Things I Think about Things

  As a republican, I regard the monarchy as an archaic system with little relevance to the modern world. I do not however hold any ill will towards the Windsors themselves, I just don't believe in the institution they represent. Their personal lives are generally of little to no interest to me. That being said, the current ongoing saga of former Prince Harry and Meghan Markle is difficult to ignore as it exposes a horrible underbelly of the UK: racism, misogyny and attitudes to mental health. The background to all of this is in 2018, American actress Meghan Markle married British Royal Prince Harry to become the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. In 2020, they made the decision to step back from their Royal duties and would work to make themselves financially independent. The question asked in the media was 'Why would they do this?' Look at the contributing factors and you realise the question should be, 'Why would they not?' On the face of it, Meghan's story should be...

In recent PMQ's, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson has spoken of his 'pride' at his Governments record in handling the global Covid-19 epidemic. According to a yougov poll, 41% of Britons agree he has done a good job ( https://yougov.co.uk/topics/international/articles-reports/2020/03/17/perception-government-handling-covid-19 ) My question is simple: which part do these respondents think has been handled well? Is it from back in January and February, when warnings were being issued of an oncoming pandemic but Boris thought it was more important Big Ben be allowed to ring for Brexit? When Johnson failed to attend any of the six COBRA meetings to prepare for the pandemic but went on holiday instead? When he failed to close down major sporting events to large crowds, including a rugby match he himself attended? When he used his'common sense' to shake hands with confirm Covid sufferers? Was it the dither and delay in going into lockdown? His government has been 'foll...

I write this on 2nd June 2020.  In USA, racial tensions are possibly the highest they've been since the Los Angeles riots of the 60's. Protests have broken out all over the country. Some have been peaceful, some have not. There has been looting and destruction of property. President Donald Trump has threatened to bring the army in. I do not know what will happen next. But what I do know is when this has passed, we need to look for ways to stop this happening again. The protests and the rioting began as a response to death of George Floyd. On 25th May 2020, Mr Floyd attended a market in Minneapolis where he was alleged to have used a counterfeit $20 bill. During his arrest, he fell to the floor and the arresting officer proceeded to apply pressure to his neck for nine minutes despite his protestation of  'I can't breathe'. Floyd died on the scene. The death of George Floyd was the spark that lit the fuse but it was a situation that had been brewing for a long time. T...