A Warning For History

Ah, Donald Trump. I must say that I’ve kind of missed him, in the most perverse way. Make no mistake, I’m no fan at all, but I do love to hate him. He’s like the villain at the end of a horror film: you know he’s gone for now, but he will be back.  And

The Truth Is A Sinking Ship: An open letter to Donald J. Trump

Dear Contestant 45, Even though you were not our President – that is, you were never a representative of the UK – your dangerous and venomous politics made it across the Atlantic Ocean and found a home here, too. Populists like you have always been present; regretfully, you gave them legitimacy on an international stage.

The Persistence of Memory

‘To heal, we must remember. It’s hard sometimes to remember. But that is how we heal. It is important to do that as a nation’. President-elect Joseph Robinette Biden Jr., 19th January 2021, on the eve of his inauguration at the Lincoln Memorial. As well as memory, it will take courage to look back and honestly

Hostiles on the Hill: Part II: The Truth Will Set You Free

We watched some further footage released from The New Yorker of the Capitol Hill insurrection. I honestly don’t understand how the insurrectionists (mostly men) don’t seem to have any awareness of how ridiculous they look and sound. They possess zero concept of irony. There are QAnon conspiracists, outright white supremacists and militias – amongst others

The Cult of Trump

“It was so unquestionable! There was so much proof that our election was stolen!” Trump supporter speaking on Capitol Hill, 6th January 2021. “What are we supposed to do? Okay? The Supreme Court’s not helping us; no-one’s helping us. Only us can help us. Only we can do it!”  (The crowd can then be heard chanting, ‘USA!

Hostiles on the Hill

“Remember this day forever!” The President of the United States of Amnesia. Almost four years earlier, in 2017, Trump was asked to condemn the killing of one person, and injuries sustained to others in Charlottesville. He did not particularly speak words of condemnation, instead choosing to say, “You also had some very fine people on

The Flags Of Our Fathers

“Flags are bits of coloured cloth that governments use first to shrink-wrap people’s minds and then as ceremonial shrouds to bury the dead.” Arundhati Roy said in 2002. It was the Confederate flag being brandished around the halls of the Capitol Building which is what set off this next trail of thoughts. Usually, when most

Attempted Coup On Capitol Hill

If we’re Plague Island, then the USA, the only country in the Western Hemisphere who have handled the pandemic on par with us has to be given an alternative name, too. The late, great, Gore Vidal once called his country ‘The United States of Amnesia’ and I think it’s appropriate to borrow the name from someone who lived the experience of being American. He said in 2004, “We