Archive for February 11th, 2017

Trump Blinks

Saturday, February 11th, 2017

There are signs that wiser counsels are prevailing in the Trump White House, leading to musings on Air force One that a new initiative is to be launched next week to restore credibility to the President’s immigration policy. Nothing the United States has done in the last half century has attracted so much opposition and outrage all across the world, as the travel ban now embroiled in the legal system.

This is not because anyone questions the right of the US President to take steps to protect the integrity of his country from terrorists or its citizens from attack, but because the measures introduced were arbitrary and unfair in structure and potentially dangerous in effect. Above all the implementation was utterly shambolic, doubly so for the omnipotent United States of America, leaving many of Trump’s supporters alarmed. His detractors were gleeful that they had early proof that the new President was a fruitcake. Just as they had warned.

There is no doubt that the American heartlands are nervous about their security and opinion polls confirm this with a majority supporting Trump’s hard line. So all he has to do is to offer up a new Executive Order which is up to the job the American people want him to do. The first debacle can readily be put down to inexperience all round. There cannot be a second.

Tor Raven: Hess Secrets Revealed

Saturday, February 11th, 2017

Rudolf Hess, Hitler’s deputy and right hand man, flew to Scotland on a mysterious peace mission in 1941, which has never been convincingly explained, to meet unidentified politicians who wanted to end the war.  Who was plotting against Churchill? What were the peace terms on offer? What happened to Hess? Was he killed in the War? Was the prisoner in Spandau a double? A real time thriller with flashback chapters which gradually unfold the hidden secrets, this tense drama will draw you into a compelling read.

AMAZON.UK       AMAZON.COM

Corbyn’s Warning: His Best Option?

Saturday, February 11th, 2017

Corbyn has written to his rebels and told them this time they escape punishment, but they must be good in future. Given that Brexit transcends party lines in England, this apparently limp response is probably the wisest course.

I have remarked before that Corbyn’s Labour party is surprisingly successful in the House of Commons when judged on its ability to change the direction of government policy and influence the political flow of events. There is now a suspicion that a ragged opposition is more effective in parliament than one drummed neatly into line. This could well be the case, as more members feel emboldened to express an opinion, increasing the depth and variety of debate. On the other hand there is evidence that voters take the opposite view. For its disunity Labour may be  about to pay a shattering electoral price. The leadership is campaigning for all its worth, but nevertheless awaits the outcome of the two approaching by-elections in its heartlands with anxiety. Apparently both have been Labour seats since 1935.

However, although the Tories look the more united behind the vicarage style verities which pour from their leader’s lips, there are many big potholes in their road to final Brexit, some so deep as to have the potential to cause the wheels to fly off the Tory government altogether. In particular the fact that the hard Brexit model chosen by May (there is no such thing as Clean Brexit) is anathema to the many, many, Remain Tories, not just in parliament, but across their voting strongholds in the South East. Conversely Labour supporters for Brexit and those for Remain can more easily unite behind the soft Brexit model for which Labour will campaign.

So watch carefully and take nothing for granted. Even if Labour gets a drubbing on February 23rd.