Last night the Trump psychodrama limo lurched off what was already a bad road into unknown terrain. This is why I am writing this on my new daily work machine, a 2015 MacBook Air that was no longer supported by fucking Apple, so is now running Linux Ubuntu. I still have – I could hardly… Continue reading

Today there is an article in the Guardian by the estimable Simon Tisdall. It’s about Donald Trump and what an oxygen thief he is. No arguments from me. The headline to M Tisdall’s piece is: “The global rule of law is not collapsing – Trump is the lone problem and he can be defeated.”  The sub-head… Continue reading

There is a need in the British middle-class psyche to be told what to do. Ideally, the person doing the telling should be a woman – a nanny. It probably helps if it is a posh one. Often, the telling is an exhortation to stiffen the sinews and is couched in terms that hark back… Continue reading

In Donald and me (1) I admitted to an obsession with Trump that probably bordered on the unhealthy. I think I went down swinging by suggesting that we all ought to be a little obsessed with the old crazy, or we might be blindsided by his craziness. In Donald and me (2) I rationalised my… Continue reading

I am typing this on a MacBook Air with 16 GB of RAM and an M3 chip. It is a lovely piece of kit – everything works and it is super-fast. I have been a Mac person since 2000, when I got a Power Mac G4. Back then I was still in love with what was… Continue reading

Yesterday there was a long article in the Guardian about Peter Mandelson, by two of its heavyweight political reporters. The primary purpose of a newspaper article is to impart news. Depending on the kind of article and the nature of the publication, it can be real news or trivial and intended to raise a laugh –… Continue reading

May it please the court, exhibit 1 in these proceedings is the Nobel Peace Prize of the 2025 Laureate, Maria Corina Machado. This should be where Maria keeps her other trophies, but it is now in The White House, after she placed it yesterday in the tiny, eager hands of Donald J Trump. I heard… Continue reading

Today I glanced through my Guardian, enjoying the lack of adverts since my recent return to the fold with a renewed subscription. It was Hobson’s choice – I must have access to at least one mainstream newspaper, to gauge how it compares to news from other sources. The Guardian pays its journalists and some of… Continue reading

There is a dictum in fiction writing that you should be able to love your hero or at that he should at least have some redeeming feature. I think it is a good one. It’s hard work engaging with a hero in book or film who is irredeemably nasty.  As I write, I am watching… Continue reading

I am not joking when I say that I have become obsessed with Donald Trump. Some of my friends say I shouldn’t fret about things I can’t change or do anything about. Others say they don’t watch the news and suggest that I try it. The other day one of them messaged me to count… Continue reading