Post 431.WHY I AM NOT SURPRISED

AT THE DISAPPEARING PM 

WHO WILL BE IN UKRAINE milking popularity the moment the shit threatens to hit the fan at home. It ain't diplomacy, folks, it's self-preservation that activates the Winston Thatcher persona, and it does not surprise me in the slightest. Now the crafty little responsibility dodger has been seeking further approval in Ukraine. Partygate won't go away and Master Johnson's sniffy Latin one-upmanship obviously eschews the phrase hircum hic sistit.

Here at home his universally detested Home Secretary, Priti Patel, is seriously considering the electronic tagging of all uninvited Channel crossers, presumably on the grounds that they are all petty criminals too. Oh dear oh dear. But I am not surprised. 

NOR WAS I SURPRISED

TO LEARN THAT THE COLUMNIST YASMIN ALIBHAI-BROWN'S recent fall, as she was boarding an underground train in London, left her lying helpless and in considerable pain on the floor of the carriage for two stops without a solitary approach by a fellow passenger. Three people finally came to her assistance as they were coming to the third stop, but her experience from then on was equally distressing until she finally came into kindly staff hands and eventually reached hospital where it was found she had badly broken bones in her upper right arm. She will by now have undergone surgery and one can only hope that all will go well and wish her a swift and complete recovery. But she had not encountered the sort of London she thought she knew.
Sadly, I am not surprised. I have a village mentality and, on my few solitary visits to London, found it to be the loneliest place in the entire world. You didn't pass the time of day there. But she has lived and worked there for years and thought she knew it. I am sorry it has changed for her.
For me England today is an insular self-serving shambles much like its government.

Which unfortunately has no opposition so is unlikely to be dislodged in my lifetime.

So to end on a happier note... 

GLAD THAT IAN RANKIN HAS BEEN KNIGHTED.

I THINK HE'S ONE OF THE GOOD GUYS

A damn good writer, too.

That's it for now.
Talk Isle of Wight Festival at the end of the month.