The evening before yesterday, I was feeling pretty pleased with myself that I had got my Christmas cards into the system but had got up at 5.00am to make sure I had got the job done. Consequently, I decided to have an earlier night to catch up on lost sleep so got into bed and started watching 'NewsNight' on BBC2. There was a very rational and sober discussion from a variety of experts that the UK and Europe were standing on the verge of war with Russia and in many ways we had to prepare ourselves for the type of conflict that our grandparents had experienced during WW2. The fact that the current American administration was turning its back upon Europe and that Putin was prepared to invest huge amounts of money and military strength to gain comparatively little were indications that we could not afford to ignore. We know that Russia is constantly probing the defences of other European societies which have been somewhat slow to respond. The reasons are not hard to find: after the collapse of the former Soviet Union and the cold war, European societies have, in generally, taken the 'peace dividend' and invested the money largely to support domestic political agendas such as the health needs of an ageing population. But we are now in a situation in which all European societies need to radically increase their defence expenditures as the Russian desire to regain control of its 'lost' empire and to weaken the EU is not in doubt. China is standing in the background and quietly helping Russia to achieve its aims so we have to understand the impact of contemporary global politics. But the Ukrainian war has taught us that the nature of conflict is rapidly changing and various military concepts such as using the air force to prepare for a subsequent ground invasion have to be rethought. We now live in the age of attack by drone and Ukraine has to deal with over 180 attacks each day of which about 20% actually hit their target. Allied to this, we now have cyber warfare and we must be aware of the fact that the UK's data connections by cable under the North Sea are fairly easily capable of being damaged by Russian craft. So the argument currently runs that it is only be military strength that Russia can ever be deterred and the threat to Europe is real and growing daily.
One of the interesting by-products of this blog is that I can look back a year and see what I was doing this time last year. I found that almost to the exact day, I got up early at 5.00am to write the same number of Christmas cards, the arguments about a flu epidemic were just as prominent and I was even cracking the same observations about the truncated first lines of Christmas carols. In fact, history was repeating itself so exactly that I needed to do a double check to make sure I had not go the year wrong in the examination of my blog although I probably have got the Christmas tree erected and the decorations done a few days earlier this year. The month of December seems to be racing away and it seems remarkable that Christmas Day itself is less than a fortnight away. I have a carol service to which to look forward in the coming week and afterwards there will be coffee and mince pies in the church hall which is an opportunity that I shall seize to try to maintain my social contacts, which otherwise might start to slowly diminish.
I had a lovely surprise in the middle of the day, which I was not expecting and hence it was so much more enjoyable. My Droitwich friend found she had a couple of hours free in her domestic schedule after dropping her boys to various engagements so she came around and we cooked a South African chicken stew meal together. This was wonderful but we have a lot left over for other meals in the next day or so, After she had left, I raced into town and took advantage of the free parking to visit a photoshop where I asked them to produce a couple of prints of my Droitwich friend and I - the first with Meg and her own aunt when we first met over four and a half years ago and the latest one being the two of us cooking a meal together more recently. These two prints I have despatched with a letter to my friend's mother in South Africa where I am sure she will appreciate it. I took the opportunity to post some neighbour's cards on the way but was disappointed that what I hope to be the last post at 4.00 in the afternoon was actually collected at 11.40 this morning. The postal service has lost a lot of business now that people use email and social media but we are now getting a pretty shocking service at sky-high prices. In the evening when I anticipate going to church when I return I shall catch up on some lost TV viewing such as 'Question Time' which I missed this week. I know that I shall not see some of my regular friends in the next day or so as they have commitments elsewhere so I need to find some jobs with which to busy myself. When I was down in town earlier on this morning, I bought myself a double issue of the 'Radio Times' which I generally do at this time of year because you get a good guide to all of the films and special programmes broadcast over the Christmas period. I thought my bill at the supermarket checkout seemed a bit high and then I looked at the price of the 'Radio Times' I could understand why as the cover price was £6.50 It is said in the publishing industry that the advertising rates in the Radio Times are sky high for this particular issue because unlike other periodicals it is consulted often and regularly over the two week period by several family members. But I was also tempted into buying an issue of 'The Sun' because they were advertising a free guide to all of the TV programmes over the Christmas period as well (and the 'Sunday Times' might also put out some special guides when I use my token to pick up my copy of it.
© Mike Hart [2025]