A couple of things …

I’ve stayed off the big three political hot potatoes, Brexit, the handling of covid and Trump’s second impeachment, for a while – and will continue to do so. Almost. It is clear that from a trade perspective, as was pointed out under the disingenuous headline of ‘Project Fear’, Brexit is not great for most traders – or Northern Ireland. And the indications are that it’s going to get worse. Of course it’s all the EU’s fault – that they’re treating us like a third country when we are, clearly and by own our design to get maximum ‘sovereignty’, a third country. Everything that’s now going wrong, including this morning’s report that Amsterdam is now the trade centre for European stocks rather than London, was pointed out but not listened to, by the ‘experts’ behind Project Fear. I sense that we have yet to see the bottom of this slope and the only conceivable way to reverse the trend is to rejoin the single market and custom’s union. That may well happen.

As for covid the vaccination programme is a real success – and well done us, and particularly the NHS who, unlike Serco with Test and Trace, have really made things happen. I don’t want to rake over old ground, but vaccines are not the single solution. Controlling our borders (a major tenet of Brexit, afterall) and a working Test and Trace system, all need to be in placed before we start to ease lockdown if we’re to keep on top of the disease. I fear that that is not going to happen and a fourth wave in the autumn is likely. We’ve had a year to sort out both and, alas, neither are in good shape.

still walking …

But … His Orangeness. Whilst it was pretty certain that the Senate wouldn’t convict Trump (only 7 of the 17 Republican senators needed to convict looked set to vote against him), the latest news from the Capitol is that Trump’s defence is rubbish and the prosecution are doing a fab job – and are showing new videos of the 6th of January which are shocking everyone. If things continue like this some minds might be changed. Let’s hope so. The evidence is completely clear. Backbones appear to be less visible.

We’re fine. I’m close to finishing a ‘departmental planning’ guide for a school and I’m 5/7ths of my way through interviews for an MoD team. All of that is going well and will bring in a bit of beer money. We’re still walking for at least an hour a day, and I’m running every second day. We’re managing to keep the house warm in these freezing conditions – I’m still keeping a day-to-day record of our electricity spending, but I’m not sure I can reduce the bill much more without asking C to walk around all day smothered by her duvet.

Of course, we have no eyes on the future. I think C’s a bit trouble by the rise of the ‘variants’ and the impact that’s having on the efficacy of the vaccines. I tend not to think about it too much, otherwise it would do my head in. We have some people we need to see and a big white motorhome which needs her legs stretching. I reckon we’ll be away in April … is that too long to wait?

Henry’s found his thumb

TV update. Loved It’s a SIn (C4). Can’t get enough of Staged (BBC). And we thought Greenland, (Prime) was hopeless. Back onto the Marvel franchise then …

Keep safe everyone. Please.