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?

News that planning permission has been granted for a massive £10bn data centre development on the site of the failed BritishVolt giga factory in the frozen north, further indicates that these businesses are central to modern life but at what cost?

Each and every time I hear the term AI I can’t but help myself from remembering Isaac Asimov’s eerily human-like HAL computer’s famous line “I am putting myself to the fullest possible use, which is all I think that any conscious entity can ever hope to do.” Oh, if only.

Donald Trump has spent much of his life in real estate and it transpires that, at 2.2 million sq km and being a whole 25% bigger than Alaska, he has good reason for wanting to buy Greenland.

The voice of Britain’s right-wing agent-provocateur, Tommy Robinson is the best-known, infamous figure on the far-right of UK politics and, being the subject of Naughty Nigel and Elon Musk’s high-profile ‘free-speech’ spat, has elevated him even further within the public consciousness. But who exactly is Tommy Robinson?