mostly david ephgrave

I'll breathe a sigh of relief when Trump leaves the White House tomorrow (presumably throwing a handful of smoke pellets to the floor so he can sneak out before Biden's Inauguration).  My heart sank when he won the 2016 election. I was staying at Center Parcs on the day they announced it, so my pretty surroundings at least cushioned the blow, though I couldn't look the bald eagle in the eye at the bird of prey demonstration I attended that afternoon. Four years yawned ahead like a tetanus-fuelled bout of lockjaw while my face resembled a cross between Edvard Munch's The Scream and Macauley Culkin after applying aftershave in Home Alone. It's hard to imagine a person less suited to the job of President; something that only played out during his time in office, to be compounded by the storming of Capitol Hill that his outright lies stoked last week. The only person Donald J Trump cares about is Donald J Trump; that's very J evident. But that's only a fraction ...

Everything has been in such a state of flux since my dad died that I try my best to ground myself in the truth. There's nothing much more unsettling than having reality questioned when that's an oxymoron at heart. While it's easier to accept a person holds a different opinion to you, to be an opinion, it has to be a concept you can debate, and not an undeniable event. Having to defend whether a tangible thing happened moves the goalposts, as you're then dealing with a person who's happy to shift the unshiftable to make their point, which means they'll use lies as evidence of their version of the truth. Half of the problem I've had with a person lately is due to that paradox. While it shouldn't be this easy, blank denial is almost an impervious argument, as you can't get anywhere near to the point. And if someone is prepared to say black is white repeatedly, it's not a conversation; it's a stonewalling exercise. But if you know so...

The fact Boris Johnson's attempted five-week prorogation of Parliament was unanimously deemed unlawful by the Supreme Court today is exceptionally good news from my standpoint. When it comes down to it, Johnson's motivation was blatant, and - like so much of his approach - deeply questionable: he used the excuse of preparation for a Queen's Speach as a tool to prevent Parliament from debating and discussing his actions related to his much-repeated supposed final deadline to leave the EU. To do this was disgusting and, ultimately, illegal, and it's only right he should be held to account for it. Most importantly of all, Parliament will resume tomorrow with the wind severely taken from Johnson's sails. And once again, it can do its job. There will be many Brexiters who'll attempt to rubbish the ruling but the facts of the matter shouldn't be ignored. And Johnson needs to stop riding roughshod across democracy like the amateurish dictator he is.