Déjà Vu All Over Again
It is starting to feel like Groundhog Day...
Let’s take a walk around the world and see what is happening.
Quote to Guide the Walk: “The single biggest problem in communication is the illusion that it has taken place.” – George Bernard Shaw; “Between what is said and not meant, and what is meant and not said, most of love is lost.” – Khalil Gibran
Russia continues to pound Kyiv, killing civilians and destroying infrastructure. Despite promises made, the US and Europe are yet to hand over blueprints that would enable Ukraine to build its own Patriot Missiles and missile defence systems, though both the UK and France are in the process of doing so. Trump, as usual, said yes, then no, then maybe, then…well, you know how he is.
Israel’s Prime Minister, Bibi Bop, has made clear that he has no intention of abiding by the peace deal he struck with the US and Hamas and that he will not withdraw a single Israeli soldier until Hamas is completely disarmed and dissolved. So, no progress on peace in Gaza. Remember: there is an election in Israel in October, and Bibi is standing for the 47th time (it feels like).
A New York State Assembly bill (A11501), introduced by Assemblymember Nikki Lucas, would require “food retail establishments” -supermarkets and other retailers that sell food - to give customers a 10% discount when they use self‑service checkout kiosks. The rationale is that shoppers are now doing part of the checkout labour themselves and should share in the savings created by automation. I tried to get into the Walmart staff Xmas party on the grounds that I was a frequent user of self-checkout at their Meadowlark store but was denied access.
In The New Statesman, Freddie Hayward suggests that Trump is now utterly bored with being President, finds the whole of the work he has to do annoying, and is more prone to temper tantrums and fits of high anxiety-fuelled rants. He is looking for a legacy. He spends around 70% of his time on the ballroom, the Arc de Trump, the new helicopter landing pad, and the remake of Washington, DC and Dulles Airport. Given that he spends 20% of his time on the golf course, it doesn’t leave much time for the work of government. In his mind, he is the “great leader” of our age: an easily bored narcissist reared on television and gossip who doesn’t read or have any ideological depth. His fleeting interest in the Iran war did not prevent him from launching it in the first place. He emotes, shouts and signs executive orders and the world spins. His legacy will be one of disgrace, but in his mind, he is already a superhero.
Singer and artist Ariane Grande (33) has had enough of journalists, influencers and media reporters commenting on her body and its seeming fragility. She is stepping away from public life so that she can have some privacy and respect. Good for her. Let’s hope Meghan Markle (aka Duchess of Sussex) does the same. Her body looks even more fragile than Ariane’s.
The US Congress, which has obviously nothing to do, will soon pack up for the summer and will be back in the first few days of September. Just before they left, they managed to pass a budget bill which funds the government till December, avoiding a shutdown.
At last, a good use for AI: While travelling abroad, user asked an AI-powered agent to keep searching for her missing cat. The agent scheduled recurring checks of humane society listings and relevant forums, then alerted the owner days later to a likely match. The cat had been found. Hurrah: one positive use!
The youngest ever black Professor of the Sociology of Education at Cambridge – Jason Arday (41) – has resigned following intense scrutiny of the largely ridiculous claims made on his CV and in public statements as well as serious issues of plagiarism in his published work. For example, he stated that he had appeared in the long-running documentary series 7-Up, which actually began 21 years before he was born, and the premise of the documentary would exclude him from it. It’s all a bit embarrassing for Cambridge and even more so for him.
Princess Eugene (36) and her husband Jack Brooksband (40) have announced the arrival of their third child – a daughter. Born in Lisbon, Portugal, where the family spends a lot of their time in a house they own as opposed to the one they live in rent-free in Kensington (Ivy Cottage – paid for by King Charles). The new baby joins two brothers – August (now 5) and Ernest (now 3). The baby is 15th in line for the throne. Princess Eugene is a director at London art gallery Hauser & Wirth and her husband works for property tycoon Mike Meldman’s Discovery Land Co., which operates 35 high-end properties around the world. Meldman is a close friend of George Clooney – and was cofounder with George and Rande Gerber of the Clooney Tequila brand, which they sold to Diageo for $700 million in 2017.
Sports: FIFA’s next president will be confirmed at the organization’s 77th Congress in Morocco next March or sooner if an emergency meeting is called. Candidates have until 18th November to put their names forward. The winner will need to secure 106 votes from the 211 voting delegates. This could all happen sooner if Gintonic Infantile steps down or is forced to resign (very unlikely). The likely candidates are Victor Montagliani is the president of Concacaf, which runs football in North and Central America and the Caribbean – he is Canadian and based in Vancouver; Sheikh Salman bin Ebrahim al Kalifa, AFC President – the Bahraini has presided over significant growth within the Asian confederation, through the Champions League Elite, Champions League Two, the Challenge League and the Women’s Champions League, which was launched in 2024-25 plus the Asian Cup has been expanded to 24 teams; the Paris St-Germain president Nasser Al-Khelaifi – though his close friends say he doesn’t want to top job; and Mattias Grafstrom, appointed Fifa secretary general in May 2024, he has become an increasingly influential voice around the Fifa table. Right now (and yet again), FIFA is a mess. Who wants to sort it out and is willing to do what is needed to clean house?
Emma Raducanu, the Canadian | British tennis player, is out of the US Open – she is still recovering from her leg injury. The good news is that Carlos Alcarez will play – at least it looks that way right now. He has missed most of the season this year due to a wrist injury. The Williams sisters will play doubles at the US Open.
Soundtrack for this Walk: Hiromi Uehara’s piano playing is a vivid collision of virtuosity, curiosity, and theatrical energy. Her performances move effortlessly between delicate introspection and explosive, almost rock‑like intensity, often within a single piece. Trained from childhood with an emphasis on intuition as much as technique, she treats the piano as a storytelling instrument: every phrase feels like it is searching, questioning, and then joyfully resolving. Stylistically, Hiromi draws from stride, post‑bop, classical, progressive rock, fusion and pop, but the synthesis is entirely her own. On albums like Another Mind, Brain, Spiral and Spectrum, rapid-fire left-hand ostinatos underpin right-hand lines that stretch across the keyboard in long, harmonically adventurous arcs. She frequently shifts meters and textures, yet the sense of groove never disappears. Even at her most complex, the music swings or pulses with an almost physical momentum. Hiromi’s playing is famously kinetic: she leans into the instrument, lifts off the bench, laughs at a surprising modulation, and seems to experience each climax with the audience. Reviewers often describe her runs as “otherworldly,” comparing their length and intensity to the most demanding Herbie Hancock or Chick Corea solos, but with a rhythmic and emotional clarity that keeps listeners oriented. Solo projects like Spectrum explore colour and atmosphere, turning the black‑and‑white keys into prismatic sound, while electric ensembles such as Sonicwonder and Sonicbloom let her deploy synths and keyboards to expand the piano’s timbral universe. Across formats, Hiromi’s music insists that virtuosity is meaningful only when it serves feeling, surprise, and connection. Given her recent appearance on The Piano (Channel 4) as a judge, she is also a very warm and caring person. Listen and enjoy.
A Book and a Drink at the End of the Walk: Thane Gustafson has spent decades studying Russia’s economy and energy sector. Rather than focusing solely on Putin, he explains why Russia’s post-Soviet opening to the West ultimately failed, how sanctions and the Ukraine war reshaped the economy, and what the country’s long-term prospects are. It is analytical rather than polemical and particularly valuable if you’re interested in the interaction between economics, technology and geopolitics – the book is Perfect Storm: Russia’s Failed Economic Opening, the Hurricane of War and Sanctions, and the Uncertain Future (Oxford University Press). Reading this, I needed a vodka-based drink. I chose a Black Russian – vodka (50 ml) and a coffee liquor (20 ml) on ice. Scary stuff.
One the best writers on contemporary issues in the UK was Rod Liddle, who wrote for The Spectator amongst other things (The Sun, Sunday Times). His column was one of the first I read whenever the new edition of the Speccie arrived. Sadly, Rod died in hospital aged 66. I will miss his devilish mind and creative use of language. RIP.
TV & Film: The Chelsea Detective is back on Acorn TV, with Adrian Scarborough continuing his lead role as DI Max Arnold and Vanessa Emme as DS Layla Walsh. Love this show – serious crime drama, gentle humour, layered mystery and Chelsea as a backcloth. Frances Barber returns as Max’s ferocious but also friendly Aunt. What’s not to like? In the film front during yet another wet day, I sat and watched Disclosure Day. It is a sprawling, earnest sci‑fi thriller that feels like both a chase movie and a late‑career reflection from Steven Spielberg. The first hour, with Josh O’Connor’s Snowden‑esque tech whistleblower dodging Colin Firth’s government hunters, snaps along with real tension and a satisfying conspiracy‑thriller undertone. As the plot widens into UFO lore and decades of cover‑up, the film becomes a real mess; narrative threads and tonal shifts occasionally blur its focus, and the 2h 25m runtime just feels padded. What holds this mess of a movie together is Emily Blunt’s Margaret, a weather presenter drawn into alien contact whose grounded confusion and eventual resolve give the story emotional weight. Spielberg’s hallmark optimism - his belief that disclosure might deepen our humanity rather than destroy it - lands with warmth, even if the path there is uneven. Imperfect, messy and too long, but ambitious, Disclosure Day is engaging enough to merit the conversation it wants to start.
The second series of Ludwig (BBC iPlayer) will begin on August 20th – 6 episodes. David Mitchell and Anna Maxwell Davis lead this ensemble, and it is well worth your time.
Food: To celebrate Heritage Day, Lady Lynne and I went to a local Vietnamese restaurant for lunch – the Dac Biet (142nd Street next door to Friesen Brothers, Glenora). We had Pho - excellent. Pho is a bowl of quiet joy that arrives in a cloud of fragrant steam. Clear yet deeply savoury broth, long rice noodles, herbs and thin slices of brisket or chicken combine into a comforting, almost meditative meal. The first pleasure is aromatic: star anise, cinnamon, toasted spices and slow‑simmered bones create a perfume that seems to warm you before the first sip. Then comes texture - the soft tangle of noodles you lift and slurp, the crisp bean sprouts, the tender meat, all playing against each other in the bowl. Part of pho’s joy lies in participation. You shape each bowl with basil, lime, chili, hoisin or sriracha, finding exactly your balance of brightness, heat and sweetness. It is generous, adaptable, and somehow both light and satisfying, a food many describe as restorative when tired, cold, or unwell. Beyond flavour, pho carries the warmth of Vietnamese hospitality: families gathering over breakfast, friends talking over late‑night bowls, a shared ritual of comfort and care. In that sense, the joy of pho is not only in eating, but in belonging. Try it. Our city (Edmonton) has over 100 Vietnamese eateries.
Celebrity MasterChef (BBC iPlayer) begins on 18th August – should be fun, Georgio Locatelli and Grace Dent are fronting this series.
Quick Thoughts:
· My long-lost uncle left me a stately home in Scotland in his will. I have no idea where Sod Hall is, but I’ll find it!
· A friend said he was going to cut off the bottom of my best trousers and put them in a library. I thought, “Well, that’s a turn up for the books!”
· “The conflict in Iran would be over by now if President Trump had better intelligence” – Karoline Leavitt, White House Liar and Press Hater.
· Iran says it has no idea if anyone is in charge of the USA. Most Americans agree.
· “This is Iran’s last chance, until next week.” Said Donald Trump (not).
· RFK claims the democrats must have spent millions to make him look crazy. They didn’t have to spend a dime.
· The Melania movie cost $75 million to make. Its total revenues are $16.6 million. A lot to pay for access to the President and his Slovenian escort.
· History didn’t die; it just changed uniforms and hats.
· Polling data shows that Trump is less popular than explosive diarrhea.
· Donald Trump is furious that his own Justice Department told the truth. So furious, according to CNN, that he’s now considering firing Jeanine Pirro, the U.S. Attorney for Washington D.C. and one of his longest-standing allies, simply because her office did its job in dropping the reflecting pool vandalism charges on the basis of there being zero evidence of vandalism.
· Donald Trump promised supporters he would immediately ask the Supreme Court to reconsider its decision protecting birthright citizenship, calling the ruling an “absolutely insane” miscarriage of justice. He didn’t file an appeal. The deadline to do so has now passed. All of his children – all birthright citizens – are safe.
· Note to the Government of Israel: just because your people suffered a horrendous genocide does not give you the right to commit another one.
· Two weeks into his role as Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, Andy Burnham is taking a two-week foreign vacation. Britain is in good hands – Louise Haigh (39), First Secretary of State, is now in charge. She is known as “Red Lou.” What could possibly go wrong?
· I’ll just leave this here: “I didn’t lose my trousers in a scandal. I lost them in a tragic misunderstanding involving an MP, a hotel room and a draft.” Simon Farnaby (Edinburgh Fringe).
· Sad to hear about the closure of “Pins and Needles” magazine – apparently, due to poor circulation.
In the spirit of I’m Sorry, I Haven’t a Clue – the antidote to panel games (on BBC Radio 4 for 55 years and still going): Change a word, change a well-known radio program:
· The Archies
· Prick of the Week
· Litter from America
· Women’s Tour
· Composter of the Week
· Desert Island Whisks
· The Fool Program
· The Shopping Forecast
· Just a Minuet
· Mrs. Dales Diarrhea
· Brian of Britain
· The Gravy Lark
· Mrs. Dales Diarrhoea
New Definitions (contributions to the Uxbridge English Dictionary):
· Propaganda – when a Yorkshireman has a right good look.
· Cardiology – the study of knitwear
· Platypus: To give your cat pigtails
· Flemish: Rather like snot
· Celtic: A prison for fleas
· Cardiology: The study of knitwear
· Barbecue: A long wait for a haircut
· Diphthong: Fondue underwear
· Analogy: Something that makes you itchy and sneezy
· Buggery – the study of insects
· Norway – a Geordie exclamation of surprise
· Economy – a claim by one Italian man that he has been defrauded by another Italian man