United States versus Europe

Dream On

I am not a great follower of golf; it takes too much time, doesn't provide much cardio exercise and it was too expensive when I spent a couple of years playing in the 1970s before the family arrived. However, I watched the current Ryder Cup event in the United States with a genuine excitement. The European golfers, drawn from Scandinavian countries, Britain, Ireland, Spain, and Austria, trounced the American team and their aggressively loud supporters, particularly on day one when President Trump was there to celebrate American greatness.

The 15 -13 result for the Europeans reflected the different attributes of the two teams. In the foursomes and four-ball matches, where team spirit counts, the European team established an 11.5 to 4.5 lead. In the individual matches, the Americans' thirst for hero status brought them back as they achieved an 8.5 to 3.5 victory.  Since the Europeans first became involved in the Ryder Cup in 1979, they have established a 13 to 9 victory over the Americans.

It made me reflect that my generation of baby boomers has grown up in a world where America was regarded as the top dog in everything - GDP, weapons, wealth, philanthropy, aeroplanes, consumer products, income levels, and new technology. And all of this was celebrated by a film industry that infiltrated and entertained the world and created the American dream. This year, the United States has lost much of this respect as it has cut international aid, withdrawn from international bodies, vetoed peacekeeping proposals at the United Nations, introduced arbitrary trade tariffs, threatened to take over some countries and failed to end conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine. The retreat of the USA into isolation and its withdrawal from international bodies has tarnished its reputation across the world. It should prompt a wider examination of whether Europe has been living on a misinformed assumption that the United States is any longer all-powerful. 

If we thought of Europe as federations of states, which they increasingly are, and draw comparisons with the United States, the perceived power and dominance of the USA would be far less convincing than it was in the latter half of the last century. Here are some useful comparisons.

The United States has a population of 347.275 million 
Europe has a population of 744,398 million, excluding Turkey

The United States had a GDP of $30,507 trillion in 2024
Europe had a GDP of $25,323tn trillion in 2024

As a matter of comparison, China had a GDP of $19,231 trillion and Russia $2076 trillion

If we look at the performance at the last Olympic Games in 2024, the medal table would read:

                               Gold.         Silver    Bronze

Europe                     119            121        151

United States             40             44           42

Europe, with twice the population, won three times as many medals

Or take Tennis, a sport that the United States dominated in the last century

Grand Slam winners since 2000

                            Men.    Women

Europe                  88          41
United States          6          38

And in the world's most popular sport, football, the United States is a mere minnow at the men's game, only notable for hosting the event three times, including next year.  Conversely, the women are the most successful team, winning the World Cup 4 times since its inception.

What does this tell us? Well, we have probably been duped into believing the United States always calls the shots and that we should do its bidding. When FDR Roosevelt was in his pomp, driving forward progress and seeking to establish an international order, this was a justifiable stance, particularly for Europe. Times have changed. Make Europe Great Again. (Mega)

Europe wins Ryder Cup again (13-9)

Time for a dilatory Government to get radical

Visions of Britain

It is easy to forget that only just over a year ago, we were seeing the final dismemberment of the Conservative government that had ruled since 2010 and resulted in austerity, the collapse of the NHS, Brexit and extensive corruption and expulsions. It was a huge relief, and although the massive Labour majority of 170 seats overrepresented the popularity of the Labour Party, it was an accurate measure of the electorate's disdain for the Conservative government.

Over a year later, the Labour government is in deep shit. The Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, claimed we were entering phase 2 of his government just a week ago. It was meant to be a shift towards more active delivery. When Angela Raynor, the Deputy Prime Minister and Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, resigned following a failure to pay full stamp duty on a new flat, Keir Starmer, true to his principles of setting up an ethical advisor and acting upon any misdemeanour by members of the government, wasted no time in dismissing Angela Raynor or at least seeking a resignation letter from her. He has been consistently ruthless in dismissing or suspending Labour MPs who have transgressed since coming to power 14 months ago. The primary difference from the previous Conservative government is that any deviation from the line is identified and appropriate action is taken immediately. This was seldom the case with the last Conservative government, where 25 MPs were forced to resign, usually after the PM was forced to take action in the face of public outrage. 

It is a great pity that Keir Starmer has not been equally ruthless in implementing his promised change agenda. It requires a recognition that our constitution and governance structure are not fit for purpose, and an understanding that some radical policy changes are necessary. Unlike previous Labour Governments elected by landslides in 1945, 1966 and 1997, he arrived with no grand plan or vision, just a promise not to raise taxes and to provide a more ethical and diligent leadership than his predecessors. The cost of living continued to rise, his tax promises were broken by a shady increase in National Insurance for employers, international aid was further reduced, and immigration continued at high levels. He was not providing the big reforms that were needed and which Attlee, Wilson and Blair had been brave enough to introduce on the strength of their election victories. Stramer was tinkering; his first year wasn't convincing the electorate. The departure of Angela Raynor allowed him to reorganise his cabinet and junior ministers, but instead of releasing the energy and ideas of new MPs, he circled the wagons, shuffling ministers who were loyal to his vision of steadying the ship of state. This is not buying time; it is wasting time.

It is becoming increasingly urgent to invent an EV metaphor, to shift from neutral to forward if the government is to win back support from those who believed that things could only get better with a Labour Government. It is not so, as the latest opinion polls (averaging the results of the last seven polls in late August and early September) show that the Referendum Party is 10% ahead of the Labour Party, and the Lib Dems and Greens are gaining support among left-of-centre voters. Change is no more than a mantra, and the shuffling of cabinet and junior ministerial appointments is indicative of a "coalition of the unwilling" when it comes to the radical change that is required to reverse the decline of the UK. The Reform Party has spent the summer inventing a hatful of populist memes that have propelled them forward. They are neither affordable nor realistic, but they trump the spiral of doom induced by the Tory governments of the past 14 years and the stultifying start of Starmer's government.

Labour Party                        21%.
Conservative Party               17%    
Liberal Democrat Party       14%
Green Party                         10%
Referendum Party               31% 

I have never belonged to a political party, mainly because of the tribalism that prevents constructive debate about issues. I am clear that there needs to be some significant changes in the way the UK and Scotland function at a time when we are at best treading water. We need to re-enfranchise our communities, improve public services and infrastructure, accelerate progress, reduce inequalities and decouple from the fake fantasies and America First realities of Trump's rogue state. I would like to see the Starmer government address the wicked issues that the UK faces. In times of trouble, the answer is no longer let it be.

Constitution. It has been evident for many years that the UK's unwritten constitution is no longer fit for purpose. It has been kept because the two largest political parties have seen it as protecting their right to govern. Despite Blair's modest attempt to make the House of Lords less elite, it has become an enormous retirement home for ageing politicians and fellow travellers. Equally important is the need to embed local governance in the constitution and devolve powers away from the remote, nullifying and arrogant administrations of Westminster and Holyrood. Some form of proportional representation is needed for the House of Commons, and it is surely worth making voting mandatory through an identification card/app secured by biometric data.

Gaza. Recognising Palestine is merely a starting point. It is time to endorse the work of the United Nations independent International Commission of Inquiry that Israel has committed Genocide in Gaza.  Ideally, a UN peacekeeping force should have been mobilised, but the Security Council would have prevented this by virtue of the United States vetoing any such action. The result: 65,000 deaths.

Devolve power to councils. The concentration of powers and functions by central government and its mass of non democratic bodies and regulatory bodies has resulted in lengthy decision-making, poor procurement, corruption in the allocation of levelling up funding, tax raising being centralised and core government funding for councils reduced by between 40% and 70% since 2010. Equally important, although seldom acknowledged, is the loss of ability to set local priorities, to harness the partnership between Councils and local businesses and the energy and commitment of local communities. Something evident in countries with a more federal governance structure and municipal muscle that is protected by local governance being embedded in the constitution.

Taxation Reform. This has been seen as too dangerous by successive governments, and Rachel Reeves has shown even less courage in this area by making promises to retain income tax, national insurance and VAT at existing levels. It is the cause of many of the travails of Starner's government. Integrating Income Tax and National Insurance would give a far more progressive taxation regime that would benefit younger workers.  and eliminate the NI advantages of being self-employed. VAT is a bureaucratic nightmare and needs simplification and extension to additional products and services that, on balance, benefit the wealthiest. Taxation on aircraft fuel would show a commitment to green policies, not dodgy green soundbites. And land taxation should be introduced and devolved to councils to fund the infrastructure required for additional housing and commercial developments. HMRC have been subjected to far too many fixes by a lottery of Chancellors, who, along with the Treasury, have muddled us along for too long 

National Identification Digital Card/Application: Why the UK lags behind the rest of Europe and the world on Digital Identity Cards has exacerbated our inability to tackle many other issues, such as work permits, benefits, demographic data, voter identification, immigration and the planning of public services. It was a no-brainer when David Blunkett tried to introduce it in  2009. The Lib Dems and Tories scrapped its development in 2010, but even they are now understanding its benefits. It would also seem to be the case that the Starmer government might be willing to bite the bullet. Get on with it.

Care and NHS funding. The Chancellor has announced an extra £30bn of funding for the NHS in the next three years, but only £4bn (a 2.6% increase per annum)has been set aside for Adult Community Care, and 80% of this has to be found by Council Tax increases. Baroness  Casey's Independent Commission is not due to complete until 2028, and the increases announced by the Chancellor provide no scope for eradicating the deficiencies in the service. The Treasury and the government are too obsessed with the NHS to address our underfunded Care sector

International Aid and the United Nations. Starmer has focused on restoring the UK's relationship with Europe and developing an unctuous relationship with Trump's America. But the further reduction of International Aid and the lethargic defence of Gaza at the United Nations have not rebuilt the soft power that was relinquished during the Johnson era. Hopefully, the changes at the Foreign Office may change this.

Green Issues. Despite the rhetoric of victory a year ago and the genuine efforts of Ed Miliband, there have been too many mistakes by the Treasury on Green issues. The shift to approving wind turbines and green energy has been positive, but the failure to tax fuel for air travel or to introduce the fuel escalator would have been far more sustainable tax increases than National Insurance. Then, to approve not one but two new runways at Heathrow and Gatwick, the first of which will not be operational for twelve years and cost over £21bn, runs contrary to previous inquiries that suggested only one was required and even then, subject to stringent environmental conditions. This contrasts with further delays to the Northern Rail Link between Liverpool and Hull. It would appear that the government is as wedded to investment in the South East as the last government. Our friends in the North are not happy.

Big Tech and the Water Industry. The involvement of Financial companies like BlackRock in advising the government, the overseas investors in UK industries such as Thames Water, Nuclear Power Stations and major Airports has extracted profits from consumer price increases. Big tech from American companies has been even more of a drain on consumer prices. And they are now making AI promises for a new age, but the only certainty is that they will be certain to make huge profits from the UK. It is an area where we would be better aligned with Europe on these developments. 

Immigration. The top issue, according to the opinion polls. Although there has been progress in processing asylum seekers and reducing the numbers in Hotels, there is a long way to go, and there will have to be hard choices taken to satisfy the manifest concerns of the resident population.  This requires a clear statement of the number of migrants, including asylum seekers, that can be granted permission to enter the UK. It should not be justified by salaries offered, but by the needs in the job market and by humanitarian reasons for asylum seekers. What is required is clarity and consistent, speedy administration of transparent policies, not military enforcement and demeaning the importance and value of immigration.

More to come.

 

A Resolution Budget Solution?

Just Read It

One of the great disappointments of Starmer's Labour Government is the way it has tackled its budget. If growth were the prime objective, then there have been too many ill-conceived decisions by the Chancellor. Rachel Reeves has a tendency to follow treasury orthodoxy and an unwillingness to devolve decisions to departments or localities, who have a far better knowledge of what works. The chancellor, like Gordon Brown, seems to believe that leadership is about making decisions herself. She has an autocratic leadership style that is inflexible and has resulted in heavy criticism from not only the right-wing press but also businesses and many Labour MPs. Too many decisions are constraining other key objectives of the government, such as child poverty, climate action, international aid and employment growth. 

Existing taxation regimes are made ever more complex when what is needed is simplification. A decluttering of the stupidity of many VAT rules and the regressive outcome of the dual impact of income tax and national insurance systems, which should be integrated. Thousands of accountancy firms exist to find loopholes for the better off in a taxation system that is far from progressive even before the annual dance off between HMRC and the said accountancy firms. 

So I was greatly encouraged when Torsten Bell was recruited to work with the Treasury team on economic policy. Torsten Bell had worked with Alistair Darling during the last Labour Government when he made significant progress on firing up the economy after the 2008 Financial Crisis. His initiatives were scrapped by George Osborne when he introduced his austerity measures. Bell subsequently worked successfully as the CEO of the Resolution Foundation until being elected as an MP for Swansea. He published a book last year, Great Britain? How we get our Future back. that set out his views on what we needed to do to get Broken Britain moving again. His chapters on taxation, housing, benefits, decentralising power and increasing public investment are particularly apposite, but not aligned with Rachel Reeves' playlist of actions. It will be a real boost for Labour's so-called agenda for 'change' if Torsten Bell can convince the inflexible chancellor to do just that.

Time to reset the United Nations

When we hear the Foreign Secretary, David Lammy, say he is horrified about what is happening in Gaza, we realise that the UK is a busted flush. He has been uttering similar sentiments for quite a while, but he has not even had the temerity to stop the sale of weapons to Israel or to call out the Israeli Government for genocide. Unlike the former Supreme Court Judge, Lord Sumption, who made a methodical justification of Genocide in Gaza or the International Association of Genocide Scholars, who state that the death of 65,000 people during the 22-month-long war meets the legal definition laid out in the UN Convention on genocide. This follows similar statements by two Israeli human rights organisations.

Meanwhile, the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, which has 15,000 staff in Palestine, has been prevented from providing humanitarian aid to Gaza, including medicines, since the second of March 2025. The Secretary General of the United Nations, Antonio Gutierrez, has made it clear that Israel is acting beyond its powers and that this is the first occasion that any country has suspended operations of the United Nations organisations. This raises the wider question about how the United Nations is able to make decisions and how it is perceived in the world in 2025. Things have changed dramatically since the arrival of Donald Trump as the President for his second term. He clearly has no time for the United Nations and has made it evident that he is the supreme power in determining what action should be taken in the world's trouble spots. 

This is made possible by the constitution of the United Nations, which established a Supreme Council with the United States, Russia, Great Britain, France and China as the permanent members.. They have veto rights to prevent UN actions. This may have been appropriate at the end of the Second World War when the United Nations was formed, but with 193 countries signed up to the United Nations charter (see below) and the growth of member nations over the years, the question has to be asked: why do these five countries have the ability to prevent actions from being taken? This has been to Israel's benefit, which is a member of the United Nations and receives unbridled support from the United States. Unlike Palestine, which has been refused entry, its delegates are allowed only as observers. The United States is now refusing to let them enter the country, which is the administrative HQ of the UN. 

This is the second occasion that the United States has scuppered a worldwide peacekeeping organisation. Previously, it was largely responsible for the demise of the League of Nations, which was established in 1919 by the Treaty of Versailles following the First World War. Woodrow Wilson, President of the United States, was a key player in its formation but failed to gain ratification from the Republicans in the Senate. The thirty-two nations that joined the League of Nations, which was headquartered in Geneva, depended on member states to provide peacekeeping forces. These were difficult to mobilise without the resources of the United States,. Great Britain and France, the other leading nations in it’s creation were struggling to recover from the Great War. As a result, the League of Nations was unable to prevent the violation of its rules by fascist regimes in Japan and Italy, which invaded Manchuria and Ethiopia, respectively. Hitler's Germany invaded over twenty countries, and the  USSR invaded Finland.  The major powers did not have the inclination to challenge these violations and instead began to rearm as the  Second World War became inevitable.

It would appear that President Trump has no desire for the United States to facilitate action by the United Nations and has used its veto with increasing impunity. It has withdrawn from the World Health Organisation, the UN Human Rights Council, the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and reduced foreign aid to UN agencies on the assertion that they are not in the United States' national interest.

Equally, Russia and China have used their veto to prevent UN interventions in countries that could be considered their satellites. Great Britain and France are there for their historical reasons, and until recently have tended to support the United States' lead. The United Nations has not reviewed its charter since 1973, since when the world has changed dramatically. There are currently 61 active conflicts, the most since 1946 and over 60,000 peacekeepers are deployed from 115 member states. In light of current conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine and the withdrawal of involvement by the United States, several questions must be asked:

• Why is the United Nations still located in the United States, a country that is shameless in protecting its own self interest ? 
• Should it not be located in a more neutral and stable country, which is less concerned about its own power and more concerned about securing peace across the world? 
• Why should five countries have a veto? 
• Should it not be for the Security Council, currently 15 countries, to pass motions with a two-thirds majority?
• Should the composition of the Security Council be expanded to ten permanent members, with the additional 5 representations coming from South America, Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Oceania? Together with ten rotating members, this would create a Security Council of 20 members, none with a veto.
• Is there any reason to exclude Palestine from membership?

The Purposes of the United Nations are:

1. To maintain international peace and security, and to that end: to take effective collective measures for the prevention and removal of threats to the peace, and for the suppression of acts of aggression or other breaches of the peace, and to bring about by peaceful means, and in conformity with the principles of justice and international law, adjustment or settlement of international disputes or situations which might lead to a breach of the peace;
2. To develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and to take other appropriate measures to strengthen universal peace;
3. To achieve international co-operation in solving international problems of an economic, social, cultural, or humanitarian character, and in promoting and encouraging respect for human rights and for fundamental freedoms for all without distinction as to race, sex, language, or religion; and
4. To be a centre for harmonising the actions of nations in the attainment of these common ends.

Fisherfield: Gregor's Big Adventure

Shenavall Bothy on arrival at sunset 

Beinn Dearg Mhor, my favourite Corbett

Fisherfield Five(Six) Route

Monday, 18 August 2025

I received a phone call at 7am. Gregor had spent the night in the Shenaval Bothy, in Fisherfield, after driving up on Sunday afternoon. He had run the Scottish Half Marathon in Musselburgh, coming third in a respectable 1 hour 9 minutes, and then driven 225 miles to Dundonnell, where he walked into Shenavall. He wanted to know the best way up Beinn a' Chlaidheimh, the recently deleted Munro that was the first of the six Fisherfield Mountains to be climbed today. I had told him that it was a better route than the direct slog up to Am Briseadh. Beinn a' Chlaidheimh is a wonderful viewpoint, although it requires navigating some crags first. He had got that far but had not downloaded a route for the Fisherfield round. Could I send him one? Nowhere entices me more than Fisherfield, so I plotted a route from my memory of five previous rounds of these spectacular mountains and sent it via WhatsApp.

I had hoped to reprise the walk earlier this year with John, but the aches in my hips and legs had made even my daily local hills a struggle, so I had to pass. Fisherfield had been the first two-day expedition during my first Munro round in 1990. On a glorious May Bank holiday, we had driven up, climbed An Teallach, slept in the Shenavall Bothy and then climbed the six hills that Gregor was doing today. They took 12 hours, including the walk out to Corrie Hallie and on to  Dundonnell. All food had been sold in the hotel, but they made some sandwiches for us whilst we rehydrated with some beers. We camped on the way to Braemore in my old Good Companions Tent, and climbed A' Chailleach and Sgurr Breac the next morning before heading north.

John and I repeated the jaunt in May 1995, along with Keith for the first day. We climbed An Teallach from Dundonnell and dropped down to Shenavall. I had met W.H. Murray, the celebrated mountaineer and author, the night before at the premiere of the film Rob Roy that he had scripted. He signed his book for me and, on hearing I was going to Fisherfield, urged me to climb Beinn Dearg Mhor as the finest of the Corbetts. We did, along with Beinn Dearg Beag, topping out at 10 pm on a glorious May evening.  We camped on the descent by Loch Beinn Dearg and then climbed the Fisherfield Six in an anti-clockwise round on another perfect day.

In 2001, Gregor was nearing the end of his Munro round, and the two of us went up in August, climbed An Teallach on a dull, windy day. We started the Fisherfield round, getting as far as the bealach between A' Mhaighdean and Ruadh Stac Mor, where we slept in a cave; the wind was too strong to erect the tent. It rained all night and most of the next day; we thought of bailing out, but after climbing A' A'Mhaighdean and Ruadh Stac Mor the next morning, we decided to give it a go and managed to complete the round in dire conditions before going to the Sail Mor bunkhouse to recover.

gI was with Mark and John in May 2005 on a week when we climbed 28 Munros. We drove up and climbed An Teallach in the afternoon and camped by Lochan na Brathan below Sail Liath. We started the Fisherfield round at 6 am, the next morning, in sparkling conditions that continued until we were on the ascent towards A' Mhaighdean. We arrived at the summit as the heavens opened, and it continued nonstop as we went over Ruadh Stac Mor and took the excellent stalker's path back to Shenavall in a thunderstorm.  The tents had been washed out by the fierce rain, and our sleeping bags had operated like blotting paper. We bundled them up and retreated to the Sail Mor bunkhouse, where a group of French walkers kindly shared their pasta with us.

My most recent foray was in 2013 from Poolewe. I had wanted to climb three corbetts as well, so Keith and I started late afternoon, climbed Beinn Airigh Charr on the way to a camp at Carnmore and then made a clockwise circuit of the Fisherfield Munros and Beinn a' Chaisgein Mor in conditions that were better than perfect. A' Mhaighdean was absolutely stunning in the early morning and late evening light, and Beinn Dearg Mhor looked magnificent, a peak to remember for W.H. Murray.  Beinn Lair was in the spotlight of the setting sun and sorely tempting, but it was 10 pm by the time I arrived back at the tent. We had planned to climb it the next day, but heavy rain and low cloud made it seem a sacrilege to climb. We spent the morning walking out in a downpour,  and my desire to revisit these magnificent mountains was undiminished. Gregor's adventure today became my virtual round of Fisherfield as I plotted the route and raided my memory bank.

Shenavall

Beinn Dearg Mor and An Teallach from Am Briseadh

Slioch

Fionn Loch from A'Mhaighdean

Dubh Loch and Fionn Loch

Fuar Loch Mor from Ruadh Stac Mor

Ptarmigan on Ruadh Stac Mor

Corfu @ 45°C

Albania from Agios Spiridon, the northern point of Corfu

The Med in July is not that cool. The crowds, temperatures, airline and accommodation prices are at their peak. School summer holidays were designed for milder British climes, not for the benefit of airlines and the rapacious tourist industry. The crowds at Edinburgh Airport at 3:30am were of Murrayfield proportions, the Wetherspoon breakfasts were creating bulging bellies, and even the champagne bar was bubbling with alcohol seekers. The queues for luggage drops extended outside the terminal buildings, and with most folk dressed for the heat of arrival, it was apparent that the tattoo parlours had had a bumper year.

EasyJet landed us ahead of schedule, and within half an hour, we had parked our modestly priced Nissan Micra at Lidl. Greek prices had escalated since the last visit ten years ago. Google Maps helped us escape Kerkyra, the main town, and reach the north coast. Our modern villa was grafted onto the limestone bedrock and gave us stunning views of the nearby coast and the Albanian Riviera. The pool was calling, and later we walked up to the nearby village of Kontokali for a fine Greek meal at Harry's Taverna before retiring to air-conditioned rooms that made sleep easy.

Corfu has changed since my first visit in 1970, when we picked up people on an emigrant's boat from Piraeus to Brindisi in Italy. We had blagged our way to a passage on the boat to complete a 4-week student holiday in Greece and Italy.  Our return flight to the UK had been booked from Milan so we had to hitch hike up Italy calling at Rome and Florence en route, my optimism was unregulated. The cost of the passage to Italy was 110 drachma or £1.50 for a 24-hour sail through the Corinth Canal, a stop in Corfu and a meal of pasta was included. We slept on the deck along with Greek families who were escaping the colonels and seeking work in the newly opened Alfa Sud factory in Naples. 

My next visit to Corfu was in 1981 with our 1-year-old daughter, our first holiday as a family abroad. We stayed at a large tourist hotel at Roda Beach, not far from where we stayed on this occasion. Aileen had wanted to bail out; the meals in the large canteen-like dining area made you nostalgic for school dinners. We hired a car and sought out the best beaches on the north west coast in friendly local villages with the odd taverna and an absence of tourist tat. It was an important lesson; we never had a holiday in a tourist hotel again. We next passed through Corfu on our way to Paxos and saw the sprawling development that had taken place. On this trip, I was careful to book a villa in the north of the island, close to the better beaches and away from the crowded holiday resorts. There are now 150,000 people living on Corfu; only Crete and Rhodes, both far bigger islands, are more populated.

The villa was modern, well-equipped with air conditioning and a pool that proved essential as temperatures were in the mid forties for much of the week. The record temperature was equalled on our last day, according to the driver of the mini bus that took us to the airport after the car drop. We made visits to Aghios Georgiou beach, where we had spent several days in 1981, when it was a gorgeous, long sandy beach with just a couple of tavernas. Today it is developed with many hotels and restaurants, the beach is littered with sun beds, but it is still beautifully located between two headlands. As is the nearby village of Afionas, where there is a wonderful walk down to Porto Timoni that we made after the afternoon heat receded. 

We made a couple of trips to the nearby village of Kassiopi with its picture book harbour, from where we rented a boat for a voyage along the coast and contemplated a quick trip over to Albania, a 3-mile voyage that had been achieved by two holidaymakers from Kilmarnock in a pedalo a few years ago. The young woman who hired us the boat thought that Greece had been at its best in the 1970s, when beaches were unadulterated with hotels and cafes, when transport was buses and scooters, and local tavernas provided simple meals. I agreed, having had the pleasure of four island-hopping holidays, travelling light with good companions; sleeping on deck or beaches, or in caves and whitewashed cottages that had no water or electricity. I visited 15 Greek islands in those halcyon days. reading novels like The Magus by John Fowles and exploring ancient sites when you were able to amble around them without tickets.

On other days, we visited the spectacular coast of Cape Drastis by Sidari and made an early morning climb up Corfu's highest mountain, Mount Pantokrator, from Old Perithia. Most of the time, the villa and the pool provided the most comfortable place in a week when the temperature was heading to new records. We ate out most evenings, the tavernas provided good Greek food, and the hospitality was always good. Would I go again? Not in July or August, and probably by train and boat or a tardis to go back to the 1970s. The queuing and waiting at airports and the sense of being packaged is contrary to the very essence of enjoying the uncertainty and delights of travelling.

Albanian view

A place in the Sun, Old Perithia

Mantis on arm chair

Logos, Sunset beach

Logos

Cape Drastis

In the Mountains

Arilas Bay from taverna

1970s Greece

Firecracker Plant

Path to Porto Timoni

Agiou Georgiou Bay

Bougainvillea

Kassiopi Harbour

Villa Arreti

Mount Pantokrator, Corfu

Mount Pantokrator on ascent

Friday, 25 July 2025

Ascent:      450 metres
Distance:  11 kilometres
Time:        2 hours 48minutes

Mount Pantokrator    909 m   1hr 28mins

At 909 metres, Corfu's highest mountain wouldn't quite qualify as a Munro, but it is nearby, and it is my tradition to climb the highest mountain on any island that is visited. It was to be the hottest day of the holiday, and the temperature was to rise to 42°C. We started at 6:30am for the 8-kilometre drive to Old Pethithia, the oldest and highest village, at 450metres, on the island. Gregor was to run it, and my intention was to walk up as far as the ridge at 650 metres, from where I could view the island and the nearby shores of the Albanian Riviera. I doubted that my groin strain and aching legs would take me any further.

It was still cool, and the morning breeze made ideal conditions for the walk as Gregor ran off in pursuit of the summit. I found the narrow marked path that twists its way through the limestone and burnt-bark olive trees; Gregor missed it and ended up on convoluted dusty trails for 13 kilometres to the summit. The path emerged on a higher trail road that took a more direct route to the summit.  I decided to head along, expecting to meet Gregor on his descent, at which stage I would turn back. I was walking more easily than expected, and unexpectedly met Gregor at a junction just 1.4 kilometres below the summit. He was still running his ascent but had done an extra 7 kilometres. I decided that the final section involving a climb of 220 metres along a metalled road was worth the effort. Two cyclists pedalled past on sections that made Mont Ventoux look easy; my shouts of 'Allez' were probably not appreciated.

The summit was a disappointment, with a collection of phone masts, a mini Eiffel Tower and fencing around the high point. Gregor was chatting to the cyclists and was ready to run down. There was no place selling drinks, contrary to the blurb about the summit. I scrounged a mouthful of water before beginning the 5 kilometres of descent as the morning heat began to intrude. I was down shortly after 9am. The car battery was flat from overuse of the air conditioning, but a friendly local from somewhere in the Midlands of England was on hand with some jump leads and advice on the restaurants in Old Perithia that we hope to return to this evening. We were back at the villa by 10am, desperate for a litre of water to revive our dehydrated bodies. It was already 38°C.

Path to Mount Pantokrator

Dried limestone vegetation

JCBs get everywhere

Memorial

What's wrong with a cairn?

G&K at summit

Digital Destruction

Looking over to Albania

Pace, Disruption and Progress

Another Rabbit Hole for HS2

In recent weeks, we have begun to hear both severe criticism and praise for President Trump, the dealmaker and the great disruptor. The deals haven't worked out in Ukraine and Gaza, and the beautiful tariffs have spooked the markets, prompting a spiral of inflation and a loss of American soft power. The pace of announcements has been relentless, causing significant disruption in the financial markets. It has become one of the tools of populism, challenging the post-war consensus on international agreements and the role of the deep state.

Admittedly, some things are getting done, like tax breaks for the wealthy, the return of illegal immigrants, the slashing of international aid and the closure and sacking of staff in federal agencies. Trump, the autocrat, has created an oligarchy that is fulfilling its lust for extreme wealth and a studied disdain for the American Constitution that had ideals of democracy, rights, liberty and equality. Elon Musk has been axed from the oligarchy for challenging Trump for abandoning the liberty of free trade.  He is promising to fund a new political party to break up the binary politics of the Republican and Democratic Parties. 

The Big Beautiful Bill is upsetting the markets, and according to a CNN survey, it is opposed by 61% of the electorate. The MAGA core is becoming tetchy about the President's relationships with Putin and Epstein, and his reluctance to release documents. These disruptions are damaging to the poor and oppressed in America and cutting off funding for the third world. Government departments and Universities have been subject to severe cuts in funding as Trump seeks to settle his prejudices against what he perceives as liberal institutions. They cost the federal government too much, in his opinion, as he tries to cut wealth taxes and impose his oligarchic tendencies on an increasingly tribal America.

Despite these problems, some lessons can be learned from Trump's mode of operation. Things move at a pace, and some disruptions, such as the funding of  NATO, have led to a reset of the partnership with greater costs and responsibilities transferring to Europe. Efforts by previous U.S. presidents to achieve this rebalancing had fallen on deaf ears, but Trump's threat to withdraw funding has led to a shift in Europe's willingness to take greater responsibility. We may despise the outcomes of Trump's disruptive methods, but the rapidity of change is in stark contrast with the UK's plodding attempt at change. 

The UK's response to various crises, such as the infected blood scandal, the post office IT scandal, the Grenfell Tower Public Inquiry or the Covid Inquiry, has involved years and in some cases decades passing without any outcome for the victims. The government has specialised in creating rabbit holes to avoid paying compensation, whilst building structural rabbit holes by caving in to demands for land compensation and elaborate designs for HS2, Nuclear Power Stations and airport expansions. These national infrastructure projects have been a cash cow for financial and construction consortia, even further enhanced as they identify constraints, run behind schedule and inflate the costs. 

The failure to tackle social care has been a dereliction of governance by successive governments since Andy Burnham, as Health Minister, tried to obtain a cross-party agreement in 2009. The housing policies since the Thatcher years have been a bonanza of easy money for the house builders, the estate agents, surveyors and bank lenders who have escalated prices whilst reducing the completion and specification of new houses. They are the modern middlemen with greedy girths and little social conscience. The same could be said for the private landlords, often middle-class investors, who have exploited their tenants by ratcheting up rents and, in many cases, being tardy with repairs and maintenance. Their ability to make money has been greatly enhanced as the supply of social rented housing has been depleted by the government's doctrinaire diminishment of Council Housing.

In the UK, we seem unable to make anything happen because of our obsessively antiquated procedures, poor-performing regulators and our uncodified constitution. Together with our excessively centralised governments at Westminster and Holyrood that operate with short-term visions and long-term actions, we are locked in a cycle of chronic stagnation and a growing disillusionment with our government.

It requires governments to up their pace and indulge in some progressive disruption. Think about Rachel Reeves' ill-thought-out proposal to build an additional runway at Heathrow. Leaving aside the environmental, transport and financial objections, the supposed justification is growth. When do we need growth? Now. When will it produce results? More than ten years in the future. A short-term vision and long-term action with unspecified costs and huge disruption to local communities and the M25. It is the result of ministerial weakness in the face of corporate lobbying for the 'Big is Beautiful' movement that fills company coffers and leaves the treasury picking up the tab. Think HS2, the Water Companies, the Edinburgh Trams or the A9 improvement. All are costing much more than anticipated and taking decades to become a reality, if they ever will.

So, what is the alternative? The Labour Government has been in power for a year, and despite campaigning under the banner of 'Change', there has been far too little progress. This has been celebrated with glee by the press, as well as being obvious to the electorate. Starmer believes that things are not broken, and Rachel Reeves has succumbed to the Treasury orthodoxy and made several poor decisions. Repeating ad nauseam that the £22 million black hole left by the Tories had to be fixed is a turn-off for most voters. They have been over-cautious, and some radical changes should have been put in place. 

Perhaps some focused disruption, rather than the constant setting up of inquiries, would be helpful. Equally, there must be a willingness to simplify or streamline procedures by eradicating outdated legislation, speeding up enforcement by regulators and government agencies. There would be benefits from simplifying and devolving some taxation, cutting out the financial middlemen of housing and construction. The government needs to trust in localities to drive the agenda for change, but this is palpably beyond the mindset of distant government departments and their ministers.  

A new, simplified written constitution would help, as would simplifying the income tax and national insurance regime to make it more equitable between the young and old and equalising tax and national insurance for PAYE and the self-employed. It would make it more difficult for tax avoidance through the extensive use of clever accountancy. Income tax and national insurance should be integrated into a more progressive personal taxation regime. VAT needs to be simplified and extended to some activities that are hugely damaging to carbon emissions, like air travel, and to unhealthy food and drinks. 

The housing market could be loosened by reducing or eliminating stamp duty, and what about encouraging factory-built sustainable housing instead of supporting the cost-cutting, space-denying, profit-maximising offerings from the volume builders? And it is surely time to develop a land taxation system that can fund local infrastructure investment rather than allowing huge profits to be taken by land owners and developers by the simple expedient of obtaining planning permission for a change of land use. This should be a public resource, not a private profit, as the Land Commission of 1969 intended before it was abolished by Ted Heath's government. 

A little bit of disruption would go a long way to speed up progress and create a vibe of optimism and growth, but it needs the government to trust communities, businesses and local democracy if it is serious about change.

Favourite Places - 1 - Langdale

Above Cathedral Quarry looking over Little Langdale 

I was sitting on a hill above the Cathedral Quarry in Little Langdale, looking over the open jaws of the Cathedral to Langdale and beyond, the Helvellyn Range provided the horizon. I have been here many times before, and it always gives me a deep sense of belonging. As do so many locations within a couple of miles of Chapel Stile in Great Langdale. Slater's Bridge and the Cathdral in Little Langdale, High Close Youth Hostel, the circular walk to Skelwith Bridge and Elterwater via Colwith, the Britannia Inn, the Old and New Dungeon Ghyll pubs, Loughrigg Fell, Silver How, Elterwater Quarry and the Great Langdale Beck. It may be because I was conceived in the Langdales Hotel, when my parents honeymooned there. It is now Wainwright's Bar, part of the Langdale Estate where we have taken a week's holiday for the past 43 years.

As a young child, we visited Langdale a couple of times a year in a hired car. We had a family holiday when I was a 16-year-old at a nearby campsite on Neaum Crag. I swam in the River Brathy and made my first solo hillwalk from Silver How to Blea Rigg and the Langdale Pikes. I was down at the New Dungeon Ghyll to buy my first pint of beer in a pub before noon, and I was thirsty. 

The following year, on my first holiday with friends, we stayed at the High Close Youth Hostel. On a glorious July evening, we listened to records on the lawn where I was captivated by a girl from Leeds, and we arranged several rendezvous over the next week as we walked over the fells between hostels. 

During my university days, I visited Langdale to climb Gimmer Crag with two friends who had joined their university climbing clubs. We climbed most of the high fells, sailed in Windermere and spent a New Year at the Bowder Stone cottage and saw in the New Year with Beryl Burton. On moving to Glasgow, my journeys to Lancashire would usually involve a diversion through the Lakes, very often to Langdale to climb the fells. 

We bought a timeshare at Langdale in 1984, and on our first visit, when the children were 2 months, 2, and 3 years old, we took them on an ambitious walk up the Langdale Pikes. Gregor was strapped to Aileen, and I carried and cajoled our daughters; it was probably a bit ambitious. In the following years, they learnt to swim in the pool, climbed many of the Lakeland fells and visited all the sights as we swamped them with Beatrix Potter books and traipsed them up Wainwright hills. We have only missed two years, both owing to my work commitments. 

We watched our family grow and fledge, we walked almost every path, and visited most attractions and pubs. I climbed all the Wainwrights and hope to complete a second round soon. Aileen loved the annual week in Langdale, where we revisited favourite places like Blackwell House, Holehird Gardens, Littletown Farm in Newlands and the walks to Little Langdale and to Chesters at Skelwith Bridge. Langdale is a favourite place, where I started life; it is my all-weather playground and where my memories of life's journey tumble over each other. 

Langdales Hotel now Wainwrights

Langdale Beck by Langdales Hotel

High Close Youth Hostel

Lodge for 43 years

View from our Lodge

Happy days

Brtannia Inn

Family on Loughrigg Fell

Slater's Bridge

Poo Sticks?

Aileen on Slater's Bridge

The gate to Rydal Terrace

Grasmere from Rydal Terrace

Langdale from Loughrigg Fell

Inside the Cathedral

Langdale Pikes from the Quarry

Aileen's photo of Gregor and me on the Colwith to Skelwith Trail