Trump and women

What's with this guy Donald Trump? After more than 70 years as a bloke on this planet he clearly hasn't yet learnt the difference between complimentary, creepy and offensive when dealing with the opposite sex. And has he got a thing about blood? During the presidential election he suggested Megyn Kelly, then Fox News presenter, was having a period because of the way she interviewed him on Fox News, saying she had blood coming "out of her wherever". Now he has attacked Mika Brzezinksi, MSNBC presenter, saying she was "bleeding badly from a facelift." We know Trump is a germaphobe because he told us he was. Does he also have a blood phobia and an obsession with talking about blood when referring to women? Anyway, I don't want to get diverted. The point is, Trump hasn't a clue about women. When he addressed the female Irish reporter in the Oval Office the other day, interrupting a call to the Irish prime minister, and said she had a nice smile on her face, that wasn't offensive, but it was creepy. The remarks to Megyn Kelly and Mika Brezinzksi were clearly not just offensive but disgusting and gross. Trump says women love him, but all women, ALL women, know the difference between a minor flirting remark, a real compliment and total creepiness. It's one of the things men have to learn, preferably from an early age. First, you treat with women with respect and it helps always to be courteous and chivalrous. This may sound old-fashioned but it's not. Charm is also fine. But, especially these days, charm can turn into creepiness if a bloke goes on too much or starts placing a hand on a woman's waist or higher up. But Trump was either brought up badly or thinks he's so special and beloved by the female sex that he can say and do anything. Some women, judging by the crowds of female supporters who listen to his every word, obviously think he's ok. But I bet if he stepped down from his speech platform and headed for one particular woman and said: "Hey, baby, you've got nice ...." that woman would think to herself: "Uuurgh, what a creep." What I don't understand is Trump has got a beautiful wife and a lovely daughter. How can they put up with these derogatory remarks about their sex. Why don't they tell him that women don't want a creepy 70-year-old mouthing off about women's looks?

Why are some politicians so stupid?

Sir Michael Fallon, UK Defence Secretary, has been boasting about the Royal Navy's new but not yet operational aircraft carrier, HMS Queen Elizabeth. Now there's nothing wrong with that although the splendid-looking giant ship has no aircraft on board and won't have for several years. So strictly speaking, it's not yet an aircraft carrier because it doesn't carry aircraft. Still, we'll let Sir Michael have his day, following the setting sail of HMS Queen Elizabeth from Rosyth dockyard earlier this week. But Sir Michael didn't stick with that. He had to write in a newspaper, goading the Russians for having only one "old and dilapidated" carrier and claimed the Russians would probably be envying Britain for having such a modern, advanced super carrier. Now that is so stupid!! Why give a two-fingers to Moscow, what's the point, what does he think he's doing? Russia has already responded, laughing at Fallon. Well, of course they are. Making that comment was rude, silly, pointless, shameful, unpleasant, counter-productive and childish. I have not run out of adjectives, but I don't want to go on. Why do politicians think they can make such superior, snooty remarks? I am NOT supporting Moscow, I'm just saying this sort of blatant name-calling is both undignified, publicity-seeking and further damages any chance of having reasonable relations with Mr Putin's government. I bet even Boris Johnson, our beloved Foreign Secretary who likes to make controversial remarks himself on occasions, is angry with Fallon. Theresa May, in between trying to save her political career, should give Fallon a bollocking and basically say, shut up, if you want to keep your job. It's true that the Russian Navy only has one carrier and it tends to belch black smoke and needs a tug to go alongside whenever it sails in case it breaks down. But we all know that. Why bring that up just when the Royal Navy has a brand new carrier to show off? Show it off by all means but without the ho ho ho rubbish aimed at Moscow. It's like the old school playground chant when one boy does better at something than the rest. "na na nana na!!" That's what Fallon was doing and it was seriously embarrassing.

Venezuela, the forgotten nation

So much is going on in the world: terrorism, the wars against Isis in Syria and Iraq, North Korea's madness, Trump's controversial, unpredictable presidency etc. But is anyone really taking notice of what is happening in Venezuela? This is a beautiful, once rich country that has been totally ruined by a political dynasty almost as brutal and appalling as North Korea's. Hugo Chavez, the track-suited man of the people who brought a revolution to Venezuela, started the road to disaster. He professed to love the poor and handed out money to them, but he didn't have a clue about economics and governance and trade and human rights. He died but was succeeded by Nicolas Maduro, a Chavez devotee and former bus driver, who tried to maintain the Chavez revolution. His administration has been notable for corruption, stealing, human rights abuses, destruction of the economy and brutal suppression of the political opposition and of the people. Now there are daily riots in the streets, looting and burning of cars and buildings. The people are involved in an uprising but Maduro has sent troops into the streets to arrest, wound and kill protesters. People are afraid to go to work for fear of being caught up in violence. No one can leave the country because they are forbidden to take money with them. Anyone who owns a house is unable to sell the property and seek a life in a neighbouring country because their houses are worthless. Taking US dollars out of the country is banned. There is a growing sense of hopelessness and despair. It is a country destroyed by a greedy and abusive leader. Yet no one in the international community is doing anything. The US talks about the need to return to democracy. The Organisation of American States (OAS) talks and talks and talks but does not have the courage to intervene. Venezuela is dying and its people are desperate. Why is the world sitting back and ignoring what is going on?

Nail bite government

Theresa May and Donald Trump have few things in common. But one thing they now share is unpopularity. Trump's popularity has slumped both at home and abroad, and Theresa May's popularity or unpopularity is no longer relevant to her survival. Her political survival depends on ten MPs from Northern Ireland who, for one billion pounds, have agreed to prop her up when she requires a vote in the Commons. In the outside world that would be called blackmail or bribery. But this is politics and politics is a dirty business. So in the House of Commons tomorrow (Thursday) the prime minister is likely to get enough support for her government's Queen's Speech manifesto to be voted into the statute books. If this happens, she will carry on and just might still be in power in five years' time. It probably won't happen, but with the vote tomorrow in her favour she will struggle on at Number 10 Downing Street and beat back all her opponents, many of them in the Conservative Party. It's extraordinary how circumstances change. All the newspaper columnists were of one voice, Theresa May was going to be pushed out. But politicians know, or should know, that the last thing the electorate wants right now is another election. It would be obscene, especially after Grenfell Tower and the terrorism attacks. We all want the government to get on and sort things out and make as good a deal as possible out of Brexit. Trump, on the other hand, has very little going for him at the moment, except, by some miracle, the Supreme Court decided to partially uphold his wish to ban the entry of people from six Muslim countries into the US. The Supreme Court, unlike the lower courts, always takes into account the majesty and uniqueness of the presidency. The president of the United States has constitutional rights. He has executive powers laid down. He had a mandate for banning those from Muslim countries after winning the election. So the wise men and women of the Supreme Court decided that the lower courts were wrong to go against the president. It's an interesting argument which may, in the end, be overturned once the judges have had a further look at the issue in the autumn. Trump, I suspect, will regard the polls showing his unpopularity as fake news. It won't bother him. After all, he believes he has won a famous victory in the Supreme Court. Theresa May, on the other hand, will be far more sensitive to her unpopularity. Every day, for her, will be a nail biting experience. She knows there are men and women in her party plotting behind her back. The only MPs she can truly trust are the ten members of Northern Ireland's Democratic Unionist Party, bought with a large amount of cash to do her bidding.

Blighty at crossroads

Life, politics, everything are full of bizarre contradictions. Here we are mourning the loss of 79 lives in one of the most terrible fires since the Fire of London in 1666, and discovering that at least 60 tower blocks in the country are dangerously fitted with exactly the same inflammable cladding that helped turn Grenfell Tower into a raging bonfire, partly due, it seems as a result of local authority economic cutbacks. At the same time, later today, the Royal Navy's new 65,000-tonne aircraft carrier, minus any fighter aircraft, will set sail from Rosyth dockyard for a trial run, having cost Pounds 3.1 billion to build. Now I'm a great supporter of the Royal Navy, of a strong defence for this country, always have been, but even I can see that things have got somewhat out of kilter in recent years. It's a terrific-looking ship, it will tower over Portsmouth when it goes there in due course for its permanent home base. But it won't have any operational fighter aircraft on board until 2023, and who knows where the world will be in six years' time. By then we may have had five years of Jeremy Corbin and a Labour government! Maybe they will scrap the carrier programme, although I doubt it, or sell the second one to Nicaragua. Maybe by then Corbyn, if prime minister, will have made sure the Trident nuclear deterrent is scrapped, despite support for it from the Labour Party. But when the decision was taken to build two giant aircraft carriers - in 1998 (!!!) by a Labour government - the future looked very different. Now we have Brexit which means everything is uncertain, cyber warfare, an army so small you could just about fill a scout hut with it, the likelihood of a very left wing government taking over from the Conservatives and a huge hole in the defence budget which will only be filled if the services are cut even more. Maybe, once the two carriers are operational, if they ever are, there won't be enough trained sailors to crew them, let alone pilots to fly the F35 Joint Strike Fighters. It's all topsy-turvey. A beautiful mighty ship that we can't really afford. And how vulnerable will carriers be in the next decade with the proliferation of super stealthy supersonic anti-ship ballistic missiles? But, despite all the arguments against having these two gigantic ships, Britain cannot just turn inwards and become a second-rate country with a third-rate defence. This is the conundrum. But I fear that within the next eight to ten years, some UK government of whatever political persuasion is going to cry, "enough is enough, we can't afford to do everything anymore". I heard that argument for the first time about 25 years ago, at a dinner for dozens of military types who were trying to look into the future. Everything comes round in circles. Meanwhile, the first of the supercarriers, HMS Queen Elizabeth, is off to sea for a great demonstration of Britain's power-projection capabilities. God bless her and all who sail in her.

Brexit brexit brexit

It has hardly started but already everyone is sick of Brexit. The first day of the "negotiations" the EU bureaucrats dictated the timetable and took no heed of the programme proposed by David Davis, the minister in charge of the UK exiting the EU. Actually, David Davis is a nice guy, a good bloke, probably too nice to deal with the stoney-faced EU negotiator with his floppy hair. I mean I want to stay in the EU but like everyone else in this country I have to accept that the Leave voters won - just - so I'm looking for the May government to do us proud. But Davis got told what the EU wanted on Day One and that was it. Then off goes Theresa to lay out what she has in mind for the three million EU nationals living and working in the UK and offered, or so it appeared to me, to allow them all to stay and live happily ever. Those who have been here five years or more after the Brexit date will get full rights to everything - NHS, social benefits etc - and those who have been here for a shorter period will be allowed to stay until they have reached the five-year point. Sounds reasonable to me. But no, the EU bosses said that was no good, or not sufficient. It's clear this is the way it's going to go. The EU will only say yes ok when they get precisely what THEY want. What makes me so angry is that none of this should be happening. What on earth are we doing leaving the EU? It's crazy, the UK economy, business, security, everything is going to suffer. A Japanese bank has already announced it's going to set up home in Frankfurt instead of London. We're going to become a miserable little island of no consequence. And just to underline it, the EU negotiators are going to rub our noses in it. By the time it's all over we'll be so mad and depressed and downhearted, we won't even want to go on holiday to France any more.

In power but floundering

I hate to say it but the British government is currently floundering. There is little reason to feel confident or optimistic or hopeful that out of this total mess will emerge a government of superb leadership who will forge for our children and children's children a better and happier future. Hearing ministers on the radio and on television is a bleak experience. They don't know what they're doing, they have no idea what this government stands for, and as for the EU-leaving negotiations, how can they negotiate at all when it's still not decided whether we are to leave the single market or the customs union. Some ministers, like Philip Hammond, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, and the richest man in the cabinet, want to stay in both it seems, while others, like Michael Gove, Boris Johnson and probably Theresa May, want to leave everything and strike out on our own in this big wide world, like ducklings in a dried-up pond. Boris was almost as bad as the Labour Party's Dianne Abbott when trying to answer questions on BBC Radio about the Government's Queen's Speech statement. Floundering hardly describes it. As for the decision to house 250 of the desperate victims of the Grenfell Tower fire into a rich-list apartment block in Kensington sounds terrific and terribly generous and charitable and deserved. But are you seriously trying to tell me that these families will be happy to live in one of the poshest pads in the poshest part of London where the only community will be made up drivers of Ferraris and Lamborghinis who will no doubt resent having "poor" people living in the same block. What sort of community will that be for them or am I being totally unfair? Instead of having nice affordable local shops to go to, they will probably only find the poshest shops where food prices are beyond them. No one has seriously thought this through. These families deserve to be happy and looked after but will they find happiness and protection in a block of flats each of which is valued at well over a million pounds? I fear possibly not. But no doubt it makes the government happy that they have been seen to do something for the victims of the appalling fire. Meanwhile, Amber Rudd, the Home Secretary, is talking of holding multiple reviews about protecting the country from terrorism. For goodness sake, more and more reviews!! Just get on with the job, you don't need to learn lessons. The lessons are obvious. Do NOT cut back on police officer strengths, rebuild community service police forces and don't let ANYONE returning from a trip to Syria arrive back in this country without being detained. Sometimes, you despair!!

Trump can never win

Sometimes, not very often, I feel sorry for Donald J Trump. Let's take North Korea for example. Trump made much of the fact that he was relying on China to put the pressure on Kim Jong-un to end the confrontation over the North Korean loony dictator's nuclear weapons programme. So Trump told Xi Zinping, "Look mate, let's be good partners, for our sake, for your sake, for the world's sake, please can you order your neighbour to stop threatening everyone, and in return for helping them out economically, end your ridiculous world-threatening programme and come into the international family." Seems a reasonable strategy to me. Beijing allegedly has the clout to sort out Kim Jong-un, so it's high time the Chinese bosses did just that. But no, Xi Zinping did nothing. Or to put it another way, he told Trump he'd make a phone call but probably did sod all, zero. China doesn't really care what North Korea does. The Chinese are so intent on rebuilding the world to suit their trade ambitions, North Korea is just a pinprick mosquito. But poor old Trump now gets lambasted by the US papers for totally failing. His China tactic to pressurise Jim Jong-un failed, says the New York Times. Well, no actually, it's China that failed. It's China that did nothing. They have all the cards to blockade North Korea but they don't want to because it doesn't suit their selfish plans for a mega-empire. I would say Trump probably did his best to challenge Beijing to do the honourable thing but Chinese leaders have always been two-faced. They smile as if they're going to play ball but then laugh behind their hands. So now Trump has to think of another way of dealing with the dangerous Kim Jong-un. John McCain who I reckon would have been a good president of the USA, had he not picked that dopey Alaskan bird to be his vice-presidential running-mate, has revealed his two main world concerns: North Korea in the short term and Russia in the long term. You should add China to the second category, Senator. But North Korea in the short term sounds alarming enough. It happens to be what Jim Mattis, the US Defense Secretary, also feels. So, now that China has funked it and failed to do what they promised Trump they would do, the US president is stuck with two choices: either to let North Korea carry on and become a nuclear power capable of hitting America, or start ratcheting up the military profile. Call Kim Jong-un's bluff. Do something to wipe that oily smile off his face. Then let's see whether China gets off its expensive bottom and takes sides. The right side, ie our side.

This cruel world

So much terrible suffering in the world in recent months: the terror attacks in UK, the appalling Grenfell Tower inferno, the devastating fire in central Portugal, the continuing daily traumas for civilians in Mosul and Raqqa, just to name a few. But a sentence in a story about the death of Chancellor Helmut Kohl in The Times this morning summed up for me the cruelty of this world of ours. The first wife of Helmut Kohl was raped by Russian soldiers at the age of 12 in the Second World War and "thrown out of a window". She committed suicide later in life. Raped and thrown out of a window like a piece of garbage. Having covered six wars as a journalist on The Times, I have seen how normal standards of behaviour are cast aside when people are fighting and hating each other, I have seen and spoken to children who have suffered as victims of war. But that story in The Times was so chilling! Were those Russian soldiers ever prosecuted or were they never punished? Did they go on to lead a full life, did they ever consider what they had done to this defenceless child, did they have children of their own, did any of them commit suicide out of anguish for what they had done? I have no idea but each of those who raped this child deserved to suffer in their lives in some way. I hope they did. The story has had such an impact on me I cannot write anything more today.

How to start a thriller

From years of experience it's almost impossible to please literary agents or publishers when you send them an idea for a thriller or the first few chapters. "Oh," they say, "we like the idea but I'm afraid there's no commercial value in such a book" (ie we won't make enough money), or "you need to start with a big bang, something so arresting that it will grip the reader from the moment they open the book". Ok I go along with that, although I've read tons of brilliant books, thriller and others, where there's no big bang in the first chapter. Or "thank you for you letter/email and your first three chapters but I'm afraid we have our own A List of authors and really don't have time to consider adding to our list." Well,that's daft, how else are they going to find new authors? Or "I'm afraid there's too much humour in this book. A thriller has to be a thriller, you can't mix styles, there's no commercial market for a funny thriller." No comment on that, other than to say, how about a new genre - a comical thriller?!! So, I have started a thriller and the first few pages go like this, see below. If anyone fancies giving their opinions on the work so far, do please feel free. Just a short comment at the end would be much appreciated. "The motor bike rider, dressed in black leather and dark grey helmet, waited round the corner on a single yellow line. He was perfectly still. The 650cc BMW engine was running. Pedestrians walked past him without looking. Behind him, traffic on the Embankment heading for Parliament Square was building up. It was 8.12am, Friday. Five minutes went by. The rider glanced into a large wing mirror on the right handle and spotted a Jaguar saloon turning from the Embankment into the road. He checked the registration and tightened his lips. As the Jaguar passed him, he turned his head slightly. One passenger, sitting on the right-hand side at the back, reading The Times. The passenger was female, smartly dressed. The rider moved off slowly and followed as the Jaguar turned left. The street was surprisingly empty of people. One woman with a dog was walking on the opposite pavement. No other cars. The Jaguar slowed right down behind a large building, the driver apparently waiting for garage doors to slide back. As the Jaguar driver began to turn left down the slope into the underground car park at Thames House, headquarters of MI5, the motor bike rider accelerated. The woman in the back of the car briefly lifted her eyes from the newspaper and saw the rapidly approaching motorbike. Her mouth opened. But at that moment, the black leather rider, now armed with a Glock 19 pistol in his right hand, fired four 50-calibre rounds, each travelling towards the intended target at 1,400ft per second. The first two were blunted by the bullet-proof glass, transforming the window into a kaleidoscope of shattered lines and circles. The woman’s face disappeared from view behind the rippling mess of glass. But the next two rounds penetrated the smashed window with explosive force. The Jaguar driver slammed his foot on the accelerator, and the garage doors swung down behind him. As the bike rider sped away, he heard a screech of brakes and a crash from behind the garage doors. Three seconds had passed. The rider turned left at the end and then right, swerving recklessly across the Embankment traffic lanes, heading west. He drove through red lights and crossed Vauxhall Bridge, now travelling at 60mph. Staff in offices on the south side of the bridge, overlooking the Thames at 85 Vauxhall Cross, home of MI5’s sister agency, MI6, were too busy on their computers to be aware of the speeding motorbike. The rider went through red lights for a second time and continued driving fast. He heard the first police siren but it wasn’t close. The woman passenger in the government Jaguar lay on the back seat, her face and hair covered in blood. The driver was badly concussed and his right leg was broken. He couldn’t turn his head to see whether his passenger was alive. The car was filled with smoke. A tumult of MI5 security guards came rushing into the garage, guns raised. They wrenched open the front and passenger doors. But before handling the driver and passenger, they checked everywhere inside the car, looking for any sign of a device. MI5’s emergency alert alarm pulsated throughout the building."

Who wants to be a leader today?

There must be moments when heads of government or state think to themselves: "What on earth am I doing when I could be having a nice quiet life with my family and not worrying about the latest crisis to come round the corner. Trump has had a bellyful of crises, both personal and international, since he came to power in January; and Theresa May, well what can one say, everything and I mean everything has gone wrong and there's probably little she can do to extract herself from the defeat and political disaster that awaits her. Trump is also facing potential disaster - removal from the White House - but he has as yet shown no sign of buckling under the pressure and just shouts at anyone, on twitter generally, who dares to suggest his days are numbered. Theresa May just looks glum, as if an enormous concrete boulder is resting on her shoulders. She walks all humped and bowed, she can't smile and she can't face up to what is hitting her every day. Her struggle to look and sound like a woman grieving for the lost souls in the Grenfell Tower inferno was painful to watch. The Queen, on the other hand, said the right things, looked like she meant it and quietly shed a tear. She was brilliant and the respect on the faces of everyone she met was awesome to behold. Poor Theresa, when she turned up, the crowds hurled abuse at her, called her "murderer" and looked as if they were ready to lynch her. This, of course, was street anarchy and madness on a scary scale, but the anger was understandable. Those who have lost family and friends want answers, they want revenge, they want someone to be held responsible. The disgraceful cowardice of the Kensington and Chelsea council executives who are partly to blame for the lax safety and fire regulation lapses at the tower block under their authority and who communicated to the protesting crowds with a written statement, only made it worse for the prime minister. When she showed herself in public, the crowd just went mad. I felt sorry for the prime minister. She cannot escape blame because she is the leader of our country but Grenfell Tower and the appalling fire and the deaths of around 100 people were not directly her fault. May is trying to steer the country into a bright future post-Brexit, but no one will ever thank her even if she manages a modicum of success in persuading the EU to be nice to Britain. May's future as prime minister is surely doomed. Across the Atlantic, Trump's future looks shakier per day but he isn't having any of it. If he is to go down he will go down shouting and screaming. But at least he will still be a billionare.

Non-stop events

A long time ago a British Conservative prime minister, Harold Macmillan, was asked what he feared most as leader and he famously replied, or he is supposed to have famously replied: "Events, dear boy, events." These last few weeks it has all been about events. No head of government can wake up in the morning and say to himself or herself: "I think I'll have a nice quiet day today, nothing much in the diary, sod it, I'll go for a row down the river and have a picnic." Oh no, just when everything is ready, the sandwiches are made, the phone rings and BANG, the quiet day is over. For Trump, there hasn't been a quiet day since he arrived in the White House although he has managed a few holes on his favourite golf course. But basically, if it's not some latest Russia-related scandal, it's leaks galore in the Washington papers, missiles launched by Kim Jong-un, Syria needing to be Tomahawked, Merkel being grumpy, shootings all over the place etc etc. For Theresa May, as if nearly losing her job wasn't enough, today there has been the most ghastly tragedy in the block of flats that burst into flames in London, killing at least 12 people, the scandal of why this could have happened and who was to blame for not ensuring proper fire safety regulations, plus the never-ending talks with that DUP (Democratic Unionist Party) woman, Macron's crafty pitch for the UK to stay in the EU, and England losing against Pakistan in the semi-final of the world cricket tournament. It's all too much to bear. Quite why Theresa wants to hang on I don't know. I see that nice Tim Farron, Liberal Democrat leader, has just resigned. That didn't take him long and he didn't even have a bad election result. What is going on in our country? We're about as strong and stable as the Titanic! I would like someone in an important position to say: "Ok, to hell with all of those who voted to leave the EU, Brexit is now a banned word, we're staying with our European friends, and by the way we won't have Trump here on a state visit until he learns to be civil, and we want a new YOUNG, brilliant, charming, sweet-natured, visionary politician to lead our country, I don't care which sex or which party." There, then we can all be strong and stable together and look forward to a bright future.

Trump-May special relationship

There is now a different kind of special relationship between the United States and Britain. I suspect that Donald Trump, under fire from all quarters, and Theresa May, also under fire from all quarters, have something very much in common!! They are both having a dreadful time. Nobody likes them. They once held hands and perhaps now at this critical time in their respective political careers, they are holding hands again, or at least commiserating together over the phone. Let us imagine what they might be saying: Theresa: "Hello, who's that?" Donald: "Trump here." Theresa: "Oh Mr President." Donald: "Please, call me Donald." Theresa: "Donald, how are things?" Donald: "Bloody awful, everyone's against me." Theresa: "I know the feeling." Donald: "What are you going to do?" Theresa: "Well I've brought back the ghastly Gove into my cabinet just to keep him quiet, and let Hammond keep his job at the Treasury...for the moment. Now I've got to talk to these awful so-called Democrats in Northern Ireland. Donald, you wouldn't believe the way they're treating me. They storm out of the room if I start to say no to their demands. I have to call them back and give in. It's so humiliating. My manifesto now looks more like a Labour document. Hard Brexit is now squidgy Brexit, dementia tax has become sweety sweety tax, winter fuel allowance has been doubled for everyone, free school meals is back, and cooked by Jamie Oliver or Gordon Ramsey, I can't remember which, and Northern Ireland is to have a slush fund of 150 billion pounds to do with as they wish. It's a nightmare." Donald: "Can't you tell them all to go screw themselves?" Theresa: "What, and risk having bloody Jeremy Corbyn as prime minister instead of me?" Donald: "Don't worry about Corgy!! I'll get Seal Team 6 to sort him out for good." Theresa: "I wish. Thank you, Donald, what would I do without our special relationship? But hold fire on the Seal option until I've sorted out the gang from Northern Ireland. And how about you, how are you getting on? At least you don't have to have another presidential election." Donald: "I'm going to sack Mueller. Have you seen the criminal investigation team he has recruited? Who does he think he is? He's supposed to be a special counsel, not a special prosecutor. He's getting too big for his boots. He's finished. I don't care if it causes the biggest row since I sacked Comey. I can't have anyone telling me what to do. Comey is a liar, and now Mueller is trying to destroy my presidency." Theresa: "I sympathise, but be careful, Donald, if they try to impeach you, then I won't have any friends left at all. Mind you, I'll be lucky to have a job in six months' time. Why on earth did I go into politics? You get no thanks, and whatever you do, the media hate you." Donald: "Don't start me on the media. I'm planning to abolish the press. Pootin's recommending a sort of Pravda for relaying the news. I Googled it and it looks a pretty cool idea. Don't tell anyone though. If it goes ok, you could try it as well. Must go, Melania's calling for her afternoon massage."

Government by cabal

Whatever happened to cabinet government in this country of mine? Where all cabinet ministers are consulted, talked to, sought advice from, kept in the loop, regarded as trusted partners for the good of the country? It's all done by cabal these days, tiny groups of co-conspirators who plot and plan the way forward - or backward - and come up with things like manifestos without cross-government debate. Tony Blair had his relaxed "sofa cabinet", his main buddies around him, Gordon Brown, well he had his demons to keep him company, David Cameron was all cosy cosy, cosy with his inner circle and then along comes Theresa May who seemed to be more likely to embrace her cabinet and bring a greater sense of democracy to her style of government. But, no. She soon had her praetorian guard around her, keeping everyone else at bay. The bad-mouthing, rude Fiona Hill and Nick Timothy, the Norwegian-hill-walker-lookalike with his long beard, acting as her joint chiefs of staff. Instead of masterminding administration at Number 10, they took on the role of governing and moving Theresa May around like a chess piece and making decisions that turned out to be disastrous and writing unbelievably curt emails to any minister who wanted to play a role in decision-making. So, Fiona H and Nick T and Theresa's husband Philip who actually looks a decent bloke, made up the prime minister's chief advisers. She'd fallen out with Philip Hammond, the Chancellor, was so wary of Boris Johnson she must have prayed each morning for deliverance, regarded Amber Rudd at the Home Office as her main female rival, probably vaguely regarded Michael Fallon at Defence as a supporter but had a nasty feeling he might have ambitions, knew she could trust Damian Green at Work and Pensions (now promoted to First Secretary of State) and all the rest were a waste of space. So government by cabal. Of course, now that the election result has made her position about as comfortable as a ride in a bumper car, and she has got rid of Fiona H and the Norwegian look-alike, she will start consulting everyone before getting up in the morning. Or at least, she better, but I bet it won't be long before she has a new cabal around her because that's the only way the modern UK prime minister feels safe. It's the same with Trump. He has this vast array of advisers and cabinet members, this mighty inter-agency machine. But actually he puts his trust more in his daughter and son-in-law for advice. This is great democracy. In my humble view, Theresa May, facing the start of the Brexit talks in a matter of days, should put the country first and create a national Brexit committee which should include serious people from the main opposition parties to thrash out what is best for the nation. This is our future, and the future of our children, we can't have a Brexit deal negotiated by Theresa May's cabal, whoever is in it.

Comey stands tall

First of all, James Comey is 6ft 8ins. That's pretty tall but I reckon he stands even taller this morning. His testimony to the Senate Intelligence Committee was forthright, not grandstanding, honest (as far as we can tell), alarming and simply stated. His words, carefully chosen, amounted to a prima facie case of obstruction of justice committed by the president of the United States. Trump's clever lawyer who was sensibly selected to counter Comey's arguments rather than have a torrent of Trump tweets, effectively accused Comey of lying about conversations he had had with the president and highlighted the bits in the testimony which put Trump in a good light. I don't think there's an intelligent person on the planet who believes Trump instead of Comey. Having taken notes of the conversations as soon as they were over, Comey, a good old-fashioned FBI man, would surely not have written down a totally false account of the chats. Perhaps this is what Trump did. Perhaps he took out a note book and put down his version of the conversations, knowing they would clash with the then FBI director's memory. If that's the case, who is the more credible witness? It has to be Comey, he has more credibility than Trump. The president wanted Comey to stop investigating the Russia affair. There's little doubt about that. That's obstruction, interference, whatever you like to call it. The only worrying aspect of Comey's testimony is his confession that he arranged the leaking of his conversations with Trump. This gives ammunition to his critics, specially the White House, that he was playing a political game behind the scenes. What he did is not a criminal offence but it slightly tarnishes his image of being an upright, straightforward guy. Despite that, he came across as a man who feels he was unfairly sacked as director of the FBI, a job he loved and had fully intended to keep for the full ten-year term. He will remain Trump's Enemy Number One. If he doesn't finish off the Trump presidency, then I suspect Robert Mueller will, once he has completed his investigation into the Russia allegations. It's a very sorry state of affairs. Still, at least Theresa May won't have the embarrassment of hosting Trump in a State visit to London later this year. She will no longer be prime minister of Great Britain!

Trumpspeak

Trump's latest example of diplomacy was so typical of the man. He says sorry to Tehran for the loss of 13 lives from an IS terror attack but then effectively tells the Iranians they deserve it because they are state sponsors of terrorism. It's such a graceless remark. OK, Iran has been accused of sponsoring terrorism on many occasions by previous American presidents. But there is now a nuclear deal with Tehran under which Iran stops the enrichment of uranium in return for a lifting of economic sanctions. In other words, perhaps a golden opportunity to improve relations and bring Iran back into the international community. That's going to take time, there's still a lot of suspicion and cynicism on both sides, but surely there's a glimmer of hope that things will change. Then along comes Trump and hits them in the eye. The Iranian foreign minister responds by saying Trump's remark is repugnant. The important thing for Trump to get into his head is that it is not the Iranian people who are being accused of sponsoring terrorism, it's the regime, and more particularly the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. The Revolutionary Guards' support of Hezbollah, defined by Washington as terrorists, and their aggressive intervention in Iraq and Syria make them America's enemy. But there are times for accusation and there are times for a generosity of spirit. Trump started all right with his message of sympathy but then spat on it with his little barb. America's reputation is going down hill so fast because of the man in the White House. It is very very sad to watch.

Definition of Trump

Trump is now a new word in the dictionary. It has multiple meanings: "Charging around blindfolded, saying things in ignorance and not regretting it, being totally unaware of diplomatic niceties, not caring a fig about saying the opposite of everyone else, hating....." I could go on, but the dictionary definition of trumping, to trump and to be trumped runs to several pages and I don't have the space or the inclination to cite them all. Suffice to say, Qatar has been trumped this week. Probably the most important ally of the Pentagon in the Middle East, it hosts the huge al-Udeid airbase which is the forward operating centre for US Central Command from which all missions in Iraq and Syria are supervised, monitored and managed. There are 10,000 US troops in Qatar and a whole range of aircraft, including F16s, A10s, KC135 tankers, C17 transporters, Predator drones etc etc. It's a massive and massively important base for the US. But, says, Trump, in trumping mood, Qatar is a dreadful country supporting all the worst things in life such as terrorism and fawning over Iran. Now Qatar, it has to be said, like every country in the region plays a double game: supporting the US and the West but behind their backs financing a lot of dodgy organisations and ideologies for its own domestic reasons. Saudi Arabia's accusation against Qatar for sponsoring terrorism is a bit rich!! Only Trump thinks Saudi Arabia is a golden treasure of goodness and charity. But the point is, Trump has it in his head that his visit to Saudi Arabia last month was so magically brilliant that he and only he persuaded the royal kingdom and the other Gulf states to point the finger at Qatar and effectively isolate its neighbour as punishment for being a terrorist backer. Did Trump stop and think for one moment that his harsh comments against Qatar might imperil the Pentagon's position in the gas-rich Gulf state? Did he even know that Central Command has a forward operating base at al-Udeid? The poor Pentagon and State Department have been scrabbling around trying to repair the damage. Trump thinks he has won a diplomatic coup. In fact, his "charging around blindfolded" has created chaos and possibly long-term damage. Sean Spicer, probably the most miserable man on God's earth, appears to have given up trying to make amends for his boss's outrageous verbal interventions. He has now said that the Trump tweets are the tweets of the President of the United States and therefore should be treated with respect as policymaking on the hoof. If Trump says Qatar is a terrorist-sponsoring state, IT IS. So, General Jim Mattis, prepare to withdraw American forces from Qatar!! By the way, don't even think of transferring everything to Saudi Arabia. That nice country does NOT want American troops stamping all over the place ever again. Once was enough in 1990/91 when thousands of men and (oh my God) women in uniform arrived to prepare for Operation Desert Storm, to drive Iraqi occupiers from neighbouring Kuwait. Do you remember that, Mr Trump?

The terror conundrum

Politicians are saying that the police and MI5 need more resources to cope with the unpredictable and growing terror threat. Theresa May has even been blamed for the current terrorist attacks because of her decision to cut the police force by 20,000 when she was Home Secretary. Well, obviously the more police officers actually on the streets and in the communities the better for all of us. But adding resources and increasing the number of people working for the police and MI5 will not guarantee our safety. Even if MI5 manning levels were tripled or quadrupled, they would still be up against Islamic fanatics who could carry out an attack with the minimum of planning, thus escaping the notice of surveillance teams. You can't have MI5 surveillance experts standing on every street corner in the UK. The answer to the increased terror threat has to come from within the communities themselves. A terror hotline was set up so that members of the public could alert MI5 and the police to potentially radicalised neighbours/friends/relatives/acquaintances. But are these tip-offs being taken seriously enough or are the hotline operators suffering from crying wolf syndrome? "Oh God, another demented person complaining about his/her neighbour." I hope this is not the case. But it is clear that tip-offs from neighbours in this latest terror incident were either ignored or not believed to be important. Here we have a known radical extremist who had appeared for heaven's sake in a Channel Four documentary about radical extremism who showed all the signs of being a person with hatred in his heart, and yet two days before going off to kill seven people and injuring 48 he can hire a van, drive it up and down his street as if to test its acceleration, and no one, NO ONE, puts two and two together. The warning to the hotline should have been enough to alert the police and MI5 that Khuram Butt was no longer a "person of interest" but someone who needed to be watched like a hawk. Instead of being on the "also ran" list, he should have shot up the target list. This is hindsight judgment, I know, but the way the terror scene is developing - vans, knives, cars, as well as explosives - EVERY hotline tip about a neighbour acting in an excessively radicalised manner HAS to be investigated. Making an assessment in an office in front of a computer that there's no "evidence" of a terror plot in the making is just not good enough anymore. Alarm bells should be ringing every time the hotline phone buzzes. In communities where there are patently radical Islamists walking the streets, mouthing obscenities against non-believers and talking glowingly of their brothers in Syria, individuals who feel concerned and tip off the police are the best hope we all have of avoiding the next terrorist attack. Of course the technical stuff - listening devices etc - will catch some plotters, and MI5 surveillance teams working round-the-clock to watch certain priority plotting suspects will and do foil attacks. They are doing this on a regular basis. But on the whole they will catch the hardened fanatics who are plotting to blow up London Transport or airliners, although as we know from 7/7 that's not always the case. But neither the police nor MI5 are going to know every time a radicalised Muslim and a couple of his mates decide to hire a van and drive it at people walking across a London bridge. This is where the local communities are so important. There's no point having a terror hotline if crucial evidence on the phone is not acted upon!

Faces of evil

Watching the news of the London Bridge and Borough Market terror attack, I was struck by the words of one of the many witnesses. He was asked what the terrorists looked like, the expression on their faces while they were going around stabbing people with long butcher knives. The reply was: "Evil, their eyes were evil, they looked evil." I know that look. I saw it once on the faces of two al-Qaeda suspects. They were squatting on the floor of a large police cell in Basra, southern Iraq. The other 30-40 prisoners in the cell were standing up as I was led in accompanied by three Iraqi police officers in balaclavers. I was being shown the facilities as a war reporter for The Times. There was an air of menace and anger in the large space but the two men sitting on the floor gave me a look of total evil. It was as if they were examining my face to remember it for the future. They were suspects in the bombing of an Iraqi oil well. I have no idea what became of them. But that evil stare has remained with me. So I know what that witness was talking about. Men engaged in murder for what they believe is a cause have a look of such evil that you know they have given up for ever the idea of playing a role in the world as a human being. They are there to kill and to die. The three terrorists on London Bridge and in Borough Market, both of which by the way are close to The Times, the newspaper I have worked for for more than 30 years, knew they were going to die. More than 50 bullets were fired by Metropolitan police to end their lives and thus snuff out their evil looks. It is a tragic and scary certainty that there are many more of these evil people lurking in our society. Since the rise of Isis, that's the future we all have to confront. But there have been so many uplifting moments amidst the slaughter and hatred that keep me sane: the brilliant resilience of the British people, the young man seen running from the terror, trying not to spill the pint of beer in his hand, the sensational Ariana Grande putting her arm around the choir girl at her side when she began to weep during the Manchester concert, the workers once again crossing London Bridge this morning and the sight of armed police, paramedics and so many others getting on with the business of saving lives and protecting the great city of London. Evil never survives for long!

Terrorism in the name of Allah

I am sick of hearing terrorists shouting that the killings and maimings they are carrying out are in the name of Allah. Who is this Allah? Is he a God of violence and hatred? That's the only explanation I can think of for last night's latest terror attack in the UK? Hatred in the name of a God is an historic cliche, going back to the Crusaders. But in today's world, Allah is being praised for acts of brutality and atrocity, as if that justifies everything. Modern politicians can't cope with this sort of mindless ideology and, I'm afraid, nearly always say the wrong things when they are requested to react to the latest attack. Instead of dismissing these Allah-invoking terrorists as murderers and killers and leave it at that, they have to come up with meaningless phrases which show up their confusion. Theresa May, for example, has said this morning that the terrorists attacked "unarmed and innocent civilians". Sorry!!! UNARMED civilians!! What sot of society does she believe we live in? Do people go to bars and restaurants in London armed to the teeth with guns etc??!! Of course the lovely people enjoying their night out last night were "unarmed". And innocent? Why would civilians be anything else but innocent? It's meaningless. Then there's the comment made by Sadiq Khan, the Mayor of London. He said violence like this could not be justified! Well, durgh!!! Violence against men, women and children carrying on their normal lives could never be justified under any circumstances. How could it ever be, whatever Allah appears to be calling for? It's meaningless to say it's not justified because that implies that some violence against civilians might be justified. Doesn't it? All the other political stuff about "we won't be cowed by these terrorists, life will go on", is a now all too familiar mantra. I don't object to that, we are, after all, in this together and must stand together, but one of these days a politician might stand up and say something that isn't out of the book of cliches. We WON'T give in to terrorism! We all know that. But somehow it never really comforts us when a senior politician trots out that same old remark. Unfortunately, the way terrorism is going these days, it's difficult to see how any government can guarantee the safety of its citizens when all the terrorists have to do is get a van and a few butcher's knives and go on the rampage. The police last night were brilliant. They shot dead the three terrorists within EIGHT minutes of being called up. That is impressive. Only action like that is going to make the next terrorist plotter possibly think twice before doing the same, not some meaningless phrase uttered by a politician.

Trump changes climate

I really do sincerely believe that Trump today is going to make the most important decision of his presidency. There is no bigger decision than whether to stay in or leave the Paris climate-change agreement. If he says the US is OUT, then it will be one of the worst decisions by any president in living memory. It will be a total abrogation of American leadership in the world. It will be the most selfish America-is-the-only-important-country on the globe announcement. It will be zero leadership. Trump's reputation will slip as swiftly as the icebergs are melting in the Antarctic. He will no longer exist as a moral authority on anything, if he ever did. It will be the president of the United States saying: "I don't care about the rest of the world, I don't care about the future of the planet. All I care about are my coal miners, and my money-making industries." Angela Merkel will despise him even more than she does at the moment. Theresa May, well she may not be much longer in Number 10 Downing Street, but if by a miracle she does survive the election, she will have to drop all pretence of being nice to Trump. All of this is a disaster for one of the countries I love most in the world. America is a wonderful country, I have lots of great friends in different parts of the US of A. They deserve a leader who looks beyond the boundaries of the US and worries about the state of the world. That includes climate change which will affect America as well as the rest of us. So, Mr Trump, ignore the advisers such as Steve Bannon who wants you to stick with your campaign pledge to leave the Paris accord and listen to the more intelligent views of James Mattis and Rex Tillerson and your daughter Ivanka. Be bold, be brave, be special, be prudent, be inspirational, be sensible, STAY with the rest of the world - barring Syria and Nicaragua - and help save the planet. If you do this at 8pm this evening, your reputation everywhere will soar. You will make us all astonished and happy. We might even begin to like you. Now there's a thought.