No revolution please, we're English

It’s just one week to go before we get the first clue as to what voting Americans think and are prepared to do about Trump. Indications are (e.g. see fivethirtyeight.com) that the Republicans will lose control of the House of Representatives in next week’s mid-term elections, but not the Senate. Incredibly, Trump’s popularity ratings have risen a little lately, but he still has a 52% disapproval rating. Although it is hard to discern what the Democrats stand for, their success is still preferable to Republican success – at least it may give us some hope that the current trend of ugly, populist politics can be suppressed. That would be welcome in the light of Brazil’s election of a President who falls somewhere between Trump and the appalling Duterte of the Philippines (I wonder if Liam Fox has sealed a trade deal with him yet).

Another result to watch out for next week is a climate change related ballot initiative in Washington State, which proposes putting a price on carbon. This has led to one of the most expensive battles in the history of ballot initiatives. The fossil fuel industry has pumped in nearly $30 million to oppose the idea – and over a third of that has come just one company – BP America. You might have thought that after Deepwater Horizon, BP may have had better things to spend their money on, but apparently not. If it wasn’t for the necessity to fill the petrol tank up somewhere it would be best to boycott all oil companies (yes I know – get rid of the car).

It all just goes to show how grateful we should be for living in a country (I’m assuming I don’t have an international readership) that can boast of having such a robust democratic system which can’t be made to bend to the will of hidden influences and corrupt money, and which in the end always stands firm against malign or extreme temperaments. Hear, hear! Tally ho!