Nothing competes, in a family, with the arrival of a new baby. Our eldest son Alex and his lovely wife celebrated the arrival of their first child — our third grandson.
The joy of Christmas still lingers. We had a huge family lunch, and Tommy and Jim were in spectacular form. Our new grandson has been born into a world rocked by global turmoil, with the rules governing the world order, crafted in the wake of the Second World War, under threat. The NATO collective defence alliance and the United Nations, which succeeded the League of Nations, are being ignored or challenged.
When I was young, we had pillow slips rather than Christmas stockings. My maternal grandfather liked to make gifts, which my brother and I adored. It was so crowded that someone always had to sleep in my maternal grandparents’ caravan in the yard. We considered it a joyful treat rather than an act of exclusion.
The table wasn’t big enough, so someone had to sit in an armchair with my grandmother’s huge pastry board as a tray. I don’t recall us watching much television, save for top-class shows like The Morecambe and Wise Show.
It would occasionally feature a “celebrity”, but they were real celebrities such as André Previn or Glenda Jackson, unlike so many of today’s worn-out also-rans, endlessly recycled to brighten tired and tedious formats.
This year’s Christmas network schedules did nothing to lift my deepening dementia-related depression, but the grandchildren, the animals, and the wonderful gifts did.
The post-war world order, NATO and the United Nations are being ignored or threatened by President Trump of the United States. He mounted an attack on Venezuela with overwhelming force, without agreement from the UN or justification under its Charter.
Alastair Stewart: Nothing cuts through deepening dementia-related depression like a new arrival to the family
| GB NEWSHe spoke of the arrest of President Maduro and his wife, Cilia Flores, to enforce indictments in US courts for narcoterrorism, drug trafficking, and possession of illegal arms.
It falls to our generation, and our grandchildren’s generation, to craft a new world order, or at least a new, respected, and adhered-to set of rules to govern it.
Trump also declared that he wanted Denmark’s territory, Greenland, to become part of the USA. Denmark said no, and the coalition of the willing declared that Greenland’s status was exclusively a matter for Greenland and Denmark. Failure to make that position stick threatens the world order and NATO itself.
Perhaps, as with Alaska and Russia, Trump will make Denmark an offer it can’t refuse. At home, the government’s fortunes went from bad to worse.
Starmer told the first “political Cabinet” of the year: “Our challenge for this year is to prove that politics can deliver. Nowhere is this more important than when it comes to putting more money in people’s pockets.”
I fear that, with this lot, it will be an EVRI or DHL job, chucked over the gate, dumped in a hedge, unlike Royal Mail, who still bring things to our door.
Our daughter came for Christmas with her husband, which was wonderful. She received the news that she has qualified as a school inspector in Saudi Arabia, a huge achievement for a British woman.
We had a lovely lunch with a friend and mentor of hers and her husband; she is now head of an international school in Dubai, another British woman doing well abroad. We are so proud. None of the animals have enjoyed the snow or freezing temperatures, but it does make the farm look so pretty.