Trump 25 and Guy Fawks

When Americans have their Presidential election, we Brits celebrate Guy Fawkes. I asked some of the younger generation if they know why we throw firework parties on 5th of November and what guy Fawkes is; they usually don't know. Guy Fawkes is the celebration of a cancelled civil war, a man called Guy Fawkes and his companions installed explosives under the houses of parliament to blow up king James when he was entering building. It was a failed assassination because they were caught, they wanted to replace king James with a catholic king. If they were successful, England would most likely have a civil war. King James gathered a team of language experts and had the Bible translated from Latin to English so everyone can see the scriptures for themselves. 

I think Donald Trump will be a good president, He wants America to be competitive, low taxes and slightly raised import tariffs. He also wants the border to be secure, having a secure border isn't racist, it is being responsible. All sorts of criminals and gangs will abuse your borders if you let them, they'll send drugs across and run across themselves when they kill people to escape the police. We will see what happens over the next 4 years. 

What July 24 Means to Me

The month started off with an early general election in Britain, The political term was set to expire in December but they called it early, 4th of July; the British political term lasts for 5 years. The labour party dislodged the conservatives and took full power in government; they call it a landslide victory. The labour party completely won most of the seats in the house of commons. My local conservative MP also lost his seat, he was the MP of my town for many years. 

Later in July 2024, Donald Trump got shot in the ear, the bullet was aimed at his brain but his head moved slightly while he was talking. It was a close shave. It happened when I went to the coast to celebrate my birthday; it is nice to spend a short break at a popular British coastal town. It is also nice to spend 9 months before shopping around for good deals on hotel tariffs and transport arrangements. 

A few days later I watched the final game of the European football tournament (Euros 24). England lost against Spain in the last few minutes of the game. It was very close. Every game England played was like that, they narrowly won the game, penalties, points after draw or scoring in the last minute. Every game was a close shave. The last game was too close. 

The rest of the month was routine and normal for July. 

The Election

Yesterday I voted for my local MP. They quickly counted all the votes and confirmed who is the current MP for high Wycombe.

It was a landslide victory for the labour party. I think the reason why is because the Reform party siphoned off some of the conservative votes. If the Reform party wasn't there, they would have voted conservative because the goals of the conservative party and the reform party are the same. To stop illegal people trafficking on the English channel and bring down some of the taxes to make Britain more competitive globally. 

The newly formed reform party acted like a wrecking ball and smashed some of the conservative votes. They split the center-right votes into two smaller groups. That is my opinion though, it may not be the truth. There were other things that may have brought down the conservatives, I remember the frivolous spending during the pandemic and the rule breaking in the cabinet. I won't name anyone but it happened too often and annoyed many ordinary people. 

I think if the Reform party wasn't there, the votes would have been very close and parliament would be hung. Perhaps we would be left with a coalition government. It's not my role in society to say who is more reliable or better. I just accept that it happened and observe the truth as I see it. 

Lockdown countdown

The second lockdown to slow down the covid19 virus has started in the UK. No liesure, no recreation, only shopping for food, essential work and waiting. It is cold and dark and the frost reaches the ground where I live at night, the coastal areas don't have to worry yet because they are close to sea level so the frost can't reach them before it melts, although some costal areas are hilly so the hilltops would get smeared with frost. 

It was at the start of the UK lockdown that the American general election votes were being counted. The outcome is a knife edge result, very close, an almost 50 : 50 split. The American political map resembles the British Christmas snap election one in some way, you have one big clump supporting Republicans(Trump) in the centre of the country and the east and west coast supporting Democrats(Biden) except Florida and nearby states. 

Politics wasn't the only rivalry occuring, games companies were releasing their next generation games consoles. PlayStation is taking online payments for the PlayStation 5, XBox has the XBox X and S, PlayStation and Xbox were releasing 4k masterpieces. Then you have the Atari VCS, a 4k video gaming PC that is souped up as a retro flashback combo system. If I was loaded with cash I would get all three of them, the XBox, PlayStation and VCS. 

My head was buried in my own little world, dreaming of having a bigger home with a room just for liesure called the "happy zone", a "man cave" filled with arcade machines and gaming tables with a drinks & coffee bar. I watch videos of all the "arcade1up" compact arcade machines. One of my creations has to be outstanding in some way to lift me and my small family out of the grey(gray) zone. I keep trying and never give up. 

knife Edge

I have recently learned that the results for American general election are very close. Where I come from they would call it a hung result or knife edge outcome, but not quite, the counting hasn't finished just yet. I don't really have a political polarity. When I vote, I just vote for the party I dislike the least or I just flip a coin. I'm British so this isn't my call anyway. 

It was during the American 2020 knife edge election that the frost reached the ground in my town, it was getting close the days before, I could see the condensation that comes before the frost in the mornings on windows and blades of grass. The frost reached the ground a day before the second English lockdown to slow the Pandemic Covid19 virus so our hospitals could continue to operate effectively for all. Roof slates and car bodies were covered in ice for the first time since winter. Tomorrow lockdown will start again, no non essential shopping, only food and no liesure, no eating out or cafés, no parties, no social visits. Perhaps we will know who will be the American president for the next 4 years by tomorrow, the only thing I know is everything here will stop. May the best man for the job win, I will say no more. 

What October means to me

For me, October 2020 was a bit windy and dark, lots of heavy duty clouds were being blown around. 

There were rumours looming of a second lockdown. On the last thursday of October, our Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed that we will spend 4 weeks in a second lockdown, this means all the non essential shops will be forced to close and we will only be able to buy food and things like that for most of November. This is because the transmission rate of the virus is about 1.5, that means 10 Brits are infecting 15 Brits on average, they call it the "R" rate. Just under 50,000 Brits were killed by the virus so far.

The previous year we were struggling with a Brexit deadlock, now it is a lockdown. We are restricted from meeting people socially, no eating out, no gyms, no shopping except for food and medicine, no cinema no visiting friends. 

Earlier in the week there was a large earthquake in Turkey and Greece and a mini Tsunami in the Mediterranean sea. There was civil conflict in France over a magazine that offends many in the name of freedom of speech. I believe a teacher and a Priest were both killed in separate incidents. 

There was a lot of rivalry between Donald Trump and Joe Biden for the American general election. It will be interesting to see who wins. I maintain a neutral political polarity, I don't support anyone. I'm British anyway so it has nothing to do with me. 

Trump and Biden

I watched the televised political debate between the two candidates for the next term as American president. I would compare it to a bulimia convention, they were bringing up everything except what I want to hear. 

I wanted to hear a plan to bring down the cost of living and get rid the deficit from government spending. I don't care about stuff they said the previous year and decade. 

They were both just saying how incompetent they think the other guy is. It was all tosh. I pity the people of America. You all saw two old men insulting and arguing for one and a half hours. I'm sure some Americans will just flip a coin to vote. 

The Brits have spoken

The outcome of the new election is very revealing because it shows what the Brits are thinking.

The message I got from this new referendum is that the English don't want a second referendum. They just want an end to Brexit. The Scots have shown that they prefer the EU to the UK. The United Kingdom isn't important to many of them but staying in the EU is. The SNP have increased seats. Northern Ireland is heading the same way. They want the EU more than the UK and they feel betrayed by British Parliament.

What happens in the 2020s and beyond is only known by the gift of hindsight. No one can guess what the near future will be like.

Christmas election

Here in the UK, we are going to have an early general election during Christmas. There seems to be a party for everything.

If you want a second referendum or a soft Brexit, you could vote for Labour. Also they want to renationalise a lot of the infrastructure that was sold off during the eighties and nineties, Railways, utilities and things like that.

If you want to cancel brexit then you could vote for the Liberal Democrats. They made it very clear they would revoke article 50 as soon as they were elected.

If you want a hard clean break brexit then you can vote for the Brexit party. They will leave first and negotiate later.

If you want a hard brexit preceded by a transition exit deal then you could vote conservative. They want to keep all the taxes low because they think the growth created would more than compensate for the loss in public revenue and add some on top.

The outcome of the vote would be very revealing. I wouldn't be surprised if the result was hung all around because the Brexit vote would be split between two parties and those that want a soft Brexit won't vote lib dem. Well, we will see.