Who to support?

+The Labour leadership race is not exactly setting the house on fire. We are in a period where the whole thing looks rather irrelevant—and this despite the fact that party membership is at an all-time high of 580,000. Membership of the Party seems to be in inverse ratio to its influence. This will change, it’s not quite like what happened after 2010, when the Tories could lay the blame for Brexit on Labour ‘profligacy.’ This time round the Tories own everything that is going to befall the UK, and Johnson in particular will have absolutely nowhere to hide. Even Michael Gove in an interview yesterday seemed to acknowledge this fact. If things go the wrong way up the creek without a paddle neither the EU nor the Labour Party will be to blame. So what qualities will Labour’s new leader bring to bear on this agenda? As things stand at least for me the jury is out, but since the elephant in the room is climate change the candidate who speaks most strongly on that will likely get my vote. Having said which, this is still not a subject that sets the house on fire in the UK, even if it does literally elsewhere.
 
+I had a good opportunity to speak to the Russian people about all of this yesterday in a half-hour interview on Channel 5 (St. Petersburg). I’m not sure why they have me down as a go-to person to spout off on Brexit, etc., but it’s fun to imagine viewers in Russia listening attentively to my views, as if they may be representative of what we Brits are thinking. I have to admit, not being a regular Skype user what fun it was, to the extent of trying to set things up beforehand so as not to look too amateurish. Then, seeking out the Russian Channel 5 website and having the whole thing translated into English at the touch of a button. There are some things about the internet that should aid international understanding—one wonders why it doesn’t work out quite like that.