Following on from my ‘Taiwan’ post t’other week several of you justifiably pointed out that a conflict far closer to these shores, the war in Ukraine, continues to rage and an agreeable solution to this should occupy our thoughts far more.
With the Middle East and Central European conflicts remaining in full flight, the world’s attention has been somewhat removed from China’s designs on a relatively small island a little off its eastern shores, Taiwan. However, the country is seen by China as a breakaway province, which must, at all costs, be reunited with the motherland. Could this prove to be the next flash-point in current geopolitics?
Finding out that cheeky-chappie greengrocer Gregg Wallace is blaming all his self-inflicted sexist woes on a combination of autism and ADHD makes me ask the question of why does everyone suddenly seem to have ADHD?
If Sir Keir and his earnest Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, are to be believed, change for the better within the NHS is on the way and ambitious reforms should make the service as convenient as booking your holiday or finding love online.
The belief that politics, and politicians, are universally failing society is becoming an increasingly widespread, popularly-held opinion. Many of the issues facing most/all western economies.
As we’re all more than aware, Elon Musk, is prone to a little exaggeration. His $2trn DOGE savings pledge versus the $32.5bn reality. The ‘Hyperloop’ hyperbole that, for over ten years, promised an ultra-high-speed public transportation system in which passengers travelled in electric pods that would easily see the journey time from Boston to New York reduced to less than half an hour.
I have to admit I’ve never quite got-to-grips with the shenanigans in the Middle East and have viewed it with a mixture of ignorance and complacency in a kind of ‘as it was always thus’ manner. However, with the US and Iran now irrevocably involved I guess it’s time to appreciate and understand exactly how the bitterly contested Israel-Palestine conflict came about, where the apparent red lines are drawn and what any potential future may hold.
It’s been a while and I’ve missed you too. My only defence is I’ve been gallivanting but I’m back now and keen to comment on the main political story that’s taken place in this country during my time away, yep the continued rise and rise of Farage’s Reform.
We’ve all witnessed what exactly is going on in Birmingham wrt their bin-collection services but, across the whole of England, and across the current political spectrum, local councils are suffering grave financial problems. Which begs the question, can a council actually go bankrupt? Short answer, no. However…
Like many people of my age I have a half-decent record collection. Vinyl as it’s now referred to by the recently-smitten hipster types. I play a record once in a blue-moon. During the nineties and noughties I went hell-for-leather for CDs and pretty much duplicated everything and more. I dodged the bullet of minidiscs and drew the line at MP3s and downloads but I’m now the proud owner of a Spotify streaming account and everything else is gathering dust. Why wouldn’t it be?