Always look on the bright side ....

 

Optimistic song always associated with 
Eric Idle.

Snoopy, the Eternal Panglossian

 

Gordon Brown

In spite of gloomy news writ large wherever one looks, it IS cheering to read of Gordon Brown’s interventions and realise what a sane and balanced commentator he is, or he has become, especially when compared to his relatively inglorious term as Prime Minister, a job for which he was intellectually, though not temperamentally, suited. His several comments recently demonstrate his sane, considered approach to government and politics, clearly motivated by the wider public interest. SO refreshing after the selfish, egocentric Posh Boys’ Club supposedly running the country now. Boris is on his second holiday this 
month while paid for pretending to be Prime Minister and despite the fact that, after September 1, he will be unemployed with lots of spare time.

I was also cheered this week by reading of a remark by Lewis Hamilton when explaining why he had said that he didn’t like driving. He was referring to ‘leisure driving’ which he finds ‘stressful’. His comment that I empathised with was, “I try not to do things that don’t add to my life.” That totally hits the spot with me and it is exactly what ageing has taught me to do. Lewis H. is not only a courageous 

Lewis Hamilton

and talented world-beating racer, but he is clever. Based on that principle, in the face of declining energy, I have stopped cooking. I simply buy a week’s dinners from Cook which are of excellent standards and sensible prices, without, I believe, preservatives and other E-nasties involved. This adds to my life by removing any effort at all from deciding on meals beyond my weekly selection from Cook and, of course, from preparation and cooking.

Oleksiy Rednikov
Ukrainian Defence Minister

Another super example of having fun, and in this case, in a deeply unfunny situation, is in the trolling by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence, of the Russians. It was following extensive, unexplained explosions in the Saky airbase in the Crimea which did huge amounts of damage to Russian aircraft there. The defence minister, Oleksiy Reznikov tweeted, “Don’t smoke in dangerous places!” Later he released a catchy little video teasing those Russians who had been holidaying on beaches near Saky, about their mistake in choosing a vacation in occupied territory. “You could have chosen Dubai, Turkey or Cuba but no, you chose Crimea!” I found this gem in The Observer, by Rowan Moore who rather splendidly observed that “you have to take your schadenfreude where you can.”

Liz in Maggie-mode, appealing
to Tory leadership voters.

Lord Norman Tebbit

And then, in the same newspaper, joy divine! An article by Will Hutton headed, "Liz Truss’s economic plan is ruinous nonsense with no reference to reality." I have been saying to myself for ages that the Conservatives must have a death wish if they actually elect her as leader, so this article was really on my bright side! Though I would personally rather like the death wish forecast to be on the nail, the idea of being British when she appears on the international political scene will be embarrassing, it is true! On the same Truss theme, I saw online that the Very Old Norman Tebbit who happens to live locally, looked after by carers, doesn’t think it democratic for Conservative members to be choosing their new leader; it should be solely M.P.s, implying that people who had merely paid a subscription to join a political party, might not have the expertise or knowledge to be trusted with choosing the new Dear Leader. I agree with him. He also commented on Liz’s politics that “she is a former card-carrying  Liberal and a firm Remainer. In fact, she has in the past held opposite convictions on just about every major policy issue to those she now proclaims.” Do wish dear Norman were still as influential as he is eloquent!

What else cheered me this last week? Sad to hear that the lovely Raymond Briggs has just died [at 88] but rather jolly to read a discussion that he might actually have disliked children! I loved his stories and

Raymond Briggs, iconoclastic national treasure,
with the sad ending of The Snowman

his evident grumpiness, his divine illustrations and his creations. Who can ever forget Fungus the Bogeyman while his Snowman, a secular saint, almost equals Santa in Christmas popularity? Briggs apparently turned down an offer to be the Children’s Laureate, saying, 

Fungus the Bogeyman

"No thank you. All that running all over the country, all the bookings and bed and breakfasts and railways. I don’t want to go to schools and give talks on children’s books. I don’t actually know anything much about children. I try to avoid them as much as possible.” I can readily relate to all those feelings of unwillingness to make huge and continuing efforts, which would have changed his life considerably, but there’s no dislike of children there, really just a wish to keep his distance from the unknown and Too Much Work. But it is a pity that he and his wife chose not to have children because of a mental condition she had; he would have made a gloriously imaginative and memorably grumpy Grandad!

Joe Biden

Although there is little brightness on the U.K. political scene, Joe Biden is scoring high with the amazing reach of his legislation passed, against all the odds including the chicanery of the Republican Trump cult. His government has

Liz Cheney,
unusually courageous right-wing Republican
on a mission to defeat and remove Trump

 passed the American Rescue Plan, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act, and now the Inflation Reduction Act. These measures are enormously popular and include: lower medical costs, including provision for over-the-counter hearing aids; bridge repair; broadband access and investment in science. In spite of these legislative successes, Biden continues to score a dauntingly low satisfaction rate among the general public, even lower than Trump. Trump, a man unfit to govern and with an ego unable to grasp its own ineptitude, still has  huge support. Witness yesterday's Primary in Arizona, which Liz Cheney won handsomely last time around, but who lost this time, with support languishing in the 30s, percentage-wise. The Trump-approved candidate who subscribes to his Big Lie about the last Presidential election, scored double Liz Cheney's tally. I am hoping that the bright side of this reversal of Cheney's fortune will be when legal action against Trump manages to succeed and American democracy begins to be saved, in spite of the Maga-hat wearing, permanently angry Trumpettes. Signs from the Cheney camp suggest that she will run for President in 2024, knowing full well she cannot win but also aware that her candidacy will split off at least some of the Republican vote from Trump.

                                                        

                                                        Post Script

Norman Tebbit with his wife, Lady Margaret.
She was paralysed in Oct 1984 when the I.R.A. bombed the
Grand Hotel, Brighton where the Conservative Party
conference was based. Five were killed; she spent the
rest of her life in a wheelchair, dying in Dec 2020.