June 21-27, 2025
SATURDAY 21 In the aftermath of the vote on assisted dying I very cynically pondered that it opens the door for a huge business opportunity. What might evolve will be the already established apartheid of NHS/Private treatment. In this context I was surprised so many Conservatives voted against the bill.
đź“Ś To measure my optimum walking distance with decaying hip joints I’ve downloaded an app to my phone that measures steps. I suspect my ideal step count before resting is 1,500. I will aim to increase that count.
SUNDAY 22 The context of the assisted dying vote is given an interesting contextual spin in the New Statesman. The reports adds assisted dying to a number of key changes in British society in recent times (decriminalisation of homosexuality, abortion, same-sex marriage) brought about by lone politicians, determined to effect change through private-members bills. The article also reflects on how quickly the public absorbs and comes to support this type of cause.
đź“Ś We had brunch at the Barbican Bar & Grill with visiting American relatives, who told that their home state governor, Ron DeSantis, has introduced an anti-woke law that prohibits the use of changed or even contracted first names. Which means that calling me anything other than William counts as a state offence. They also said everyone just ignores the ruling.
MONDAY 23 For someone who claimed he wanted America to stay out of other country’s wars, Donald Trump isn’t doing very well.
đź“Ś I think it must be a sign of where I’m at in my life when I’m more interested in the bonus word in Squaredle than I am in the latest apocalyptic mood swing of Donald Trump.
đź“Ś Jonny Bloom is very pissed off that Donald Trump decided to bomb Iran on the very day Keir Starmer’s shiny new, all conquering industrial strategy was due to launch. The Guardian opted to “bury” its analysis of the strategy in a dark corner of its website front page, just below a story about environmental funerals.
đź“Ś We finished Series 1 of Signora Volpe and for some time afterwards my wife remained transfixed at the size and stylistic extent of the signora’s wardrobe.
TUESDAY 24 On a coach trip to Deal we walked to the end of the pier and each scoffed a combination of lobster and crayfish, washed down with English fizz and New Zealand sauvignon blanc. During the meal I pledged to respond in future to the “any allergies” question from waiting staff with the word “dogs”.
đź“Ś For ÂŁ3.67 I have ordered a book from Amazon called Bus Pass Britain.
đź“Ś We started the second series of Signora Volpe and another bewildering collection of outfits stole the show.
WEDNESDAY 25 In the introduction to an essay on the decline of liberal democracies, Sam Freedman traces the emergence of “capitalist autocracies” as their replacement, quoting Francis Fukuyama to advance the thesis: “The most significant challenge being posed to the liberal universalism of the American and French revolutions today is not coming from the communist world, whose economic failures are evident for everyone to see, but from those societies in Asia which combine liberal economies with a kind of paternalistic authoritarianism.”
đź“Ś Rafael Behr reckons Donald Trump is always looking for the “easy win”, even if he has to turn facts into fiction to get it.
đź“Ś Pip posted a picture of a card sent anonymously to Andy, who is still stuck in hospital until the doctors can work out what to do with his leaky duodenum.
đź“Ś Another top score in Waffle. You get 15 moves, but the puzzle CAN be solved in 10 moves.
đź“Ś Last week Royal Mail lost the 36 cans of sparkling white wine I’d ordered from Vinca. This week our invite to Jeff’s wedding in Venice went missing.
THURSDAY 26 Old Street station is an exceedingly hostile environment for anyone with disabilities.
đź“Ś After an argument with Eurostar about an unannounced change of seating we settled back into better seats than we had originally booked and watched the rich agricultural landscape of northern France roll past.
FRIDAY 27 At the very creepy Foundation Louis Vuitton in the woody west of Paris we saw what must be the biggest, most exhaustive collection of artworks by David Hockney. The sheer volume was awesome, daunting and a little tiring, especially in the collection of later nature/season paintings, which could have been slimmed. There was an air of sadness in that the show resembled a reckoning of sorts, a “complete” retrospective even though Hockney is still very much alive.
đź“Ś Two very lovely things happened this evening. We met for the first time my nephew’s girlfriend. She is a smart, talented academic linguist who translates ancient manuscripts into French. And, in a freaky coincidence in a bar on the Rue de Vinaigriers, we met friends from Brighton we hadn’t seen in decades.
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Billy's Scrapbook 
Two lovely surprises. Trump is mad. That beach looks inviting. Thank you for the post.
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