Today is Holocaust Memorial Day and is quite natural that the attention of the world is focused upon the terrible events of 80 years ago when the Soviet troops discovered the terrible sights to behold at Auschwitz. But is also the case, but not particularly well known, that apart from the 6 million Jews murdered in the concentration camps. the Nazis also had other victims in their sights. It was the explicit aim of Hitler's regime to create a European world both dominated and populated by the Aryan race. The Nazi machinery was dedicated to eradicating millions of people it deemed undesirable. Some people were undesirable by Nazi standards because of who they were, their genetic or cultural origins, or health conditions. These included Jews, Gypsies, Poles and other Slavs, and people with physical or mental disabilities. Others were Nazi victims because of what they did. These victims of the Nazi regime included Jehovah's Witnesses, homosexuals, the dissenting clergy, Communists, Socialists, ‘asocial’s, and other political enemies. Those believed by Hitler and the Nazis to be enemies of the state were banished to camps. Inside the concentration camps, prisoners were forced to wear various coloured triangles, each colour denoting a different group. The BBC showed the film of 'Schindler's List' late the evening before and we would normally have liked to have watched this. But Meg and I saw it fairly recently, just before Christmas I think, and as it was so long we viewed it in two tranches. I am not sure that Meg could follow it at all in her current state of health, though. Apart from all of this, two other items caught by attention although I have not investigated them fully. The first of these was a suggestion that a fast railway line be built between Oxford and Cambridge in an attempt to create a UK version of 'Silicon Valley' along it. No doubt, there would be a selection of science parks and a collection of dormitory suburbs with suitable access to the enhanced railway line but this has always struck me as a particularly good idea. I do wish that the Labour Party would adopt as a policy the creation of new communities rather than just the building of houses 'per se' because this means that the much needed infrastructure would be provided from scratch. Here in Bromsgrove, there seems to be new housing developments in every direction that one looks. The road improvements are promised after the houses have been built but if and when it happens, it is too little and too late. The second news item that caught my idea is the idea floated by the Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, that A&E patients be treated 'at home' Although no doubt there needs to be access to diagnostic facilities, I am sure that quite a lot can be done for patients at home with drips provided and some smart technology deployed for some diagnostics. Some of this must be preferable to spending 10-12 hours on a trolley in a hospital corridor. Incidentally, the NHS is now advertising for 'corridor nurses' so there must be an expectation that the A&E crisis will be with us for some time.
This morning, I pushed Meg down the hill and we met up with our two Irish friends that we had agreed to meet in Wetherspoons. We actually had quite a lot of news to catch up upon with one thing or another but had a really enjoyable chat. Whilst in the queue for the coffee machine, I bumped into another close acquaintance - Seasoned World Traveller - with whom I used to have long and detailed discussions mainly of an political and economic nature when we were both habitués of the park during the COVID days. He now has a logistics job of some sort in one of the local supermarkets and is is enjoying the experience of work once again. We were just on the point of having to leave our friends when we all bumped into some other friends of friends, an Irish couple in their 80's who used to run a pub but are still very active in getting out and about. So it was great to see them once again. The husband of our Irish friends helped me to [push Meg back up in the hill in her wheelchair and whilst in the vicinity of their house ran into yet another of our Catholic friends who we have not seem for some time. We are all delighted to learn that another of our little circle who has often entertained us to coffee and cakes and has decided to sell her house has now decided to stay within Bromsgrove. Although she has her house on the market, she has changed her plans which were initially to move to be near her daughter in Sandbach in Cheshire, which is quite understandable. But now she has decided to stay in Bromsgrove where she is near to a range of social contacts and medical facilities. I am delighted she is not moving away and therefore 'lost' to us but will still remain in the area when no doubt we can meet up from time to time.
Starmer and Trump have had a long conversation with each other over the weekend and it is always difficult to know what the outcome of this conversation has been. Starmer no doubt flattered Trump's ego by telling him what a good job he has done securing a peace agreement in Gaza and has also extended an invitation to visit the UK officially which no doubt Trump will lap up (strolling with the King in the grounds of Buckingham Palace and the like.) Whatever the rights and wrongs, I think that our Royal Family is well used to buttering up quite obnoxious heads of state if it is seen as in the long term British interest to do so. The case of President Xi Jinping of China visited the UK in 2015 and David Cameron promised a 'golden era' in Sino-UK relationships. The definitive statement on all of this was enunciated decades ago. Lord Palmerston, one of Imperial Britain’s most distinguished prime ministers of the 19th century, is remembered as a liberal at home, but a hardliner in promoting British interests abroad. He was a firm believer in the maxim that in foreign policy, the ends justify the means. His clearest elucidation of the conduct of foreign policy came when he stated: 'I say that it is a narrow policy to believe that this country or that has marked out the eternal ally or the perpetual enemy. We have no eternal allies and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual and these interests it is our duty to follow.' In the present day and age, every nation professes to observe the highest principles and moral standards. But are values like love for democracy or ideology really respected or observed, in the conduct of foreign policy? If I had to paraphrase all of this, it would be that the UK state has no principles but only interests.
© Mike Hart [2025]