but there’d be much more time and space forContinue reading “Sunday 27 October”
Sunday 6 October
Amid so much important and disturbing news, including the worsening conflict in the Middle East, it seems to me that partly due to the power of right wing media, there’s been a major and non-stop attack on Keir Starmer and his government. Said one tweeter: ‘The amount of shit being dumped on Starmer at theContinue reading “Sunday 6 October”
Politics and mental health - the missing link? 