Meg and I had a good night's sleep last night and managed, unlike yesterday, to be well prepared for when Meg's two carers call around five minutes earlier this Sunday morning. The two care workers evidently got on well with each other (sometimes this is not always the case) and were assiduous in making sure Meg was comfortably seated in her chair before being wheeled down to our Music Lounge. We shall be seeing the same pair again for the midday call, as it happens. We chatted away on the perennial topics of children, holidays and all points in between. The politics programs are particularly interesting this morning. One big headline is, of course, the fact that the Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, has been 'taken out' by Israel i.e. killed in a targeted strike. Whether this makes for sensible politics is debatable. Now that Nasrallah has been killed, commentators are speaking of his intelligence, political skills and length of service and it could well be that he will be replaced by a leader who is infinitely less experienced and more hard line and is this what Israel actually wants? It looks as though a ground invasion of Lebanon is almost certain and now that the Hezbollah leadership has been largely eliminated, it looks as though Israel is now intent on invading Lebanon for a second time and one suspects of creating another 'Gaza' in that unhappy land. We also have the final four candidates for the Tory party leadership putting out their pitches mainly in the forms of interviews and the two front runners may well be Kemi Badenoch and Robert Jenrick at this stage but after the vote at the Tory party conference, two names will go forward to the wider party membership. Personally, I am of the view that in both of major political parties, given that we live in a parliamentary democracy, the selection procedures in both parties should, as a minimum, have the support of a majority of MPs in their respective parties. Otherwise we may get a repeat of the Jeremy Corbin and Liz Truss situation when whatever parliamentary support there may have been melts away. There has been one standout story, though, from the interviews with the candidates for the Tory party leadership. When candidates for the Tory party leadership were questioned about affairs in Lebanon, most skirted around the issues of the terrible events unfolding in the Lebanon but not Kemi Badenoch. She was forthright in saying if she was PM 'I would be congratulating Prime Minister Netanyahu. I think what they did was extraordinary. Israel is showing that it has moral clarity in dealing with its enemies and the enemies of the West as well' she said. 'Hezbollah is a terrorist organisation, and I think that being able to remove the leader of Hezbollah, as they did, will create more peace in the Middle East.' No doubt, there was a certain amount of grandstanding in this response but suffice it to say that I have heard of no other political leader or commentator who has ventured to suggest that decapitating the leader of Hezbollah which actually makes the world a safer place. But there are two other big stories this Sunday. The other big political story this morning is the fact that a recently elected MP. Rosie Duffield, has resigned from the Labour Party and is to remain as an independent MP. Her resignation letter is said to be absolutely scathing and to nobody's surprise, it is the combination of the 'cruelty' of the withdrawal of the winter fuel allowance and the showering of gifts (and their ready acceptance) by the Keir Starmer which has really proved to be the last straw. I will just take the liberty of quoting some of the most scathing sections of the resignation letter but it has to be read to be believed:'Since the change of government in July, the revelations of hypocrisy have been staggering and increasingly outrageous. I cannot put into words how angry I and my colleagues are at your total lack of understanding about how you have made us all appear....How dare you take our longed-for victory, the electorates sacred and precious trust, and throw it back in their individual faces and the faces of dedicated and hardworking Labour MPs?! The sleaze, nepotism and apparent avarice are off the scale. I am so ashamed of what you and your inner circle have done to tarnish and humiliate our once proud party....Someone with far-above-average wealth choosing to keep the Conservative two-child limit to benefit payments which entrenches children in poverty, while inexplicably accepting expensive personal gifts of designer suits and glasses costing more than most of those people can grasp - this is entirely undeserving of holding the title of Labour Prime Minister. Forcing a vote to make many older people iller and colder while you and your favourite colleagues enjoy free family trips to events most people would have to save hard for - why are you not showing even the slightest bit of embarrassment or remorse?'
Our routines on a Sunday have a different rhythm to the rest of the week, largely as a result of watching the twin Politics programs on Sky News and BBC1. By the time these are finished and we have a leisurely washing up, we then prepare ourselves for a walk down into town. As the weather is getting a little colder, I equipped Meg with a (Manchester University) scarf and a warmer blanket and then we hastened down the hill to pick up our copy of the 'Sunday Times' Then we go straight home, without dropping off for a sojourn in the park. Rather, when we got home I treated ourself to some chicken soup in a mug which I prepare by dissolving a packet soup in some boiling water, topping up with full cream milk and micro waving to the appropriate temperature. Then the late morning carers arrived and after Meg had been made comfortable, I prepared our lunch of ham, baked potato and broccoli. After lunch, we dipped into the Walt Disney version of 'Alice Through the Looking Glass' which was not entirely to our taste and so we quickly moved onto other offerings. We actually did view last Thursday night's broadcast of 'Question Time' which I had viewed once before but managed to sleep through practically from the first moment to the last. I find these days that when I am seated in my favourite armchair with a cup of coffee in my hand, I quickly fall asleep within minutes even if the programme in front of me is reasonably engaging.
© Mike Hart [2024]