A French politician has made an 8-minute speech to the French senate which is so powerful an analysis and a condemnation of the Trump adventure that the speech has gone viral, as they say. The news outlet HuffPost says of it 'Stop whatever you are doing and watch this' A French politician by the name of Claude Malhuret has unexpectedly gained a global following after an eight-minute address to his colleagues in the French Senate on Tuesday went viral. The speech offers a clear-eyed assessment of US President Donald Trump’s alarming efforts to destroy democracy both in America and abroad, aided by Elon Musk, whom he refers to as 'a ketamine-fueled jester. Never in history has a President of the United States capitulated to the enemy,' said Malhuret, reflecting on Trump’s baffling subservience to Russian President Vladimir Putin and constant belittling of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. 'Never has anyone supported an aggressor against an ally.' This is so worth watching and YouTube also has printed the (translation) of a text of it so it can be read and savoured at one's leisure.
Yesterday, whilst playing around with a financial spreadsheet, I managed to attach a 'Note' to the spreadsheet explaining to myself why I am performing the calculations that I am and the assumptions that lie behind all the analysis. Of course, this is all pretty standard stuff and I am sure that regular users of spreadsheets attach notes to their work all the time but, nonetheless, I had never actually had occasion to do this in the past. So that is another useful little tweak that I have learnt how to do. Yesterday morning, the carers were scheduled for 40 minutes earlier than normal so I had a negative lie-in but at least I know I am getting two more regular and experienced carers. I had occasion to call the care agency the day before to request that of the carers who have to get Meg up in the morning, at least one of them has a degree of experience and they are not absolute 'newbies' I know it is the most inexact of analogies but during WWII, young fighter pilots were often trained up and then thrown into immediate combat only to die quickly and the average life expectancy of a young fighter pilot in the Battle of Britain was of the order of 4 weeks. This weekend is to be dominated by the Six nations rugby competition again and the Ireland vs France match ought to be the most entertaining. I cannot be sure how much of the action Meg can take in when we watch it together but she always has the options of a good doze during it. On the political front, there is just a hint of cracks starting to appear in the Trump coterie. In the White House tensions flared as reports emerge of Elon Musk and Marco Rubio going head-to-head in a cabinet showdown, forcing Trump to step in and draw the first real limits on Musk's influence.
As it was such a beautiful day, it was a real pleasure to push Meg down the hill and make our way to Wetherspoons. Once there, we met up with one of our friends but we were both concerned about the non-appearance of another who, admittedly, is in her 90's and we hoped that she had not been taken ill in the last few days. Whilst having my egg and bacon muffin, I noticed that Meg had slumped badly in her wheelchair and had progressed from a sitting to a semi-recumbent position. Worried about this, I made for home but tried to go very gently avoiding any bumps or jolts. About a quarter of the way home, though, a nightmare unfolded as Meg slumped so badly she slipped out of the chair into a semi-kneeling position on the pavement. I was evidently struggling with trying to hold Meg in one hand and reach for a mobile phone to phone the ambulance service on the other when my plight was observed by several passers-by and motorists. Eventually, a group of about four complete strangers helped me to hoist Meg back into the chair and one even offered to run me home in the car - an offer which I needed to decline as I explained that I could not get Meg into a car. So then I made my way home slowly and with difficulty, attempting to hold Meg with one hand to prevent her falling out again whilst pushing with the other. I was completely exhausted when I got home and had to wait for half an hour until the care workers called for their midday call and I explained what had happened. On Monday morning, I shall evidently have to make an urgent contact with the wheelchair providers to discuss the situation with them and I am unsure whether the solution lies in more straps and devices to hold Meg in place or whether we need to go down the road of requesting an enhanced wheelchair that would hold Meg in place. The root of the problem is that as Meg's illness advances, she has lost all upper body strength whatsoever and cannot hold herself with her own musculuture in a seated position. The specialist chair which had been provided for Meg at home has a fairly sharp tilt backwards so, fortunately, once I get her into this chair, she is not in danger of slipping out of the chair (which could, and did happen, before the more specialist chair was provided)
Fortunately, after this episode Meg fell asleep or was in a deep doze for which I was truly grateful. After I had rested and come round somewhat, I prepared a simple lunch of quiche and some tinned tomatoes and started to settle down to both eat this and to watch the French vs. Ireland rugby match. In the meanwhile, I have plenty of time to contemplate what our future options are liable to be because if I can no longer push Meg out in a wheelchair, then the impact upon both of our lives will be considerable. In the short term, I am going to hunt around the house to see what I can press into service as a restraining strap because I am fairly certain that I will have to provide my own solution to the problem.
© Mike Hart [2025]