After almost 70 years, since the end of the Second World War, the USA has exercised super power reach and influence across the world. Its Military has been used as a means of changing thinking in some cases or as a blunt use of Force in others. It’s ethos and the American Dream has influenced a vast swathe of the planet and more importantly generated freedoms and political changes. It has gone through violent and shocking social change to cope with its own amazingly progressive population. It has been undoubtedly the leader not only of the Free World but also of the whole world in some areas. In future years, however, it is likely that the historians will probably look at yesterday’s date as the day the USA decided to end Pax Americanus – or the American Peace.

The incredible act of President Donald Trump will go down in history as the act of hubris that killed the countries leadership of the free world. “I was elected by the people of Pittsburg and not Paris” hardly stands askance against such stirring lines as “Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country”. The Hotel Owners excuse for leaving the Paris Accord, one of the only truly global agreements in existence, is tawdry and unworthy of the contribution, both in blood and treasure, his countrymen have made over the last 70 years and before. In one line he has disowned the basic principle of nations coming together to agree anything. Everything has to start from January 2017, nothing can be left of anyone before. Strange that America had a universal approval from the rest of the world 2 months before. What price any UN resolutions now? Will anyone ever support him when next Coalition is formed or the next beach is hit?

If ever a move is designed to drive America’s once strongest allies to look eastwards for partners, this was it. To hinder and put barriers against a global agreement that is the longest term and most far reaching agreement in the history of this planet as a sop to those who voted for him and the vain hope that he might get a second term in 4 years time, is more than fantasy, it is the act of an amateur who craves likeability and respect without the necessary actions to prove it. To all who support him, it will be a vindication of his belief in America, to those who get up in the morning with a growing sense of unease at what the future holds for their kids and grand kids, it will be a final conformation of the enormous mistake they made in putting him on the ticket. Dear America the old industries are not coming back, the Paris Agreement is long long term and your man will be lucky if he is a footnote in your history in 5 year time. God Speed America we can only hope there is enough integrity still left in your system to stop the Crime of the Millenium.

OK no great preamble – the Election. Most of you know politics is my hobby and most of you know I am a socialist. I also voted to remain so I guess I am not someone who the Daily Mail cares deeply about. I have decided to to limit my political contribution to this election to one and one only – this one. I shall not be voting Labour at this election. Nothing on earth could persuade me to back the hapless wight who holds the title of Leader of the Labour Party. He is an innocent abroad in a den of hobbledehoys. The only reasion anyone follows him is out of self interest or an idle sense of curiosity. So Labour cannot rely on my vote. Of the rest, while there is a bit of a leaning towards the Lib Dems, its short and dismissed quickly. The thought of any of their front bench pontificating again on how effective they were in coalition with the evil Cam/Osborne era is utterly vomit making both in tone and in truthfulness. SNP are entertaining but not many candidates in rural Suffolk, besides which, like the slippery Salmon, the scaly Sturgeon has displayed an inability to change bets when it becomes obvious that you picked the wrong horse. She cannot do any better than 2015 and any lessoning will kill the devolution agenda again. Who is left – Nigel the Gnome? – whilst an avid follower of politics, I am also a Christian and to wish that poisoned little turd on anyone is a mortal sin so great that there could be no absolution. Comes down to Ms May or abstaining. Abstaining is easy but actually I think Ms May has shown some real cleverness in calling the election when she can. Took the plunge and called it (listening Gordon?) an infantryman’s ambush if I ever saw one. Caught the rest on the hop without any reason not to overturn the 5 year election bill and will have frightened the EU out of their panties. They never saw it coming and she comes out of it with a personal mandate to negotiate Brexit. I also suspect she will go to the country having completely junked Osbornes Austerity Manifesto and will deliver an old style  Tory “One Nation” manifesto that might conceivably slash the overseas development budget and put some more rifles on the ground (or GBAD SAM’s for RAF Bases). Its nice to take a long view of aiding developing countries and with little on the direct threat against the UK, it was also a good idea, but now that Vladimir has developed some delusions of the old USSR, its a bit late to be trying the diplomatic game. Get some bayonets on the ground. Mrs May is a very clever politician and I have no doubt that, as in all things, its about timing and she has timed it to perfection. Maggie needed a war in the S Atlantic to get this sort of lead. Corbynn is obviously the Galtieri equivalent. He will suffer the same fate. She has shown that she is not afraid to take decisions and show leadership by delivering what the country voted for. I didn’t not agree but it is obvious that she has chosen to follow the script left for her. It would be entirely ironic that we get her, a very astute lady, after one of the worst PM’s in British history and his poodle George. She might get my vote and thats all I will write on it.

Glorious day in Suffolk; warmish and sunny with the wonderful colours of autumn on the trees.  We do live in a very beautiful country. I am lucky living within spitting distance of Knettishall with its country park and walks and  I enjoy the delights of the ascent of Hat Hill and the views along the Ickneild Way.  It also gives me time to regurgitate in my myself what news there is and what the papers have said about all and sundry.  Today I almost thought I had been turned into a pillar of salt at the summit of said hill when I suddenly perceived what exactly David Cameron and George Osborne’s Euro strategy could be.  A plan so cunning you could stick a tail on it…..so cunning that I will now have to refer to one of them or the Plan as the Baldric strategy.

Could it be that from the ashes of the Merkel – Sarco deal and subsequent vanishing act by our two leaders, that a cunning long term strategy has emerged?  Could it be that Geordie is positioning the UK to be one of the so called “second tier” EU members deliberately?  Could he be counting on French and German  hubris to hack off the British people so much that they will welcome his referendum in 3 years time?  Could he, in fact, be looking at making the major issue for the next General Election, the repatriation of powers back to Westminster, thus getting all of UKIP and the BNP vote?  A very useful ploy to take the mind off what will still be a foundering economy and replace it with rampant xenophobia and Brussels bashing.  It would of course be risky.  No way the Lib Dems could live with that one, so any deal, should it be necessary, would be a dead duck and, in fact, probably drive the sandalled ones into the arms of Labour even during the campaign.  He could, however, claim that the Lib Dem Euro preoccupation had stopped growth and that the Tories needed to divest them selves of these damned Liberals to save the country.  During the course of which, he could simply update the election ads –  cross out Labour and blame the Lib Dems, thus saving a fortune in advertising and not having the likes of the unctuous enlisted scum like  Pickles learn a new script (difficult I know).

When you get such a Damascene revelation it is overwhelming.  Not for long;  I realised that no such thoughts could ever materialise inside Baldric or Davey Boys heads.  After almost 18 months they still have not got past blame Labour 101 when the world and its dog, (even some of the Daily Pail readers), recognises that Labour didn’t cause the world financial markets to melt down – more like the bright boys in the American sub prime sector and the supposed even brighter boys in the FSA and the Old Lady.  Besides even if they did manage to get their heads around this, the implementation would likely be so dire it would be rumbled inside half a day by even the dimmest News International phone hacker.  Still it was a pleasant feeling whilst it lasted as we sauntered down the sunlit slope of the hill – this government with a strategy – almost made me nostalgic for Gordon the Bear.

The dreaded unemployment figures were published today. Davy Boy and Ed had a bit of a roustabout at PMQ’s.  The TV hacks and high priced experts, dredged up from wherever, added their take on what this meant.  People were quite surprised that young peoples unemployment wasn’t at the million mark.  Statistics poured out and were analysed, fondled and demonstrably cherished.  Another YTS clone initiative was launched with all the prospects of success of the last one back in the day.  The Liam Fox saga briefly intruded on the main stage and in some of the more lurid red tops but a pretty ordinary day for the political movers and shakers of our Island.

It would also be a pretty ordinary day for the any one of the 400,000 long term unemployed as well. No real reason to look for a job when there aren’t any to be had – Hull had 400 odd jobs on offer today and 12000+ people after them.  And still the great intellectual behemoth that is Georgie Boys economic strategy ploughs its undisturbed and unwavering course through stormy seas heading inexorably towards the second part of a double dip recession.  This master plan called for the deepest and most savage cuts to public services since the Second World War; cuts so sharp and deep even Margaret Thatcher would have baulked from them during her social engineering crusade of the 70’s.  This, however, was not the only side of George’s master plan.  The large numbers of worthless skivving jobs-worth Public Sector workers were to be instantly swept up by a burgeoning private sector revival that would create jobs at a rate never before achieved, even in times of boom.  If I had received such a business plan and strategy I would have pasted it to the back of the toilet door so that visitors to that facility would have some form of light entertainment.  This government came to power in the middle of a credit crunch.  Despite the protestations that they were clearing up Labours Mess, they ignored the fact that the world was in the middle of a severe recession and that, whilst we might still be the worlds eighth biggest manufacturer, we have very few products that we can export.  So we have failed to create the jobs.  We have also increased the drain on the public purse because more unemployed means more money spent on benefits and less money coming in on tax. So the gap in our finances is actually getting wider and costing us more because  the private sector cannot create the jobs.

17 years ago unemployment was this high and we have two factors which are common with then and now.  Both times we had a Tory Government.  The one in 1994 was tottering on its last legs but it was there.  The second common factor is that the industry necessary to create new products and manufacture them were not there.  They had been extinguished by the De-industrialisation of Britain in the 70’s.  Partially to strip the unions of the excess  of power that they had gained and were abusing and partly to move to the ever so sexy knowledge economy where we would think big thoughts and produce world beating products.  In fact we are still suffering from that now, 20 years later.  We have had a number of recessions in the last 100 odd years and mainly they have been caused by the Tory obsession with cost cutting and slashing of public sector funding.  Market forces do indeed rule the economy, supply and demand must always find their equilibrium point, but if the chancellor and PM have frightened the public witless, with doom and gloom to not win an election and gain power and subsequently blame Labour for every practice under the sun,  they cannot now be surprised when people start to hoard their cash for a rainy day. Demand falls – supply cuts back;  costs are cut to remain competitive;  workers laid off and demand falls even further.  All this is secondary school economics – so how come Davey and Georgie boys didn’t work it out.  Quite simply it overwhelmed them and they are now stuck in a perpetual loop repeating the famous Thatcher response “There is no alternative”.

They are staring to be rumbled. The main reason why they were not was because normal people would not believe that the strategy was so obviously flawed.  Now at the mercy of the winds from the Euro zone all they can do is look into the cameras like a pair of Energiser Bunnies and repeat Plan A.  What makes me most angry is the young people’s  total.  Almost a million young people with no jobs is an indictment that we all stand accused of .  Those who get jobs breath a sigh of relief to get a shift in McDonald’s or Burger King  Are we going to be a nation of hash slingers on one side and astrophysicists on the other with nothing in-between?    All I know is that we are now on the cusp of learning a lesson I learned a long long time ago – Labour may be profligate with the economy but they cant break it as easily and quickly as the Tories.  We are now squandering the opportunities to create growth and give that most precious s of commodities to our young people – hope.  George – the Wealth of our nation is not the % age of GDP the debt is but the accumulated skills knowledge energy and endeavour of our people.  Stop telling people how bad it is and starting giving some stimulus.  Labour should be out of sight in any polls by now – but its not.  Ed Balls needs to start concentrating on delivering a concise achievable deficit reduction and growth strategy and stop trying to convince people that he is clever.