In the mornings (and in fact, during the night) I have my smart speaker tuned to ClassicFM Calm which is really ClassicFM without the 'rumpty-tumpty' type of music that I can well do without. I suspect that you can only get this on DAB in the Greater London area at the moment but I always request it on my smart speakers in any case. The temperature that greeted me yesterday was -2° but a promise that this was due to rise to 10° so a fine and clear day was in prospect. Over the weekend, the UK pulled off quite a remarkable diplomatic feat. At less than 48 hours notice, a one-day conference had been organised in London and 18 European nations attended trying to work out a common position between themselves since the disastrous interview of Zelenskyy in the White House. The Europeans are taking the view that they cannot rely upon America for collective security so had best organise it for themselves. The British and the French are the two largest military powers and they are leading the new collective defence efforts. The Brits are saying that they will provide 'boots on the ground and planes in the air' to police a new peace-keeping force for the Ukraine and that there is just a hint that the French may be willing to extend their independent nuclear weapon capability (I believe they call it 'force du frappe') to European collective security. In all of this, it looks as though the UK in general, and Starmer in particular, are emerging as the 'new' leaders of Europe which is particularly ironic in view of Brexit. The plan is that Britain, France and the Ukraine are working to work out a joint peace plan and then present it to the Americans in the hope or expectations that the Americans will provide some minimal backdrop to this. How this is going to play out in the USA is a fascinating question - it is one thing for Trump to devise his own 'peace plan' (largely mineral exploitation) and say he is going to do. deal with the Russians but quite another to agree to a plan devised by the Europeans. If I had to make a guess, I would say. that the Americans will adopt a 'not invented here' attitude and refuse to go along with the European peace plan but this will really put them on the back foot and blow out of the water their proclaimed proclivities as seeking 'peace' in the Ukraine. Without wishing to sound at all chauvinistic about all of this, I think that UK and European diplomacy has been brilliant over the past couple of days, and we have even wheeled out the King to entertain Zelenskyy at Sandringham way in advance of the American president as well. There are two further factors to be considered at this point. The first is that the Russians may well realise that faced with a real European force in prospect (even if not actually attained) they have bitten off a bit more than they can chew and be somewhat more susceptible to agree to a peace deal. There is also the fact that rearmament like this does boost the economy (as we discovered in the 1930's and perhaps we have history repeating. itself) Rachel Reeves, our Chancellor, has also discovered some money that can be utilised (like searching down the back of the sofa for lost pound coins) and reinforces the view that I have often expressed that whatever the economic difficulties, the governing elites in Britain can always find the money for a war.
We knew that it was going to be a beautiful day so we seized the opportunity to walk down the hill in the pale spring sunshine. I delayed a little until the sun was up and then just collected our newspaper and journeyed back up the hill with just a brief chat with an acquaintance when we were walking down. Upon our return, it was time for the carers to call and Meg seemed pretty tired and a little on the agitated side. So I gave her a couple of pills which help in circumstances like this and let her sleep for the rest of the morning. When Meg has a deep sleep like this during the day, which is actually her body just gradually closing down, there is no point in waking her up to try to get some food inside her so I have just plated up her portion and will microwave it and attempt to feed her when she is awake.
I read an amusing take in a blog commenting upon the current state of play in the Ukraine conflict. This comment was drawing parallels from history and, to quote: 'The West right now is basically Rome in the 5th century—except instead of barbarian invasions, we have mass immigration; instead of corrupt senators, we have lobbyist-owned politicians; instead of bread and circuses, we have Netflix and TikTok; and instead of legions stretched too thin, we have woke militaries struggling with recruitment. The only thing missing is a guy in a toga declaring, "History will not repeat itself!" right before the collapse.' To be more serious, the Russian ambassador is claiming that British and French troops would not be acceptable if they arrived in the Ukraine and would, in effect, be regarded as hostile forces whom the Russians would fight. This reflects the Russian world view it was Ukraine suppressing the rights of Russian-speaking people in Eastern Ukraine which led to the war. Also underlining that Russia would not return any Ukrainian territory it occupied as part of a peace deal, the ambassador stated that Russia has historical rights on the territories. Starmer is due to make a statement in the House of Commons this afternoon and there is speculation that if Nigel Farage makes an appearance and attempts to make a speech he will be howled down. In all probability, Farage who can be said to 'speak for' Donald Trump will probably just keep his head down. The mood of the House of Commons will be very interesting because one suspects that Starmer's stock is rising high and he has risen to the challenge and made the best of the current crisis.
© Mike Hart [2025]