The striking image that greeted us this morning was that of illegal migrants int the US shackled together and being led onto a military plane before they were deported. Two plane loads of would-be migrants took off or Guatemala and there were plans for a third one to arrive in Mexico but the Mexicans' refuted to allow it to land on their territory. This, of course, is exactly the image that many people in the US would like to see and possibly the same is true for the UK as well. There is a certain schizophrenia at work here because whilst on the one hand, the US decries the entrance of thousands of illegal migrants, on the other hand it relies heavily upon them to work in the fields picking agricultural produce as well as a range of associated jobs in the food preparation industries. It may be that such scenes become so common place that they cease to be considered newsworthy but until the Trump presidency has altered all of that, Trump in his first day in office declared illegal immigration a national emergency, tasking the US military with aiding border security, issuing a broad ban on asylum and taking steps to restrict citizenship for children born on American soil. Some of us might have hoped that some of Trump's nominees for the principal posts in his administration would not survive the scrutiny of the Senate which is charged to agree the nominations for each post. The most controversial was Trump's choice of Defence secretary. Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump's controversial choice for US defence secretary, has been confirmed for the job. The 44-year-old ex-veteran and former Fox News host narrowly secured the top Pentagon post with vice president JD Vance casting the 51-50 tie-breaking vote. It is only the second time in history a vice president has broken a tie for a cabinet nominee. In 2017, then vice president Mike Pence was called in to break a tie to confirm Mr Trump's previous pick of Betsy DeVos as education secretary. However, during the confirmation hearing, which was disrupted by three protesters, Mr Hegseth was accused of lacking the competence for the job. Hours before the vote, Democrat after Democrat took to the Senate floor to object. One senator said during the debate there are few Trump nominees as 'dangerously and woefully unqualified as Hegseth'. Nonetheless, he has evidently scraped through by the skin of his teeth and we now have to see how energetically he is engaged on one of first tasks which is to use the military resources at his disposal to engage in the forced removal of potentially millions of illegal migrants (some of whom have been in the USA having been in employment for years and paid their taxes for decades).
On Saturday morning, it was a very bright and clear day but somewhat cold. I wrapped up Meg well in her blankets and pushed her down the hill as far as Wetherspoons where we met up with our three regular cafe friends. The road was a little icy in places particularly when the road or footpath lay in shade so I had to be especially careful not to slip. On our way back up the hill, I wondered if I might see the first signs of any snowdrops or even crocuses but I was not sufficiently close to any one's garden to ascertain whether this was the case. I needed to home just after 12.00pm because the partner of one of Meg's carers was due to call around to have a look over our roof. There are quite a few little repair jobs that need to be done on it but he has a mate who has been a roofer for thirty years so between them I am sure they will do a reasonable job. The pair worked as a team to give the garden a bit of a blitz in the autumn so they have worked on the property before and put in a solid day's work. This afternoon, I watched a Lucy Worsley programme on Queen Mary, often known as 'Bloody Mary' The programme was interesting because like a previous programme on Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder plot, Lucy Worley seems to make it a speciality of hers to go against the popular 'received wisdom' and to regress the balance if she feels that history has not dealt with them kindly. She makes the valid point as a historian that often a particular view of history is promulgated because it suits the political interests of the current elite and this is particularly true of the conflict between the Tudors and the Stuarts where Richard III tends to be vilified (with even Shakespeare joining in on the act). I quite enjoy her presentations, but I can imagine that there are always some who do not wish to have their preconceptions challenged in such a way.
News from the commercial world is that W H Smith is in secret talks to sell its entire high street business in Britain more than 230 years after it opened its first shop in central London. Sky News has revealed that the listed retail group, which has a market capitalisation of almost £1.5bn, has been in negotiations with a number of prospective buyers of the division for several weeks. W H Smith will confirm the plan to the London Stock Exchange on Monday morning. The company's high street arm comprises roughly 500 stores, employing about 5,000 people across the country. The thing about W H Smiths is that has been such a feature of the British High Street for so many years, it is very difficult to imagine life without it. It was always an excellent source of all items of stationery but had grown increasing expensive over the years. In Bromsgrove, it now houses the Post Office which was another venerable High Street institution and one can imagine that if it meets its demise, it will be one more blow to the British High Street which is now dominated by charity shop, coffee bars and little else.
© Mike Hart [2025]