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  1. Here I am in France, sitting under a parasol quoiffing a Martini and Perrier when in comes a most distressing e-mail from Tim Farron. He has resigned as leader of the Lib Dems; nothing abnormal in that except for his reason. Tim is a devout, orthodox Christian who during the recent election campaign was hounded by the media to admit that he considered homosexual sex to be a sin; that is what the Bible and the Quoran teach as I understand them; at least that is what the Christian and Muslim faiths have traditionally taught. But for Tim to confess to such a belief as leader of a modern, mainstream political party would have been, he thought, politically suicidal. And so he has resigned because he cannot reconcile politics with his faith. What nonsense. Had he been a devout Muslim, the media woud not have dared to hound him over his faith beliefs.

    Tim and I are Liberal Democrats. He is a Christian; I am an atheist. We share a belief in liberal democracy, tolerance and co-operation with those who do not share our views. He has never attempted to impose his religious principles on Party policyIn mainly Catholic France, religion has long since been separated from the State. All Tim needed to do was include in his public biography, Wikipedia or such like, that he was a practising Christian - end of.

    So what were the motives of the media in hounding him? I suggest that either they sniffed some lurid copy on homosexual sex, wished to undermine him as a political opponent or else gay activists were at work. Whatever the reason, it was immoral, illiberal and anti-democratic.

    For my own part, I don't give a monkey's over what another's faith or sexual practises are - as long as they don't impact on me. Tolerance is the key word.

  2. For some years now, SNP has portrayed itself as the voice of Scotland. The recent Council elections and Theresa May's snap General Election have thoroughly demolished that notion. SNP have won more seats in both elections than any other party and congratulations to them for that, but they have not won the popular vote. Indyref2 would be suicidal for Nicola Sturgeon and she knows that. She would lose again. SNP speak only for SNP.

  3. I was listening to a feminist debate on the radio last night. What a load of piffle! Apparently the female leaders of our political parties - Tories, Scottish Tories, Scottish Labour, Scottish Nationalists, the Democratic Unionist Party (Ulster) and the Green Party - are doing badly because their female leaders are trying to emulate male role models. Eh?

    Margaret Thatcher should be remembered as the ultimate icon of female success in a male dominated world but feminists have never identified with her nor she with them. Theresa May on the other hand, has worn a T-shirt with the motto, 'This is what a feminist looks like' - and they don't identify with her either. Today, we have Angela Merkel as Chancellor of Germany, the most powerful person in Europe; Christine Lagarde as Head of the IMF and Cressida Dick as Chief Constable of the Met etc etc. The glass ceiling is well and truly broken.

    Women of ability succeed; women without, winge. Actually, ladies, exactly the same is true for men but men who don't succeed can't wave the shroud of feminism. As a man, I fear it is young men who need to be worried. Women seem to be taking over.

  4. Who needs a scriptwriter when we have Theresa May as UK Prime Minister, Donald Trump as President of America and Emmanuel Macron as President of France - all new to their jobs? Have I died and gone to Disneyland?

    Theresa, a Cruella de Vil lookalike, has just cut her own throat. Trump becomes more and more ridiculous by the day, an ogre with a buffoon hairstyle; whilst young Prince Macron has ascended to the the Imperial Throne and is leading his people to the promised land.

    Never judge a book by its cover. I have never voted Tory but with Brexit to be negotiated, I truly thought that Theresa May was a godsend; she was the only strong national leader on the horizon; she has a sense of duty engraved in her heart; she is not motivated by personal glory and, I thought, was tough and decisive. Alas, the book told a very different story. She was pressurised into calling an ill-fated snap election against her own instincts; she allowed politically naive aides to produce a suicidal manifesto; and has been seen to weak and wobbly while promoting herself as 'strong and stable'. Now she has been emasculated (metaphorically of course) and is being universally vilified. What a tragedy. She is a good woman.

    When you are down, the mob will kick you - it's a blood lust thing. But putting things into perspective; in this election she beat the Corbyn-led oppostion by a healthy margin and her party won the popular vote as well as most seats. Nevertheless, she lost her overall majority and has had to go into coalition with the DUP. Nothing new there; David Cameron in his first term had to go into coalition with the Lib Dems - no big deal (it was for the Lib Dems). And Theresa has just received more votes from the public than the fragrant Tony Blair did in his first landslide. I repeat, what a tragedy for her. Had she done nothing, she would still be cooking on the proverbail gas.

    Now comes the test of character: she has been described as a 'dead woman walking' but right now, the country needs a strong Prime Minister; Brexit negotiations begin next week. So, despite her mortal political wounds and utter humiliation, the good woman's sense of duty has remained intact. When most others would have thrown in the towel, she will continue to serve her country until her own party finds a Cassius and Brutus to deliver the coup de grace. For the sake of the country, I wish her well.

    Meanwhile, across the pond, Trump is sitting in the White House 'gathering his brows like gathering storm; nursing his wrath to keep it warm' (to quote Robert Burns). He has made the error of sacking James Comey, Director of the FBI, a hugely experienced lawyer and prosecutor with all the inside information his FBI job has provided. Now the poor, inarticulate, legally ignorant, under-educated President has discovered that bullying the Director of the FBI is not the same as sacking one of his waitresses or 'grabbing her pussy,' to quote him. He seems a dead cert for impeachment before too long.

    Vive la France! On the other hand, the brilliant young Macron has read the French tea-leaves with immaculate precision. Sensing that the French public were tired of the political class who have been running his country, last year he created a new political movement, En Marche, and a few weeks ago was elected President by a huge margin. This weekend, the French have been voting for their MPs and Macron's new party seem set to win something like 75% of all parliamentary seats with a bunch of novice candidates - utterly sensational. Hail the new Napoleon. But wait; he is ultra pro the EU. Theresa will be up against him in the Brexit negotiations.

    No, I did not write this script. This is actually happening.