It is an indication of the times we live in that I have not, so far, met anyone who is truly excited about the year ahead.
We have heard that Tesco, Sainsburys and M & S Food halls have all had a bumper Christmas with sales of their festive foods. I wouldn’t be surprised if much of this was because families had decided to stay at home. They were making their own meals and fun as finances are squeezed and we are all tightening our belts.
The lack of Christmas customers has bitten local pubs and restaurants hard. They were already suffering due to Rachel Reeves hiking up the cost of running their establishments with higher NI, minimum wages, and taxes including Business rates.
Since writing those opening remarks, I must revise my sense of gloom as I’ve just been speaking to a couple of close friends who choose to be positive about 2026. Although acknowledging the dire state of the UK’s economy and the disaster which is this dreadful government led by the hapless Keir Starmer, they believe that the way to bring us all beyond our current troubles is through kindness.
Who can argue with that? My friends are two of the kindest people I know, they only ever see good of their fellow man. I think they are right, we should spread more positive thinking and go out of our way to shower kindness on both friends and strangers. Hopefully what we sow we shall reap, so this New Year resolution is worth hanging on to.
Mind you, Paul McKenna says that by week three of the New Year, 80% of us fail because we have not made a plan. His latest book is an updated version of his first self-help book, ‘Change Your Life in 7 Days’, written 25 years ago. It says amongst other things, that we should not confuse pleasure with happiness. So, I guess if we can spread a little kindness and happiness around us, we can hope it is catching.
The other good news we learnt last week was that Amol Rajan is quitting the Today programme. Thank goodness for that. Now I will find myself less often shouting at the radio as we listen to his supercilious contempt for far too many of his interviewees.
The best thing to happen to the Today programme has been the arrival of Anna Foster in April last year. She is a breath of fresh air. Highly intelligent, and courteous, she clearly knows her subject and does her homework, presenting each item of national and international importance better than anyone since the retirement of John Humphreys.
Amol will no doubt go on to find other audiences. Good luck to them. Meanwhile Anna will continue to enhance the reputation of the BBC, which is fast running out of credibility, with her talent and understanding as she interviews world leaders or Nora from Beaconsfield.
The news could only get better if we also hear that Nick Robinson will shortly follow Amol in finding pastures new.
It would seem that President Trump is losing his marbles. We can understand why he wants to get his hands on Greenland, although hardly ethical or legal. Greed is a powerful incentive, so it is also obvious why he was keen to kidnap Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, who now await trial at a federal prison in Brooklyn.
We can also understand why this man who clearly believes he is King of the World, has his eye on raising the Stars and Stripes above the city of Ottawa. Apparently, he still holds designs on invading Canada.
What makes me certain Trump has really lost the plot, is that he has appointed Sir Anthony Blair onto his Board of Peace for Gaza. This is the man whose decision to join the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq resulted in significant loss of 179 British service personnel, while hundreds more were returned to their families with terrible, life-changing wounds and loss of limbs.
This is the man who stood in parliament and lied about Saddam Hussein’s ability to target the UK with weapons of mass destruction, so he could cosy up to G W Bush and pretend to be a world leader. Added to the unacceptable loss of life, their combined action resulted in regional instability and chaos. The Chilcot Report found the so-called threat was not imminent or credible and questioned the planning and motives. I think we can put Blair in the same box as Putin; another of Trump’s bizarre and dangerous recruits. No wonder Isreal is questioning Trump’s motives for setting up this far from helpful bunch of warmongers.
At least Starmer is ‘considering’ his options. But, if he agrees to join this bunch of !*?!s, the game is surely up for this utterly hopeless PM.
We have heard that Tesco, Sainsburys and M & S Food halls have all had a bumper Christmas with sales of their festive foods. I wouldn’t be surprised if much of this was because families had decided to stay at home. They were making their own meals and fun as finances are squeezed and we are all tightening our belts.
The lack of Christmas customers has bitten local pubs and restaurants hard. They were already suffering due to Rachel Reeves hiking up the cost of running their establishments with higher NI, minimum wages, and taxes including Business rates.
Since writing those opening remarks, I must revise my sense of gloom as I’ve just been speaking to a couple of close friends who choose to be positive about 2026. Although acknowledging the dire state of the UK’s economy and the disaster which is this dreadful government led by the hapless Keir Starmer, they believe that the way to bring us all beyond our current troubles is through kindness.
Who can argue with that? My friends are two of the kindest people I know, they only ever see good of their fellow man. I think they are right, we should spread more positive thinking and go out of our way to shower kindness on both friends and strangers. Hopefully what we sow we shall reap, so this New Year resolution is worth hanging on to.
Mind you, Paul McKenna says that by week three of the New Year, 80% of us fail because we have not made a plan. His latest book is an updated version of his first self-help book, ‘Change Your Life in 7 Days’, written 25 years ago. It says amongst other things, that we should not confuse pleasure with happiness. So, I guess if we can spread a little kindness and happiness around us, we can hope it is catching.
The other good news we learnt last week was that Amol Rajan is quitting the Today programme. Thank goodness for that. Now I will find myself less often shouting at the radio as we listen to his supercilious contempt for far too many of his interviewees.
The best thing to happen to the Today programme has been the arrival of Anna Foster in April last year. She is a breath of fresh air. Highly intelligent, and courteous, she clearly knows her subject and does her homework, presenting each item of national and international importance better than anyone since the retirement of John Humphreys.
Amol will no doubt go on to find other audiences. Good luck to them. Meanwhile Anna will continue to enhance the reputation of the BBC, which is fast running out of credibility, with her talent and understanding as she interviews world leaders or Nora from Beaconsfield.
The news could only get better if we also hear that Nick Robinson will shortly follow Amol in finding pastures new.
It would seem that President Trump is losing his marbles. We can understand why he wants to get his hands on Greenland, although hardly ethical or legal. Greed is a powerful incentive, so it is also obvious why he was keen to kidnap Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro and his wife Cilia Flores, who now await trial at a federal prison in Brooklyn.
We can also understand why this man who clearly believes he is King of the World, has his eye on raising the Stars and Stripes above the city of Ottawa. Apparently, he still holds designs on invading Canada.
What makes me certain Trump has really lost the plot, is that he has appointed Sir Anthony Blair onto his Board of Peace for Gaza. This is the man whose decision to join the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq resulted in significant loss of 179 British service personnel, while hundreds more were returned to their families with terrible, life-changing wounds and loss of limbs.
This is the man who stood in parliament and lied about Saddam Hussein’s ability to target the UK with weapons of mass destruction, so he could cosy up to G W Bush and pretend to be a world leader. Added to the unacceptable loss of life, their combined action resulted in regional instability and chaos. The Chilcot Report found the so-called threat was not imminent or credible and questioned the planning and motives. I think we can put Blair in the same box as Putin; another of Trump’s bizarre and dangerous recruits. No wonder Isreal is questioning Trump’s motives for setting up this far from helpful bunch of warmongers.
At least Starmer is ‘considering’ his options. But, if he agrees to join this bunch of !*?!s, the game is surely up for this utterly hopeless PM.
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