Even with hindsight, and irrespective of the predictable partisan-lines outcome, I do think it was (largely) the right call to impeach Donald Trump. To not have done so would have given tacit approval to his continued behaviours but the outcome further highlights the fragility of both American and worldwide democracy, which can all too easily die the death of a thousand cuts.
Following a silence of several years our resident millennial, wee Tom, has hit his stride with two-posts-in-a-month and here he asks if the automatic release of convicted terrorists, albeit under licence and with strict controls on freedoms and behaviours, is in danger of setting a worrying precedent.
As the debate concerning who exactly stands to benefit financially from our withdrawal from the EU looks set to rage unabated, it’s obvious one person is certainly in the money, Brexit’s principal protagonist, David Cameron. Accounts for his office were made public last week, ironically on our final day of EU membership, and showed he has pocketed the princely sum of exactly £1.63m (£1,630,000.00) over the last two years.
It’s an irony that on this, the final day of massed sobriety, I need a drink like never before. Today, Friday 31st January 2020 is not the saddest day of my life, but it’s certainly up there with the best of them. I genuinely apologise for my lack of optimism and for my obvious inability to move forward from the (IMHO) disastrous decision 52% of our population made. Sorry, it’s just the way it is and no amount of bell-bonging or coin forging is going to change this.
When big upsets come, politicians of all stripes are getting caught out. Numerous political hot potatoes have been fumbled as they scratch their collective heads and try their best to apply cost/benefit-style rationale to the voters in question. As Michael Gove now famously declared in 2016, the voters behind these turbulent times have ‘had enough of experts’.
Now that everyone’s out of the ditch and Brexit is getting done what are the implications for the continuation of English as an official language of the EU? Back in the day Dutch, French, German and Italian were all identified as official EU working languages and with us no longer being in the club they don’t need to pander to our lack of multi-linguistic ability. Or do they?
The eagle-eyed amongst you will have noted that exactly one year ago I posted an article entitled ‘2019: The Year of Bitcoin. Again’ and several of you have asked how I fared with that particular prediction. Well, taking into account the price was then about £2,600 and, having peaked at a smidgen under £10,000 in July, it’s now at £6,800, I guess I was pretty much on the money.
I reckon there’s a fair-to-middlin’ chance that you’re worried about what the future holds for you and yours. I’d be prepared to go a little further and say that many of us are always worried about what the future holds even if, to quote Joe Walsh of The Eagles, ‘life’s been good to me so far’. Which it has.
Cards on the table, this is a rehash of last year’s mistletoe missive, so many of you will already know I have strong feelings of what constitutes a suitably moral festive flick. It’s either Frank Capra’s ‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ where James Stewart’s George Bailey is saved by trainee angel, Clarence, or ‘Scrooge’, the 1951 adaptation of Charles Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’, in which we see the superbly frozen-hearted Alastair Sim thawed by the passing of several Christmas ghosts.
Having spent the weekend in the Tory heartland of er, central Lancashire I’ve been able to reflect upon the facts and the fallout from Thursday’s monumental general election and, needless to say, I’m not a happy man. Sadly, both my predictions and worst fears have been realised and, furthermore, the scale of the victory indicates the likely modus operandi for the next decade, if not longer.