My son is taller than me

Yesterday was a sad day for me. It was the day my son became taller than me.

For a little while, there has been a debate as to who is taller, but it is now settled. A few weeks ago, we met school friends of my wife and the consensus was I was taller, just.

Now I have to angle my neck (slightly) to look at him when we stand next to each other.  Needless to say, he is happier than I am with this. 

Farage and the NHS

 

Nigel Farage has stated that he wants to end the NHS. Let us look at an alternative…

Has Elon damaged the TESLA brand?

I love my EV.  I will admit that when it comes to fun, my previous Honda was better, but my current Honda EV is more practical for the family, just not for my job.  

My wife took a TESLA on a test drive a few years ago, and did not like it.  Friends of mine have refused to consider a TESLA thanks to Elon Musk, and they have been proven right as his politics have become more and more extreme.

The demographic of people who drive EV's are not really the parties that he has backed.  Admittedly, Musk has turned on Nigel Farage, but Farage has not been in favour of taking action against Climate Change.  But, the AfD in Germany are also Climate Change deniers. 

I do think that the world owes TESLA thanks for showing how electric cars can be so appealing.  But it does not owe anything else.  I wait to see if Musk will get Trump to try to make the EU buy more TESLA's but if he does, I can see that alienating people who wish to switch to electric cars. At least in Europe. His antics may not be an issue in other parts of the world.

Are we really going to remove Christians from The Gaza Strip?

Christians have lived in the Gaza Strip and from what I can understand, Donald Trump wants them to be removed and the land to be given to Israel. I understand that he does not care about the Muslim population of The Gaza Strip, but I am surprised that he wants to evict the Christian population, and also that his plans are supported by Christians in the USA. 

I also wait to see what stance Trump and his supporters have towards the Christian population of The West Bank. Jewish extremists want them removed. Will Trump allow them to be removed as well? 

Keir Starmer ate my hamster

The simple fact is that haters are going to hate.  And Starmer is going to be hated by a lot of people, unless he can show that he has changed our great nation for the better.  

He is hated by those on the right, that being before Musk joined in with this.  And he is hated by those on the left as well.  Needless to say, there are those who are going to love a book which sticks the knife into him.  I will admit that he should communicate better.  Labour has done a lot when it comes to immigration, which is not publicised as much as it can be.  Labour has ended many strikes which were harming our nation.  Hopefully, these changes will help bring about the economic growth our nation needs.

Brexit and the man who sold it to us

Driving into work today, I started to listen to his man telling us about the importance of not being too close to Europe.  He is the one who sold us Brexit.  And Brexit has been such a disaster for us, that parties in France who wanted a Frexit, have had to change their mind on this.  In Holland, the Far Right have had to pull back about Nexit as well. Basically, if Brexit was so good, other nations would want to follow us.  And they don't.

With Reform UK doing well in the polls, I think that they should be shown up for what they are.  The architects of Brexit, which has failed our nation.  

We should focus on what Nigel Farage wants for Britain, an example of which is a Free Trade Agreement with the USA (he said so in the interview), which would harm our farmers. Farmers which Farage says he wants to protect.  We should remind people about how free trade with Trump would mean allowing the US greater access to the NHS. Just a reminder, the US healthcare system and how it fails so many is an integral part of Breaking Bad and why the character turns to making drugs. It is the inspiration for the book (and later film) The Rainmaker, and of course the film John Q. Remind people of what Farage wants, and then they can decide if they want to vote for him.

Trump, NATO funding and Article 5

There appears to be a view that Trump would defend NATO nations in the event that US support was needed.

I think that it is insane to rely on him.  But, saying that, I think that the threat of invasion from Russia is low in the next few years, considering how many casualties Russia has sustained in Ukraine.  My issue is not if Trump would defend Europe (I do not think that he would), but more importantly, will US presidents who follow him decide to go along his populist line.  

Article 5 provides that if a NATO Ally is the victim of an armed attack, each & every other member of the Alliance will consider this act of violence as an armed attack against all members & will take the actions it deems NECESSARY to assist the Ally attacked. 

 

Many think that he would obey Article 5. I think that he would and would take the actions that he felt was necessary to assist the ally which had been attacked. Sadly I suspect that such actions would in essence, be nothing.  With this in mind, greater European cooperation on defence is needed, and I am glad Starmer has attended a meeting about this.