I'm Just Sayin...

I'm struggling to come to terms with the reality of the 45th POTUS as 'leader of the free world'. It's scarier than I wish to admit. Is Western democracy really only half a step away from dictatorship? I'm beginning to feel like Alice in Wonderland about it all. I have stepped into a room with the kind of distorted glass you find in fairgrounds that shows how you might become: horribly grotesque.  As a community of Nation States are we not already there?  How is Forty-five not the looking glass that magnifies who we have become? And suppose he was impeached what then? What are we left with afterwards? Would we not continue to allow children all over the world to die from malnutrition and lack of clean drinking water; abandon them in petrifying war zones and even blow them up when they try to escape. Deny them adequate medicine at an affordable price because the bottom line matters more.  Would we cease raping and murdering women and children with impuni...

I wish I had the words. Just for a little minute I wish I was an Oxbridge or Harvard Professor of Philosophy say, and had the gift of words – elegant, succinct, penetrative but simple, along with an in-depth grasp of my subject. I don’t.   My issue is the contradiction, the improbability, the absurdity that is Forty-Five as President of the United States of America. I know, right. It’s happened; there's nothing I can do about it so just get on with my life. But my life is a part of the whole of life , and part of the whole is reflected back by this particular Forty-five. He reflects something of all of us. He is simply a magnifying glass and a harbinger. But we don't want to acknowledge that; we would prefer to bludgeon the messenger to death. Something about this whole thing thrums in the deep hinterland. It has captured my attention and won’t let go. Absurdity has always demanded that I stop and take a deeper look and try to discern what stands behind wha...

I cannot properly begin my day without paying respect to and acknowledging The Day the Feminine Roared . At one point I was overwhelmed with emotion as pictures of women around the world, including friends and loved ones, began to emerge – a bright and magnificent glow in the darkness – a beacon lighting the way for the whole of humanity. Courtesy New York Times [see 1 below] The Day Before... Looking every inch a punch-drunk boxer in the ring, Donjon the bruiser came out of his corner literally slugging his way through a completely outrageous inaugural speech.  Far from conciliatory and gracious words, he took out his double-barrelled shot-gun and fired at point blank range. But anyone who expected ‘conciliatory and gracious’ had learned nothing about Donjon in the last year. I understand his new moniker is Rumplethinskin.  He proceeded to trash and chastise the four previous Presidents who had graciously attended to show respect for the age old...

Here we are then, today’s the day : an inaugura tion, a new President. I have an avid and longstanding interest in American politics a) because I have many friends there and a goddau ghter who is just beginning to make her mark on the world; and b) because much of what happens in the USA eventually wing its way across the pond: the good, the bad and the ugly.    horrendous black Friday weekend The young ones here love their School Prom, and our very British Guy Fawkes night has turned into an Americanised Trick or Treat ing street party; then there is the truly awful Black Friday.  With a C onservative government here, I expect much of Trump’s ‘ugly’ to wing its way over here in the next 4 years. That much vaunted (on this side o nly though) Special Relationship is well and truly entrenched. It is expected that the Don will restore Winston’s bust to its rightful place in the Oval Office. But I hope he will also find a place for Martin’s ...