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Tim Walker's avatar

Cheering piece, Mark. Maybe we need the very real prospect of what we have being taken from us to appreciate what we have.

Mark Braund's avatar

Thanks. Like you, I wonder just how real that prospect has to get before enough people wake up to what's happening.

Tim Walker's avatar

Hi Mark… this is shameless, but if you enjoyed my play When Maggie Met Larry, do please vote for it here. You highlight it and then click on the ‘choose’ button below…. sincere thanks

https://www.radiotimes.com/audio/radio/radio-times-readers-drama-award-vote/

Mark Braund's avatar

Nothing wrong with a bit of shameless self promotion Tim, sometimes it’s all we writers have. I did enjoy it, so you have my vote.

Tim Walker's avatar

Thank you, Mark, you’re the best!! That play was basically one long whinge from me about getting older!

Sanford S's avatar

To be fair, I think plenty have woken up. I'm just not sure what they can do about it. For example, I was reading HYS in the Guardian and so many people were wondering why more American nationals aren't doing more to stop this Greenland thing (even though a big majority of Americans disapprove of it according to polls I've seen in the UK). I think they can afford to start concentrating on Europe and Canada after this sort of thing is solved:

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/01/19/opinion/trump-minneapolis-ice.html?unlocked_article_code=1.F1A.-1HT.zUtGDQskAVhx&smid=url-share

Sanford S's avatar

It is no coincidence that all this happened as soon as the last big group of World War 2 vets died off.

Homi Hormasji's avatar

There are, of course, many reasons that have led us to our abhorrent predicament here in the US - where a criminal, psychotic thug a traitor who is acting to destroy our values while furthering the interests of his overlord, Putin, has been twice elected as President, the second time after fomenting a violent coup. I believe that the root cause, however, is that we treat education as a commodity for purchase rather than as a birthright.

To my mind, Britain started going down the same slippery slope when the then government started imposing fees for study at university.

Mark Braund's avatar

That’s a very good point Homi. I was the lucky recipient of a free university education back in the 1980s. But our kids will be paying off their student loans for years. I hope you’re well. I struggle to imagine what its like living in the US right now. Very best wishes.

Homi Hormasji's avatar

Thank you for asking, Mark. One might say that this is like a nightmare that does not end upon waking. I turn on the news each morning in the hope of seeing that Putin has been deposed or that Trump has consumed one too many cheeseburgers. But no such luck - as yet, at any rate!

It's hard to comprehend how evil and insanity are marching arm-in-arm across this land. But here we are. Of course, Trump's regime would not be able to flourish except for the active collusion of millions of his enablers. And that's a scary thought.

Life is tough here in the States for most people as they go through the daily grind. But if the coldblooded murder of a mother in Minnesota by armed and masked thugs isn't enough to have us pouring out into the streets in our multimillions, I'm not sure what will be?

As the Bard said, though, "All's well that ends..." If never soon enough.

Mark Braund's avatar

You, and the millions of decent Americans are in my thoughts, Homi. We always knew appeasing Trump wouldn't work, its time governments in Europe and elsewhere took coordinated action to isolate the US economically and diplomatically. It will be a painful for all of us, but a price very much worth paying.