Malcolm Blair-Robinson's Blog, page 61

Political Sleaze Thriller

 

Set in the mid nineteen nineties, this fast moving thriller lifts the curtain on sex, sleaze and corruption in high places as the long reign of the government totters to an end, following the ousting of the iconic Margaret Thatcher. The novel catches the mood of those times with a host of fictional characters who engage in political intrigue, sex, money laundering and murder, pursued by an Irish investigative journalist and his girlfriend, the daughter of a cabinet minister found dead in a hotel room after bondage sex.

Download £2.08 ($2.51)    Paperback 8.99 ($12.99)    UK    US

    

Trump Trashes Summit.

For those outside the US who watch and try to fathom the Trump presidency, the extraordinary sequence of events which has unfolded in the saga of the projected meeting with Kim Jon Un, defies explanation. The surprise was that it was set up at all and when it was it became a foreign policy triumph for an administration in pretty hot water all across the diplomatic firmament.  Then bit by bit, with incessant talk about Libya as an ideal model or possible consequence, the whole thing was undermined and an angry Trump has cancelled it. But make no mistake, the first stone was thrown by Bolton not by Kim.

Trump’s letter to Mr Kim is quite gracious and beguiling, whilst unable to resist the ‘ours is bigger’ boast. Perhaps this leaves the door open? Or has it fallen off its hinges? Trump supporters, a little under half of America, will rejoice at wise decisions and measured responses. The rest of America and most of the rest of the world, will regard this as yet another example of an administration in chaos with which constructive business is impossible.

At this moment  this blog is too confused to offer a view. Time will tell.

 

Border Costs

The revelation from HMRC that the extra cost to the economy of new technology controlled borders will be in the order of £20 billion annually comes as no surprise. Countries do not organise customs unions and free trade deals because they do not know what to do with their days; they set them up because the alternative is too expensive and reduces both living standards and trade. Downing Street’s response to the damning evidence given by the head of H.M. Revenue and Customs to the Treasury Select Committee, is that it knows there are problems.  Wow.  Clever.

NHS Funding: Getting Closer To Reason?

This Blog has posted so many times about the complete failure of the present fixed budget taxation funded NHS business model that I  will not bore readers by going over it all again. Likewise the fundamentally ridiculous management structure where no person takes responsibility for anything and multitudes of boards and quangos fight upon each other’s turf without useful results.

Noises coming out of this leaky government at war with itself at many different levels, indicate a rethink over the Lansley reforms and a recognition that the business model will have to be redrawn on quite different lines, with the capacity to expand the financial base in line with demand. This is very good news. All that we need is a coherent plan and timely delivery.

And that is where the government has real problems. Let us hope it can solve them.

Transatlantic Thriller: Download or Paperback

  Dr. Rachael Benedict is an American historian and a best-selling author. She has a British connection through her estranged father Saul, an English thriller writer. Saul, whose parents were of Anglo-German origin, has spent much of his life plotting to expose secrets from World War Two, which are so sensitive they have been subject to an extensive cover-up lasting seventy years. As the time approaches for him to make his move to expose duplicity, murder and lies at the heart of the British State, he seeks Rachael’s help. This provokes a killing spree as parts of the security services of both Britain and the United States become engaged in the drama, with one side determined to get the secrets out and the other determined to keep them hidden.

Set equally in the United States and Britain, the narrative grips from the first page, transporting the reader to the heart of government both in Washington and London and on into the darkest corners of the secret states on each side of the Atlantic. Rachael battles forward to unearth the truth both from intrigues of the Nazi era, but also within her own family, surviving three attempts on her life, before finally achieving her goal. Not only does she expose the truth from history and from her own roots, she has to delve deep into her own emotions to find the truth about herself.

CLICK IMAGE FOR UK                                   CLICK HERE FOR AMAZON.COM

The Monarchy: A Seismic Day.

This Blog does not engage in Royal comment, unless the issue is the Constitution. But the historic wedding yesterday deserves just a few words.

It was a ceremony like no other in the history of what I have always thought the rather stodgy but reliable House of Windsor. It was not just that the mixed race, divorced descendant of slaves, an actress and an American, was marrying a Royal prince, a situation unthinkable until quite recently, now even. It was not the culture shock of the barn storming sermon by the African American bishop (did you see their faces!?). Nor was the tenderness of the love that the couple clearly have for each other. It was because in regal poise, sheer glamour, grace  and empathy Megan Markel, now the Duchess of Sussex, outshines them all.

The people, once again, have their own princess. And that will prove to be a game changer. Just you wait and see.

 

 

May Fights On The Brexit Beaches: But For What?

You have to admire May. Even this bog which regards her government as perhaps the worst in our modern democratic history. She struggles forward with endless platitudes, laced with proposals which cannot work, are unacceptable to the EU and which her Cabinet, fighting each other so hard every meeting is said to be a pitched battle, cannot agree on.  And if they eventually agree a fudge, the Commons will vote it down.

The latest is that we will pretend to leave but actually stay. It is wrapped up in loads of fudgey words, but that is what it means. It could be the best idea yet. The Brexiteers are really worried. That is a very good sign.

Downfall In Downing Street: A Must Read Now!

Set in the mid nineteen nineties, this fast moving thriller lifts the curtain on sex, sleaze and corruption in high places as the long reign of the government totters to an end, following the ousting of the iconic Margaret Thatcher. Downfall In Downing Street catches the mood of those times with a host of fictional characters who engage in political intrigue, sex, money laundering and murder, pursued by an Irish investigative journalist and his girlfriend, the daughter of a cabinet minister found dead in a hotel room after bondage sex.

CLICK IMAGE FOR DETAILS

CLICK HERE FOR U.S.and Amazon.com

Trump Slaps Down Bolton

The appointment of John Bolton to the post of National Security Adviser to the President was a mistake. Granted he is a conservative hawk in line with the direction of Trump’s thinking, but when it comes to active participation in diplomacy and international affairs, he is a wrecking ball. Unlike the new Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, whose views are mostly similar to Bolton’s and who is possessed of diplomatic skills to enable him to achieve his aims, Bolton is a loud mouth who is utterly clueless about what is in anybody else’s mind but his own. His does more harm than good in government, which is why Bush II had to get rid of him.

So after the triumph of Pompeo’s talks with Kim Jon Un which first produced the agreement, date and place for a meeting, next all kinds of unilateral moves to ease tension and then the release of three imprisoned Americans, regarded by Trump as a break through only he, the greatest President ever, could achieve, we have the whole North Korea scenario in the air because Bolton goes on TV to talk about a  Libya style deal with Pyongyang. Clever. Gaddafi, as everyone knows, ended up dead in a ditch.

So Kim Jon Un starts cancelling stuff. Trump needs this meeting to go ahead. If it fails to get off the ground he will look a fool. Moreover after the breakdown with his European allies over Iran and Jerusalem, he has already spent a lot of diplomatic capital. People are waiting to see the returns.

Trump Keep His Promise: But At What Price?

Trump takes pride in the fact that he keeps his campaign promises. This is an important attraction to US voters fed up with electing somebody who then does not deliver as expected. So it should come as no surprise that with a hate filled castigation of the Islamic Republic which governs Iran, he yesterday scrapped the deal. This blog supports the deal and believes building upon it is the best way forward, but if you hate the deal and are glad America has walked away that’s fine, because the deal’s flaws and merits are not the subject of this post.

Two things are significant. Trump, in the style of 1930s dictators in Europe, has torn up a treaty which America had signed. Bang goes a huge slice of instinctive trust and bang goes a diplomatic standard which has prevailed since the destruction of Nazi Germany. I do not care whether Americans are really the goodies and I do not care whether something better may come later. I care that the signature of a world power on a dotted line has to be binding and trustworthy. That view is shared by very many Americans and all the rest of the world.

Next we come to the unsavory element of bullying allies. We are told that companies and countries who do business with Iran will face punitive sanctions. That is fine if it affects only US Companies. But it is so not fine at all if it affects British, French and German companies. Which brings us to the third and final point.

Once American leadership in Europe was acknowledged, nurtured and taken for granted. Now Europe has turned its back on American leadership. It recognizes America as a player and even more a problem under Trump. But Europeans are prepared to go their own way and defy Washington. On this Iran issue the EU, including Britain France and Germany, stand four square with Russia and China. That may not be in America’s long term interests. But the isolationist lobby goading Trump could not care less. They are happy so long as they can keep their guns.