We learn today that the White House is negotiating 'trade deals' with more than 15 countries, including the UK and after the USA vice-president J D Vance issued some helpful comments, there are fingers crossed within Whitehall that something better than the 10% general tariff announced for the UK might emerge as trade between the USA and the UK is approximately in balance anyway. But proper trade deals take months of detailed negotiations so one wonders what is being cobbled together at great haste by the current American administration. What we do know is that the Republican party had been spooked after the initial announcement of sweeping tariffs which led Donald Trump to announce a 90 day pause after the new policy had only been in effect for a week. All of this might sound very remote from our shores but it is real British jobs and the British economy that is being impacted so it is no wonder that a degree of nervousness abounds. It s being said by some commentators that here in the UK we have a strategic choice to make which is whether to ally ourselves with our nearest and biggest trade partner (which is the EU) or rely upon negotiated with a widely unpredictable USA. The word 'on the street' is that, despite Brexit the UK's best interests are served by a quiet alignment with EU standards so that our trade with the EU can be consolidated and attempt a more distant relationship with the USA. After all, economists and analysts at Cambridge Econometrics found that after Brexit, by 2035, the UK is anticipated to have three million fewer jobs, 32% lower investment, 5% lower exports and 16% lower imports, than it would have had been had we not withdrawn from the EU. If one wants to be truly pessimistic, hen there is no point wishing for an end to Donald Trump and what we might term 'Trumpism' There is quite a strong feeling that in four years time, the current USA vice-president J D Vance, who is a real nasty, will carry forward the Trump agenda with a vengeance and may well serve for two terms meaning that we have about eleven years of Trumpism to endure. Although we like to think of a 'special relationship' with the USA, this is not readily manifest.
I am still in my 'decluttering' mode and have turned my attention to the study, now that my desk and the neighbouring 'stationery' bookcase have been tidied up. I think that is best to tackle this task one shelf at a time on a daily basis and I may take the opportunity to prune some of books (approximately 700) I have accumulated after nearly 40 years in Higher Education. I did once throw an academic book away (entitled, as I remember 'Local Government in England and Wales') which was dated as 1946 assuming it to be worthless. But it is possible that there are historians who might found things of value and some of the books, for example in statistical theory will still have valid content. I did have a thought that a nearby university might have some interest in some of the book collection but I need to do some investigations to ascertain whether this would be the case or not. I have already given away any of the psychology books that I have to any of the carers studying psychology as part of their BTEC courses and I think I should see of any of them would be interested in any of the management books that I have. After a very rapid Google search, I think I have discovered a source that is interested in collecting the library of ex-academics (for a fee) with a promise that no books will end up in landfill but I will investigate this further when I have a chance.
The morning started off quite frantically as our domestic help called around this morning and this coincided both with the visits of the carers and also with our son who popped around. I was pleased to have purchased the Easter chocolate for him and his wife before they journey south for the weekend. In the middle of the morning, the hairdresser called around and as I had this well and truly calendared, I ensured that the care workers washed Meg's hair before the hairdresser had called around. Then Meg was wheeled in her chair into the kitchen where it is easier to sweep the hair clippings off the textured flooring. After I had lunched, a district nurse called around but after a quick consultation, it became apparent to both of us that Meg needed to be hoisted (by the care workers) onto the bed so that the district nurse could do a proper examination and reapply any dressings that proved necessary. So we agreed a time that the nurse would return to coincide with the afternoon visit of the carers, which she did and reapplied three dressings to pressure sores.
This morning, I received a text from our friends down the road indicating that they had not forgotten that next month is a significant birthday and they were thinking about organising a meal for us at a local Holiday Inn which does Sunday lunches and only a few hundred metres away i.e. within walking range of a wheelchair for Meg. I discussed this with my son and our domestic help, and we think it is a marvellous idea - as my son is now retired, it could be that we have a family meal on one day and another meal with friends on another day. Falling on a Sunday actually gives us some good options - sometimes restaurants are closed on a Monday if they have been open during the weekends, for example. Thinking about my age reminds me that we should really think of ourselves as being three ages (at least) The first of these is the chronological age dating from the year in which an individual is born. A second way of looking at age is biological age which is the condition of your internal organs were a pathologist to perform a post-mortem on your dead body. Finally, we might add a mental age - some people think of themselves as being much younger than they actually are. No doubt we could extend this further with things like emotional age but three ages is enough for most people.
© Mike Hart [2025]