The courage of the President of Ukraine and his people has inspired and united the West and the free world. However the reality that Russia's 'military operation' has not produced the capitulation and surrender Putin expected, has not resulted in any effective opposition in Russia to the invasion. This is due to the Russian population seeing only the state-cont
The broadcasts by President Zelensky to the House of Commons, the US Senate, the German Bundestag and the Israeli Knesset were met with standing ovations. A powerful video from Arnold Schwarzenegger urged Russians to spread the truth and oppose President Putin’s “illegal and senseless” war.
As Edmund Burke said “All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing”.
The supply of ammunition, imposition of sanctions, provision of humanitarian aid and assistance and the acceptance of refugees are what should be expected but will they be enough to stop the continuing massacre of civilians and the destruction of a democratic country, other than by risking World War III?
Inflation is already rising to levels experienced only by those of a certain generation. The notional ‘shopping basket’ was invented in 1947 by the Office of National Statistics to calculate inflation. This year, for the first time, the ONS has removed men’s suits from the basket as ‘must haves’.
One cannot blame the statisticians. They are merely reflecting that the suit, as the uniform of the professional man, has fallen out of favour – much to my own personal chagrin, of course.
Various factors have contributed, such as tech moguls like Steve Jobs and Mark Zuckerberg giving company presentations in baseball caps, t-shirts and combat trousers. ‘Dress down Fridays’ and working from home have accentuated this lamentable trend. Business pictures show executives in open shirts, the suit being deemed an anachronism – perhaps reserved for weddings and funerals, if at all.
It is said that a suit improves a man’s body image, hides a multitude of flaws and absolves men of the need to decide what to wear. Perhaps after a few years of open shirts, washed out jeans and designer trainers, the smart stylish suit will make its return. In the meantime the ONS has added to the basket anti-bacterial surface wipes, sports bras and hand weights for home exercise.
In the 1960s song Eve of Destruction, Barry McGuire sang “You can leave here for four days in space, But when you return it’s the same old place”.
Maybe not. What of the $150billion international space station, that fine example of collaboration between the US, Russia, the EU (including the UK as a member of the European Space Agency), Japan and Canada?
Mark Vande Hei, a NASA crew member who has been on the station for a year, is expecting to return to earth in a few weeks time on a Soyuz rocket. Russia provides the propulsion to keep the station in space. It seems the cooperation agreement did not cover the possibility of the partners ‘falling out’. The expectation was that all would comply with International Law.
Watch out for the new IMDb film ‘ISS’ a thriller set on the International Space Station, about what happens if America and Russia do fall out and send conflicting instructions to their astronauts. The plot may be overtaken by events. A less galactic film just released is ‘The Phantom of the Open’ starring Mark Rylance. It is based on the true happenings of Maurice Flitcroft, a crane driver from Barrow in Furness who managed to qualify for the 1976 British Open Golf Championship and posted the highest ever score. Whilst golf is the back-drop, the film requires no knowledge of golf. The antics and hoaxes of Flitcroft make for a hilarious movie including showing up the R and A and the golf establishment and golf clubs in a light which ‘might’ have changed between 1976 and 2022
