Marmite

I’ve previously blogged about my personal paradigm shift where I realised, after a lifetime of worshipping at the altar of logical, predictable, universal science, that science is, in truth, unpredictable and irrational. I explained, “For me to say this is like a Christian turning away from God, a Tory voting Labour, or a once-fun person becoming a vegan.”

I should really have gone out with Hubby the night before his birthday, but it clashed with a Free Speech Union event, so he had to just had to play second fiddle. He sulked, but it was worth it.

I saw a wonderful cartoon in my Facebook feed this morning that, with a bit of tweaking, perfectly illustrates The Guardian, or at least those who swallow it without chewing, and wash it down with a dollop of Private Eye and a squirt of Byline Times .

I can’t believe that Monday was only seven days ago. So much has gone on, gone off and gone down that my diary-cum-organiser – the hard-backed variety that partners with a pen (and Tipp-ex) – is curling at the edges. I’ve had weeks like this before, but what makes this one stand out is that it was so very diverse (I employed different coloured marker pens), productive, fulfilling and good-natured. Almost everything I touched turned to stardust, and everyone with whom I engaged deserves a hug – whether they want one or not. These are just the (different coloured) highlights.

Wow! What a week at the Whitehouse. Zelensky and his Zealots think he was bullied, Trump’s Trumpeters think he’s king, and J D Vance’s Devotees think he was dissed.  What do I think? In the context of just that one showdown-meeting, Vance behaved badly, Zelensky behaved badly, and Trump behaved badly. In the wider context of geo-politics Russia, Ukraine, the EU and America all behaved badly. The UK, under BoJo, did better as far as it went, but with hindsight (a wonderful thing that too many claim is insight and thus are shortsighted), he should have devised a longer-term strategy for Ukraine. Maybe he did and his ‘colleagues’, uncivil servants and the EU shouted him down. Who knows what goes on behind closed doors. And therein lies the rub for the supposed ambushing of the Ukraine President: what transpired before the press conference with Zelensky? Said ambush caught experts and armchair commentators alike by surprise. Furthermore it was clumsily enacted, and the consequences wer...