SNP – high hopes run into the buffers

 Rarely has a political party suffered such an injurious blow as the SNP, with the chairman Peter Murrell and then the leader, his wife, Nicola Sturgeon, resigning and being arrested during the tortuous police investigation into the missing £600,000 referendum donations.   Commentators say the arrest of Sturgeon, indicates the police inquiry is nearing its … Read more

Silvio Berlusconi – iffy finances, sex and politics

Silvio Berlusconi, media tycoon, politician and billionaire, four time Prime Minister of Italy, responsible for his country’s decline in economic terms and in standards of public life, has died aged 86.   He exploited his wealth and influence over the media to acquire and wield power in an undemocratic manner. Like Trump and others who … Read more

UK politics – Tory turmoil, Labour brief winning streak ++ BJ political obituaries ++Hague

Boris Johnson flouncing off in a narcissistic rage, spewing bile and blame in all directions, appears to have shot his bolt with only a few die-hards still bleating his cause. There will be three byelections when Tories’ polling numbers are down but the party on present evidence looks unlikely to tear itself apart.    Though … Read more

Francoise Gilot – forging an escape route from Picasso

Francoise Gilot, a prolific and acclaimed artist, whose talent was underplayed because of her relationship with Pablo Picasso, has died at 101. Aged 21 in occupied Paris during WW11 she met Picasso, forty years her senior, while he was still married to the Russian dancer Olga Khokhlova and she replaced Doris Maar as his lover … Read more

Saudi Arabia and sport – money trumps morals ++ Monahan, McIlroy

 Golf enthusiasts are outraged and scathing about the PGA selling out to the Saudi Investment Fund for a reputed $3 billion and merging with the breakaway LIV Golf whom until recently they were castigating as renegade mercenaries complicit in the legitimising of a bloodthirsty Saudi regime. The PGA bashed the Saudis constantly, citing their human … Read more

Ukraine – the endless tragedy

A dam in South Ukraine has been sabotaged flooding nearby towns and potentially jeopardising the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station, which depends on cooling water to run emergency diesel generators. Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has accused Russian troops of blowing up the plant “from inside” at 02:50 local time, while Moscow claims it was a “deliberate … Read more